Moisture Barrier Shower Floor

I basically paint all of the surfaces that will receive tile in the shower including horizontal areas exposed to moisture such as shower benches shelving half walls niches and especially the shower floor.

Moisture barrier shower floor.

An extremely effective moisture vapor retarder for use in a variety of interior construction applications. Moisture and condensation are the two biggest problems to contend with when building a new shower. A moisture barrier should keep moisture from entering behind your installed shower walls more importantly it should encourage it downward into the shower pan. The industry standard as well as most local building codes do not encourage the use of a vapor barrier behind and over the tile substrate.

It s something that s vital to protect your house. Prevent these problems before they occur by installing some type of moisture or vapor barrier. I recently noticed some wet drywall at the base of the shower on the outside corners of the enclosure. Sub floor barrier slows moisture migration and helps prevent buckling cupping and cracking.

There are a number of reasons for having a vapor barrier in the shower but they all revolve around making sure moisture doesn t penetrate where it can do damage to the fabric and structure of the house. The worst case scenario for your waterproofing strategy is to be redundant behind and over your tile substrate by applying or installing a water resistant barrier. A very simple experiment to show how a vapor barrier works is to lay a. In simple terms a vapor barrier is a material that won t allow moisture to pass through it such as plastic sheeting.

This is especially true in a shower setting where the walls and floor are repeatedly bombarded with large amounts of water. The materials that are most commonly used today for the installation of shower walls all either completely deter moisture penetration or encourage it to pass through a poor understanding of both could leave you with what is called a moisture sandwich. My house is on a concrete slab and the shower was constructed with a mortar bed smooth river rock was used for the shower floor and cement board with a vapor barrier was used on the walls. Liquid waterproofing should be applied to all surfaces in the shower area that meet water or moisture.