How far into the room was the waterproofing extended? Was a capilliary break used? When you say the slope was built up, do you mean that was done after the area was waterproofed? How was the area actually leak tested?

Just to double check, because it doesn't look like it, the entire bathroom floor outside the shower is sloped towards the drain? What is the threshold height at the door to the bathroom? How large is the bathroom? Do you have an overhead diagram plan view?

Unfortunately, the hot mop ends at the front entry. I was looking back at photos to see exactly what it covered. It doesn't extend outside of the front of the half walls. There was a 'lip' maybe 1.5" (?) tall that was used to do the flood test that the tiler said he left there and the backsloped tile went over that entry area. I'm not sure about a capillary break. Is this a physical separation in the concrete or some kind of water barrier that should've been done before tiling the floor? How is this usually done? I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but I'd really appreciate some clarification on what should've been done and could possibly be done at this point?

Yes, the floor was first hot mopped with a typical preslope towards the drain and then the floor was built up with concrete by the tiler to get the desired slope for tile towards the drain. So I think this was done right? Water that gets through the tile/grout then should funnel into the drain weep holes (I think/hope/pray they are not clogged).

No, the outside bathroom floor is not sloped towards the drain. This was a dilemma we debated over. The tile at the entry is backsloped but then the rest of the floor actually has a slight downgrade towards the bathroom door that was done so that we could better match the height of the hallway carpet, i.e. we didn't want a big step down coming out of the bathroom. So we ramped up the hallway slightly and the bathroom floor down to meet at the door threshold. I'm not sure the exact slope but it spans 6' because that's the length of the vanity. So it would be probably something like a 1-1.5" max drop over 6'? I know this is bad news if the shower were to flood with water continuously on obviously, but assuming we don't have a clogged drain (and since it's a linear drain it would be nearly impossible to cover the drain accidentally to stop it up while in the shower) could this slope be contributing to water possibly escaping? I did do a quick unscientific check and actually poured some water outside onto the bath floor out of curiosity and the result wasn't exciting...water just sat there. It didn't flow downhill. Also, during a shower the water that gets splashed to the backsloped tile never goes more than about 1/3 way (~4") up that tile. So there's no trace of water outside of the shower on the floor unless you directly spray the door or intentionally splash water under the door sweep.

I attached a sketch of the bathroom overhead plan. You can see the 6' vanity. on the left wall and the hallway door to the bedroom at the top.

Last night I literally got down on my knees while showering to get a close look. I'm just puzzled because I see all the water flowing down the linear drain with hardly any accumulation of standing water in the shower. If you turn on the shower head and point it away from the entry so there's no splashing you would see all the water flow down the length of the drain with zero water crossing over to the other side to the backsloped tile. It seems this tells me the drain has plenty of margin in terms of capability (I think 12 gpm)?

Live Wire Oak hit the two main points; the membrane the the capillary break.

With your drain at the door, for sure a membrane should have been run underneath the tile outside the shower door. Depends on how they detailed and terminated the hot mop.

A capillary break is a bead of sealant or another barrier of some sort that separates the setting materials used on the shower tile from the setting materials used on the bathroom floor tile.

For example, it prevents water from wicking via capillary action from the wet thinset under the shower tile into the dry thinset under the bathroom floor tile.

Mongoct/Live Wire Oak,

Thanks for the replies.

Here's a photo I took right after the hot mop was done. You see it terminates at the outer half wall surface with a 'lip' maybe 1" tall (I didn't measure it so just guessing). So that centered tile in the entry sits above that and during a normal shower the water line (water that splashes over the drain to the door) doesn't go past about halfway the thickness of those half walls or doesn't go past the glass door that's centered between those half walls.

So if I understand what you're saying about the capillary break, the tiler should've physically separated the thinset/mud under the entry area tile by creating a physical divider barrier to separate it from the thinset/mud under the rest of the tiles on the bathroom floor? I'm picturing a thin vertical layer of sealant (or membrane) from the bottom of the tile surface through thinset all the way through the mud down to meet the hot mop 'lip'? That would then form a barrier and force the water that gets under the tile to stay in the pan and go back towards the drain. I'm still trying to get a feel for how much water could be sitting under my bathroom floor (worst case) or if it's limited to a few areas of damp thinset due to wicking that are showing up as dark grout spots (best case?).

Relative to the amount of water that seems to be making it down the drain, how much water are we talking about that could be wicking out through the thinset/mud/grout? 10%? 20%? 50%? How long does it take for the water that eventually sits on the concrete slab to evaporate or absorb into the slab itself? And what damage would this cause long term assuming the water never makes it to any wood?

To create a capillary break, would a plan like this be feasible in my case?

1) Pull up the 3 tiles in the entry and create a line gap in the mud layer all the way down to the hot mop pan 'lip'. This gap would span the entire entry way and be directly above the edge of the hot mop 'lip'.
2) Insert some type of waterproofing sealer (slather on Redgard??) that will form a barrier forcing any water under the tile to go back to the drain.
3) Fill back in the remaining gap with mud.
4) Reinstall 3 tiles. To make a capillary break in the thinset layer, use thin bead of sealant.
5) Also seal all grout lines in the entry area that could allow wicking outside to the bathroom floor?

Is this even remotely feasible/practical without causing a lot of collateral damage?

thingreen - so sorry to see you are having issues with your new shower - it really is beautiful and the workmanship looks excellent! Sorry I can't offer any expertise to help you but can I ask if that is solid surface material you used on the top and sides of the shower walls? I love the contrast and it looks so sharp and clean!

numbersjunkie,

Thanks for the thought. Yeah, I'm really bummed/stressed not knowing how much water is under my bathroom tile right now. I hope we can put in a practical fix that works.

The two contrasting tiles on the floors and wall are porcelain from a local shop, very inexpensive actually but I think look clean. Yes, that's tile on top and outsides of the half walls. Our tiler actually bullnosed the tiles on the edges by hand. The tile body is grayish and looks fine that way when exposed. We liked that option more than going with metal trim.

Was this issue resolved?

curius of the fix

doing a lot of curbless showers these days and don't want to have this problem

i see no info on capillary breaks in the tcna handbook....which is weird

telluwhat, you dont want to find out after the fact.

in europe, australia and many countrys cappilary breaks are old news, lesson learned long ago and assumed knowledge of a barrier free tile shower build.

the mighty us of A is a bit behind.

http://no-curb.blogspot.com/2014/04/capillary-action-break-photos-and.html?m=1

Do you think on previously done showers that by simply removing grout at shower transition area and using silicon would prevent this

not really a fan of using a metal edging as John has depicted

im sure it's probably the best way to go, just not attractive for most applications

might have a lot of free work in the near future!

Anazing That a lot of companies selling curbless pans do not advise on this sort of thing!

"Do you think on previously done showers that by simply removing grout at
shower transition area and using silicon would prevent this."

If you could remove the grout and thinset and adhere a bead of silicone to the actual membrane cleanly and directly I think you could attempt and possiby save.

I would in the future suggest flood testing your shower pans, especially curbless shower pans this way you can also verify that your cappilary stops any possible wicking and find out about it before the shower gets built.. one of the many reasons to flood test.