help! shower curb danger?

8 years ago

My contractor didn’t slope my shower curb, something my glass installer pointed out. So I asked him to redo the curb. When he popped the top tiles off, it looked like there was just bare treated wood underneath the thinset (see picture). I asked what he was doing to waterproof the wood curb, and he said he applies a liquid membrane, then thinset, then tile. Is this normal?! He said the vinyl liner goes up the side of the curb, but not over the top. Shouldn’t there be cement board or something on top of the treated wood? Or is it okay to just have wood, a liquid membrane, and thinset?

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Comments (3)

MongoCT
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Agree with Tundra.

With the methods used by your installer, what can occur (we've had many examples of this happening on this forum) is that moisture may eventually get into the curb, wet and swell the wood, and the swelling/expansion of the wood core will slowly blow the curb apart.

The liner should cover the curb. There should be no fasteners driven through the liner on the inside or top faces of the curb.
geoffrey_b
8 years ago
Old timers made the curb from bricks. Wood will not work.
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kudzu9
8 years ago
Many years ago I had a beautiful tile shower installed in a new master bath, and was not as knowledgeable about the standards one should insist on for such tiling. After a couple of years, the grout between the 2"X2" tiles on my threshold started to crack, and then the tiles started to pop off. Underneath was a 1/4" layer of thinset directly on top of a pair of 2X4's. The construction looked pretty much like yours. I have no doubt that, as Mongo said, "the wood core will slowly blow the curb apart." Just like mine....