*apologies for the typos . . .

What in hell was he doing and or thinking? You need to put the brakes on this and get your GC involved pronto. Yes your waterproofing is done as far as the niche is concerned. That is awful.

oh no,,just no... that's a fail. the wood, the screw holes,,,all of it.

looks like there was Kerdi or something similar for waterproofing? now he's screwed holes into and made it, well, you know. and the wood?? huh? in a wet area?

nope..nope,,,and er, nope.

this is a debacle. do not have anyone tile over this. do you have any photos of what it looked like before and what you're trying to accomplish? Call in an actual tile setter who understands waterproofing.

💩😲🙄🤬🤢🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

I had a momentary generous thought and though that perhaps the boards were screwed in to hold the hex in place while the thinset cured, prevent slumping. But then I looked closer and that thought vaporized pretty quickly.

Is that Kerdi on the top of the niche?

Screwing through the membrane, yeah, not the brightest thing to do. The holes can be patched.

If the boards are there to build out the surface, they can do that with without fasteners by using mortar. Or 1/4" cement board. Or...

Yeah, find out what the motivation was. It seems this person took a wrong turn while trying to find an answer.

@millworkman @Beth H. : @HALLETT & Co. This is what I feared. This is starting to really feel like a nightmare.

Was the rest of the shower waterproofed correctly? Because this is a fail.

The niche is absolutely NOT waterproofed. When you look at the wall tile where it meets the niche there is no overlapping membrane to waterproof the opening. As @cpartist asked:
Was the rest of the shower waterproofed correctly?
Also, is your contractor licensed and bonded? I suggest making a list of questions to find out what steps he took to waterproof you shower. A leaking shower can be a huge cost depending on how extensive the damage is over time.

Do you have any photos taken after the waterproofing was installed but before tile?

@hallett & co

YOU ARE SCREWED. literally. Yes fail, flunk awful

Where did you find the hacks?Rip the entire thing and start over. There IS no waterproofing, ANYWHERE. Skip the niche, while you're at it.

I still can't believe it.............

What the hell was he thinking OMG that is now a do over and another reason I hate shower niches in my experience this is where the leaks most often occur too.

Since there’s NO waterproofing, stop work and have a meeting. In the meeting tell them you can tell from that picture that there is no waterproofing. Tell company to send a different crew with an actual tile professional. They need to re-demo the whole thing and start over. This is ALL on their dime since they built it wrong. Check license, insurance, etc. Did they pull permits? Inspections happening? If/when they fail again, ask for a full refund and part ways. Post back here for support as you prepare for and have this discussion.

I'm a bit perplexed by the comments after the OP posted the pic of the shower before all of the tiles were applied. This shows that the tiler used the Kerdi board waterproofing system and all of the seams, joints and niche have been protected. There is no doubt that the two pieces of filler material that has been added to the right and left sides of the niche are questionable. If they are wood then these can simply be removed, any holes can be sealed.

yeah I agree with above. That is a kerdi shower. Not understanding why people are saying it’s not waterproofed. Kerdi band applied over the seams as well. So it was waterproofed till the screw holes. Probably needs Kerdi fix and some patches. Once wood is removed.

Looked like ordinary wallboard to me..........: ( didn't really notice the ORANGE, still hate the niche contrption.

Jan - you should of had a few more coffee's before commenting.

They can remove the wood pieces, patch the holes, then fur it out with kerdiboard using thinset, no fasteners necessary.

Yeah...................you're right on that. I'd delete the idiocy, but WTH. lol I think I'll have some more "cuppas" right this minute.

He should have known better...... :(

It does appear (from your image) that some of the seams were waterproofed with the Kerdi band. Except I'm not sure the right corner has Kerdi band with the shadowing of the image. I would say the niche could be salvaged and re-waterproofed. The tile in the niche likely cannot be salvaged, as would be the case with the tile installed around the opening. The opening of the niche should have some finished edging, such as tile bullnose or Schluter edging. Hopefully your contractor will rectify the situation and not add on any costs associated with his employees errors.

not a catastrophe.. kerdi can be "wet shimmed" against studs, so they can use thin kerdi board and thinset to fix the sides of the niche.

What is with the tile slivers on the right side of the wall? No excuse for that either