Shower pans/liners and radiant heat

Joe_51

If you have this kind of money and time invested you should look into the Kerdi shower system made Schluter systems. You can find info about it at their website or go to the "John Bridge" tile website forums. You'll be glad you did.

pete sequera

Radiant heat and shower pans/liners

Hi:

What are the pro's and con's of using a liner versus hot mop for a shower with radiant heat in the floor? Has anyone run into problems? Are there any specific brands that anyone has experience with and might recommend?

Specifically, I'm using Wirsbo 1/2" Quick Track and am concerned about the longevity of the liner around the heat. The temperature should be around 80-100 degrees. The Quick Track tubing, at the center drain, will be separated from the liner by 1/8 of plywood that slopes up to 5/8 in the corners. I could go thicker, but we want to keep the
floor as low as possible.

One concern about hot mopping is that it might smell. (I recently rebuilt a '67 Mustang and added insulating panels made of a tar-like substance and on hot days, the car has an awful smell. The only good thing is that now nobody else wants to drive the car.)

Any help or product recommendations that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

hr

Go with a liner

First off how do you make a hot mop job attach to the shower drain ring? Seems that's a leak from day one!

The liner material I have used is a PVC, or sometimes an EPDM product. Should easily handle temperatures of 140 or more. Else all my pvc drain pipes would be melting

Use a shower pan material and a shower drain with a clamping ring and weep holes for a long lasting, troublefree, code compliant job.

Nothing like a radiant shower floor by the way, you will enjoy every shower.

hot rod

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Harold

Membrane

I looked at the Schluter information. The drainage membrane seems useful but it is not clear to me what the advantage of the Kerdi mambrane would be. It has no inherent seam sealing capability such as achieved by bonded seams on other membranes. If the waterproof mortar works for a seam; why not eliminate the membrane and use the mortar for the layer (i.e., will it realy seal). It just seems that EPDM or PVC sheet makes more sense for reliable sealing.

Robert O'Connor_7

LOOKS like scratch has met it's match....

I've installed probably every material made for shower pans. I recently had a rather large one with multible angles and a seat. Now I'm not one for giving a job away....BUT. I had a guy come in and do the whole thing in fiberglass, and ya know what? It's better, quicker, cheaper, and guaranteed LONGER than I could of...And very radiant friendly. The only draw back would be the smell that lingers for a few days. But heck, I'm use to having my mother in law around and being a plumber......well, you could just imagine...Robert O'Connor/NJ..

ScottMP

I 'll say it again

we do a copper pan over the radiant floor. Run our climate panel ( wirsbo quick trac to some ) and then install our Wolverine Brass shower pan drain and then the pan.

No problem and a warm shower floor.

Scott

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Drew_2

shower pan

Pete, go to www.noblecompany.com, click on products, in the center column you'll find shower products. Chloraloy is CPE membrane for the pan and ProSlope is a device that will give you the required slope to meet code. There are instructions there for installation.
The thing that most Plumbers like about a CPE membrane is that it doesn't have the memory of other materials that are used for showerpan. In other words, when you roll it out, it will lay flat and the folding of the corners is much easier.

If you have questions, give me a call. 800-678-6625 Ext108

Drew

pete sequera

Hi All:

Thanks a lot for the info. This is a very useful forum as it can be hard to get good, non-conflicting info. I went from not feeling comfortable about any options to having a number of solid choices.

I think I'll dip six the hot mop.

I've heard good things about the Chloraloy from several sources. The manufacturer says its good to 180 degrees (and melts at around 300). The main thing is that it's not supposed to get hard and brittle, which was a concern (and which I've heard can, over time, be an issue with PVC, as key compounds can leach out).

I took a quick lot at Kerdi and will check more as it looks like they have some interesting stuff.

I too was wondering about the waterproofing compounds and why, if they're so good, you would still need a pan membrane. Perhaps it's just to play it safe in this critical area.

I've not heard of a copper pan, but it sounds interesting. I'd expect it to work along the lines of copper pipes and I'll give it some more thought.

Thanks everyone.

Pete

Joe_51

KERDI

I spent a considerable amount of time designing/planning the walk in shower for the house we are building and came to the conclusion that the Kerdi system was the most fool proof system for the DIY'er. Don't get me wrong..the pvc liner systems well very well to.