I’m doing my first Kerdi shower. I’ve read all I could find and viewed Shulter video ( man, does that guy make it look easy),,,,, anyway
– Maybe it’s just me, but I am having a heck of a time wrapping my head around building a shower out of drywall. The downside risk is huge. I don’t even like drywall in the shower area.
– If the shower has an outside wall, should I intall VB as in a normal outside wall. i.e. Kerdi on one side of DW, poly on the other??
– Has anybody ever heard a bad Kerdi story?? I have yet to come across one story of an install that went sideways. Almost seems too good to be true.
Thanks, Harry
Replies
I have some of the same questions. I'm prepping my first shower for Kerdi right now and put up 1/2" durock on the walls. John Bridge says it's fine to do and is overkill. I like the extra stiffness of durock over drywall, but mostly it's just hard to break an old habit. The only stories I have heard are where folks got loose spots in their Kerdi, which I would put down to inadequate thinset and lack of pressure when applying the material. I'm pretty sure I can avoid both of those easily.
The kerdi is the vapor barrier, and using drywall is the whole point of the exercise. Forget about using durrock or hardibacker in the shower, it is obsolete technology.
Also, do a Keri/Schluter search and you will find several threads on using this material.
Use Ditra on your floors, another timesaver.
Happy tiling.
I've told others this about Kerdi.
Use it right over the gyprock as intended. Before you do the work, make an open-top cube box from some scrap OSB, and Kerdi the INSIDE of the box, taking care to do all the seams and inside corners, so you end up with a box that is all-membrane on its inside.
Doing the work is a great warm up exercise, and it will make the shower work seem easy as pie.
When you are all done and the Kerdi is all bonded with fully cured thinset, take your box and fill it with water, then stash the box somewhere where you can keep an eye on things. Unused corner of the basement, garage (if it won't freeze), anywhere. Keep it topped off when water evaporates. Watch it for a year or two or three . . . it won't ever leak.
Thanks for the replies.
Looks like the best way to get comfortable with this Kerdi is to have at it and join the club.
I did my first Kerdi shower last summer. Like David, I went with duroc on the walls insead of drywall. Folks at Schluter said that was OK but you should wet down the duroc before applying the thin-set. It's possible to put up the Kerdi membrane yourself but it helps to have someone there to help you, especially if this is your first shower.
Chip Tam
Wanna watch a Kerdi job get done here on Breaktime? Check out "Small Addition" over in the "Photo Gallery" section.