DenSheild Question

Mantaray14 · 01-13-2010, 05:48 PM

I hired a contactor come help me out with some of the harder parts of a bathroom remodel. He basically took care of the waterproofing, tub install/plumbing.

He used DensShield in the shower area and did the bathroom floor with it as well. I'm okay with it in the shower area (as long as it's installed correctly, should be fine), but he screwed the DensShield directly to the original subfloor of the house. The instructions say to set it in Mortar - I'm a little concerned about this. Should I be? I want this floor to last but I don't want to redo it unless I have to. There's a ton of screws in it...

Thanks

ARI001 · 01-13-2010, 08:29 PM

It needs to be removed. It is not installed correctly.

Bob Mariani · 01-13-2010, 08:45 PM

Remove it and do it right. And find a real contractor. Do not pay for these hacks. show him how it is to be done correctly. Did he/she even check the deflection of the subfloor to see if it was sufficient for a tile installation?

ponch37300 · 01-14-2010, 05:08 PM

Is this "contractor" licensed and insured? Like mentioned ditch him and learn a lesson. Sometimes it costs more to hire a real contractor. You pay for their skills.

Mantaray14 · 01-14-2010, 05:52 PM

He's a licensed contractor, but i think after 30 years he just has a feel for where he thinks he can get away with things. In other words, he's not a perfectionist. No more money for contractors though. I can redo this floor easily (riping up the denshield will be hardest part IMO). Then I'll screwdown a plywood underlayment to the original subfloor and mortar the denshield on top of that.

I'd like to have the floor raised a bit anyway, because our deep tub is 20in high and any bit I can add to the floor will help with getting in and out of the tub.

Thanks

ponch37300 · 01-14-2010, 05:58 PM

If he didn't mortar it down it should come up pretty easy, just a bounch of screws to take out.

Mantaray14 · 01-14-2010, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponch37300

If he didn't mortar it down it should come up pretty easy, just a bounch of screws to take out.

Yea, he only used about 150 screws, maybe because he was too lazy to mortar then darn thing!

Bob Mariani · 01-15-2010, 08:03 AM

So this hard work (assuming you use a screw gun) involves removing 150 screws. About 15 minutes if you drink a lot of coffee.

Mantaray14 · 01-16-2010, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Mariani

So this hard work (assuming you use a screw gun) involves removing 150 screws. About 15 minutes if you drink a lot of coffee.

Your right, didn't take too long.

I purchased 1/2 inch plywood because there is already an existing subfloor (the houses original subfloor, consisting of what I think are 1x4 wood beams), and I don't want to go up TOO much in height (a little extra height is desirable because of the tub issue I mentioned above).

Hope to get it in this weekend. I know about the spacing (1/4 in the perimeter, 1/8 in the field) and staggering the joints. The floor space is approx 5x7 (5x9 bathroom minus the already installed tub), so I purchased one large piece of plywood and one small 2x4 piece. I think I could cut one long piece like 4x6 to cover the majority of the floor (trafficed area), and stagger two smaller 1x3 pieces to go in the "no traffic" areas under vanity and toilet.

Of course the measurements will be much more precise, but that's my general idea! Does this sound like the best way to do it?

Thanks