Waterproofing That Protects Your Investment

Do I need to waterproof a shower before tiling?

Yes, always. Tile and grout are not waterproof — water passes through grout and reaches whatever is behind it. A shower requires a dedicated waterproofing membrane on the pan and the walls, installed to the manufacturer's specification.

This is the most common corner cut in the trade, because it is invisible the moment tile goes over it. A shower tiled onto plain drywall looks identical on handover day to one built correctly. The difference shows up as a stain on the ceiling below, three years later.

What is a shower pan and why does it matter?

The shower pan is the sloped, waterproofed floor assembly under the tile that carries water to the drain. It has to slope consistently toward the drain across its whole surface and be sealed continuously into the wall waterproofing.

• Slope built into the pan itself, not shimmed under the tile
• Drain set to the finished tile height so water does not pond at the edges
• Waterproofing carried continuously from the pan up the walls — no gap at the transition
• Curb wrapped on all three faces, which is where a lot of pans leak
• Niches and benches integrated into the membrane, sloped so they drain
• Corners and changes of plane reinforced before the membrane goes on

How do I know if my shower is leaking behind the tile?

The reliable signs are a musty smell, discolored or soft drywall on the other side of the shower wall, a stain on the ceiling of the room below, hollow-sounding tile near the shower floor, and grout that keeps cracking in the same place after repair.

Any of those means the water is already past the tile. At that point, regrouting is cosmetic. We open the assembly, find the failure point and show it to you before we quote the repair.

Can you fix a leaking shower without a full rebuild?

Occasionally — if the leak traces to a failed silicone joint, a cracked pan at one specific point, or a drain connection. More often, a leak that has reached the point of being visible means the waterproofing has failed as a system, and patching one spot buys a year.

We tell you which of the two you have, and we show you the evidence. We would rather lose the small repair than sell you one we know will fail.