This topic contains 62 replies, has 19 voices, and was last updated by 
cmeyer25 4 months, 3 weeks ago.
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I am in the process of building a steam room. Following is completed:
-Framing
-Concrete board installation on the ceiling, and all interior walls
-Concrete bench seat construction
-All pluming roughing
-Steam generator is installed and connected to water source
-All electrical work except the ceiling light installation which will be done after tile is installed
-Floor floatingNext step is waterproofing the inside walls before tile installation. I am considering several products but I am not sure which one is the best to use for my project.
-Hydro Bond-Laticrete
-RedGuard
-Aqua DefenceI would appreciate professionals who has built steam rooms before provide me recommendation on which product is the best to use.
Thanks
AlevAttachments:
I used schluter membrane over the base and corners AND aqua defence over everything.
Oh, that was a shower not a steam room. Any difference in terms of waterproofing?Stem room is enclosed area not like typical shower. Door is sealed as well so that steam will not escape from the room during use. Room has to be completely waterproofed from ceiling to floor, otherwise over time moisture will get behind the tiles. My floor base is concrete slab and I have the floated concrete sloping to the drain. Only one wall is next to the garage which is insulated. I did not insulate the remaining walls because they are inside walls. Also, I was told with the liquid membrane over everything insulation is not needed. That being said, most of the information I read is pointing me towards Hydro Bond-Laticrete or Mapelastic HPG liquid membrane because they are thicker products.
This sounds pretty interesting, you don’t see many steam rooms in residential homes. Do you have any pictures of the progress so far?
Edit: sorry I didnt see the pictures when I first looked on my phone it looks good so far.
First off welcome to the forum. We have done a few steam showers and the shculter kerdi system is one of the best out there
Thank you Austin, I considered Shculter kerdi system as well, I have not used this product and I heard it is more cumbersome to install compare to liquid membrane.
Thank you Austin, I considered Shculter kerdi system as well, I have not used this product and I heard it is more cumbersome to install compare to liquid membrane.
That is true the kerdi isn’t as installer friendly as some of the liquid product. It does take more time but like a lot of things the easiest isn’t always the best. Not to say that one of the easier to install products won’t do what you want and last.
@diypro welcome to BTP,
Interesting project you have going on,
I think that you will be interested in hearing what @overanalyze and @andyg have to say about your project, they have many years experience and expertise in this area, not saying other members don’t, just figured the more information you get, the better prepared you will be, also @chadm has great experience,
I’m sure by tomorrow you will have many options available and opinions from numerous members here, good luck,
Looking forward for hearing about the best ways,I would think, at the end of the day, waterproof is waterproof. But, I just did my first shower so I’m new at it.
What are the time constraints? I would think ultimately that is what determine the product to use.
I went with 2 sloppy thick coats of liquid. Once dried, it should be as water proof as anything else.
Am I right guys?
Thank you Boshmanbrian. I will contact them.
I would think, at the end of the day, waterproof is waterproof.
Am I right guys?Same opinion here. Water or steam waterproofing is the same.
Steam showers are a different beast. There are some waterproofing products that are not recommended for steam and some that require some extra steps. Do not just guess. Schluter, Wedi, and Noble products have systems or techniques that are appoved for steam. I really would recommend hiring a pro that has some steam showers in their portfolio. You may be able to find someone to do the waterproofing part but they still probably will not provide any warranty if they don’t install the tile. I would also look at grouts. I wouldn’t want anything but epoxy or urethane.
Andrew
A Working Pro since 1995!
Member since March 26, 2014.
Steam showers are a different beast. There are some waterproofing products that are not recommended for steam and some that require some extra steps. Do not just guess. Schluter, Wedi, and Noble products have systems or techniques that are appoved for steam. I really would recommend hiring a pro that has some steam showers in their portfolio. You may be able to find someone to do the waterproofing part but they still probably will not provide any warranty if they don’t install the tile. I would also look at grouts. I wouldn’t want anything but epoxy or urethane.
Thia gentleman knows his ‘poop’ when it comes to showers and different products related to showers and such. Just so you know.
As @boschmanbrian mentioned, @andyg does showers day after day, although he chimes in periodically lately.
You may also want to peruse or query the John Bridge forum. It’s dedicated to this tradesperson area.
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1
Kevin.
I would think, at the end of the day, waterproof is waterproof.
Am I right guys?Same opinion here. Water or steam waterproofing is the same.
Most definitely not the same. Waterproofing pertains to water, which is a liquid. Steam is water vapor, which is a gas. Vapor will pass through where liquid can not. The TCNA in 2013 changed the requirement for steam showers to < .50 perms (down from 1.0). For example, Kerdi (.75) doesn’t even meet that requirement anymore. Kerdi Board (.48) does, as does Kerdi-DS (.18), which has been around a long time and was mostly limited to commercial applications.
Thanks Ryan, learned something new with those requirements.
Thermodynamically speaking that steam is called wet steam because it’s a mixture of steam and droplets of water. It’s not 100% gas.
You don’t have pure steam in those cabins to be considered gas.Always remember water vapor behaves differently than just water , and many trowel applied liquids require a certain thickness in order to block it .
Think of how effective a steam iron is versus misting with water .
Lots of good ideas, thank you for the recommendations. I decided to use the Hydro Ban waterproofing membrane. I have couple more questions for those have built steam rooms on concrete slab flooring:
1. Can I use the Hydro Ban directly on the floated concrete floor, concrete bench
2. One plumber told me that I will need to wrap the floor, threshold, concrete bench and 3″ of the wall behind the bench with fiberglass shower mesh risen system behind the Hydro Ban product; is this true? Hydro Ban told me I do not need additional fabric or fiberglass mesh under their product.Bottom line is, I would like to use the Hydro Ban, many people had good success with this product. In the same time I am doing everything right to avoide leakage problems in the future.
Thanks for your help
Mesh is cheap…use it.
Andy, are talking about fiberglass mesh with the Hydro Ban?
Thank you all for great input. After considering all the recommendations, I desired to create fiberglass pan on the floor, bench, and 12″ of the wall. I will float over the fiberglass, and apply 2 coats of the Mapei Mapelistic Aquadefense liquid rubber membrain. Marble and granite will be installed after that. I will let everyone know how it turned out.
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