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Waterproof Floor

Keystone

SAWHORSE
Joined
Feb 23, 2010
Messages
1,297
Location
Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Scenario, Existing home, gut and renovate existing 2nd floor bathroom for accessibility. Shower drain is made part of the floor, wall hung lavy drain outlet and water supply come thru wall, toilet drain and supply come thru floor. Grade nearest shower pitches towards shower drain, remaining area of floor at wall hung lavy and toilet flat.

Do you require test of an entire floor assembly with 2" of water and a temporary curb at the bathrooms entry door?

Any products out there for this type of scenario, floor mounted toilet flanges and water supply?

I say the floor assembly is also a shower assembly and is to be tested and comments have been listed on plan review as such.

Thoughts/Comments???
 
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"Do you require test of an entire floor assembly with 2" of water and a temporary curb at the bathrooms entry door?"
I would not, ...others might...........Are you asking about the weight loading ofthe whole floor assembly, or ensuring that the entire area is watertight,

both, or other ?

If you are concerned about the weight loading, see what the applicable

code in your area requires, then triple those requirements............It is

acceptable to "overbuild".

"I say the floor assembly is also a shower assembly and is to be tested and comments have been listed on plan review as such."
What is your recommendation for the floor assembly to be tested ?Also, would you accept mathematical calculations from a structural

engineer in lieu of some sort of an actual "loading event" ?

Thanks !

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Wood frame construction.

The concern is being water tight. My feeling and the home owners, the floor should be water tight.

The contractor and another inspector disagree, I told the other inspector to sign off on it. Oops that's right your not part of this jurisdiction, A-Hole, talk to me before you run your mouth.
 
I MIGHT accept a reasonable dam location, but it sounds like the entire floor is not unreasonable......Do they have some kind of dam issue? Does the manufacturer of the shower products not give a dam with their materials?
 
When I encounter these I ask that the area of the shower, which is large enough for a wheelchair to maneuver, to be filled with water. I don't ask them to flood the floor.

The reason a shower pan is filled with water is so that I can stick a tape in the water and gauge the slope of the pan. Hardly ever would I be able to detect a leak. You know that the floor is flat. If it leaks will you be able to know that?

There have been cases where a second-floor shower pan leaked before I got there. But if they fill the pan within a short time before my arrival, which is typical, I won't find any leaks.

The number of flat pans that I have found is surprising.
 
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Since this is a roll in shower, there is no dam/curb. There is a very specific definition for built up showers in the plumbing code, just the area that comprises the shower is required to be tested. Test method gets difficult due to no curb/dam. Temporary dam may be the best solution to get the minimum water depth.

Time for a code revision to address the issue. I have seen a few roll-ins that are leaking, about 1/3 of them at the shower pan liner to floor junction. The problem is most likely due to lack of experience in constructing a roll-in shower base pan/liner.
 
Update...

The contractor has decided to solve the concern of water finding its way down the floor mounted toilet flange, has build up the toilet area with cement material by 1.5", in doing so he has created another problem - the bathroom entry door is directly in front of the toilet and now has a 1 3/4" lip plus a steep slope to the now defined shower area. This bathroom is 7' by 6'

I broke the news to the contractor about the unreasonable transitions. He agreed then went on about overspending already.

Some people have no business working on such a critical project.

This project is funded by grant monies, going to set up a meeting with the grant company project manager.
 
Contractor removed pieced liner and built up floor, replaced with new liner, properly sloped, temporary curb at door. We completed our water test and bingo all is well. Received a thank you letter from the homeowners and an apology from the contractor in front of the homeowner, nice when a plan comes together....
 
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