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Ok. I have pretty much officially fired the guy. I have already paid him $430 upfront though. He was pretty mad and said something about charging me at his hourly rate of $80. Wow. 7 hrs x $80 = $560. Really...that much for hanging the cement board incorrectly? He eventually said he would send me a certified check for $300. I will be shocked if I see a penny.
Is there any way I can salvage anything here? I have cement board, some joint compount/thinset/tape mixture in the corners and two coats of Redguard over it.
Can I install an acrylic 3 piece surround over what I have now or will this create a cavity between the Redguard and surround where moisture can't escape?
Can I somehow scrape or sand everything off the cement board and take out the drywall screws?
Ok. I have pretty much officially fired the guy. I have already paid him $430 upfront though. He was pretty mad and said something about charging me at his hourly rate of $80. Wow. 7 hrs x $80 = $560. Really...that much for hanging the cement board incorrectly? He eventually said he would send me a certified check for $300. I will be shocked if I see a penny.
Is there any way I can salvage anything here? I have cement board, some joint compount/thinset/tape mixture in the corners and two coats of Redguard over it.
Can I install an acrylic 3 piece surround over what I have now or will this create a cavity between the Redguard and surround where moisture can't escape?
Can I somehow scrape or sand everything off the cement board and take out the drywall screws?
Scrap the whole thing. You're building on a bad foundation. I doubt you'll see any money out if him. Chalk it up to learning experience
IF it wasn't bad on bad on bad, I'd just leave the sheetrock screws in and add the proper screws near each. Your problem is that there are so many potential failure points that can cause problems in the future. I suggest you go to the JohnBridge.com forums and ask the experts there if anything can be salvaged.
Today I tried to scrape some of the redguard off but I can tell that it would take days to make any progress. It dries on very hard. 4-5 pieces of cement board is about $60 so I'll probably just cut it out. I'm out about $500 unless the guy sends the $300. Hard lesson learned. I could have been out $1500+ if he finished the job and it failed. I suppose it's good that I learned at a young age and now I've learned a few lessons:
1. NEVER pay anything up front. Pay when the job gets done.
2. Learn as much as possible about what you want done so you can know some of the key steps that should be taken. If you interview the contractor, let them tell you what will be done and if they skip some of these steps, show them the door.
3. Fully vet anyone working on your home and don't worry about hurting their feelings because you are grilling them.
And it probably wouldn't hurt to have the contractor write out a brief synopsis of what will be done step by step with a list of the parts he will use (i.e. "1 1/4" cement board screws, Fibatape cement board tape, etc.). This will allow you to have his plan examined by others
I would tear it all out and start fresh. The fact that you have joints in the cement board that are not properly taped is a potential problem and could cause the tile to crack. I mentioned it in my earlier post but I will again, you don't even need the cement board on the walls. Properly finished drywall, primed and then coated with redguard will work. I see it all the time in new homes and did a tile shower in my own house this way 8 years ago.
...you don't even need the cement board on the walls. Properly finished drywall, primed and then coated with redguard will work. I see it all the time in new homes and did a tile shower in my own house this way 8 years ago.
What part of R702.4.1 do you not understand?
And just because you "see it all the time" doesn't make it right!
And just because you "see it all the time" doesn't make it right!
This is another one of those instances where technology is ahead of codes. Properly prepared drywall that is coated with redguard will hold up. If you want to get all technical and dig into engineering details, redguard, when applied properly, is a monolithic waterproofing membrane which also provides for some decoupling. Would cement backer technically be better due to it's absolute water resilience properties? Yes. I didn't say that redguard over drywall would pass current code but then codes change all the time in response to new technology.
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