Wrong Way to Install Tile

I was out at a new house the other day and decided to go to the house next door and see what kind of workmanship the tile setter was providing from the competition. Overall, the job was descent until I got to the master bath shower. I was shocked to find that the tile was installed directly on the backerboard without any waterproofing between the two. And, ontop of that, organic tile adhesive was used to set the tile. This is an accident waiting to happen. You can imagine how much water a shower puts out on a weekly basis. All that water and steam will migrate throught the porous grout joints and basically dissolve the setting material used. This usually takes aboot a year and by that time your warranty is over. But you still have a leaking shower causing water damage and mold growth in the walls. I snapped the photos below.

You can see that the wrong setting material was used and that no care has been taken to prevent water from getting into the wall cavity where the shower lever will be. The proper methods would have been to use a water-tight memebrane behind the tile and use portland based thinset to set the tile. A moisture plug should have been used at all wall openings to prevent water penetration. If this was your shower, would you want all that water getting into your walls? If you want it done correctly, give us a call.