Shower Waterproofing in New Britain, CT

Stop using the shower and have it looked at. A ceiling stain under a tiled shower usually points to a pan or a wall joint that has failed, and the fix is a rebuild of the wet area on a bonded membrane, not a regrout. We can inspect from below, open a test area and tell you honestly what the shower needs.

Yes. The drain is plugged, the pan filled to just below the curb, marked, and left for 24 hours before tile. It costs a day and catches the problem that would otherwise cost a ceiling. You are welcome to see the water line the next morning.

No. A bonded membrane has to be on the substrate under the tile, so it means removing the tile and backer. If your shower is sound and just has failing grout or silicone, our repair service can address that; if the pan or walls are wet, the wet area is rebuilt.

The waterproofing and tile are exempt from a building permit under the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code. Replacing the drain assembly or the valve is plumbing work that the plumber permits through the City of New Britain's Department of Licenses, Permits and Inspections at 27 West Main Street. We sequence the inspection between rough-in and membrane.

We build the pan, then go over it with a bonded waterproofing membrane such as a Schluter-KERDI style sheet or a liquid-applied one where the geometry calls for it. The membrane runs over the pan, up the walls, around the curb, and over every seam, corner and valve penetration, and we hold a twenty-four-hour flood test before any tile goes down. If a drop moves, we find it while it is still inexpensive to fix.

Only sometimes, and only when the old tile passes the checks: solidly bonded everywhere when you tap it, flat, and structurally sound, with enough give at the outlets, counters and doors to absorb the added thickness. When it fails any of those, tiling over it locks the problem in. On a wet area we almost always take it down to the substrate instead.