I’m a first time curbless shower builder and I’m wondering how to solve an issue I found. After getting all the tile in, I was cleaning the grout haze and washing the walls with the shower hose, and I noticed water running right where it shouldn’t. I know why, I’m just not sure what to do.
I’ve attached an image. Red represents the edge of tile, being a continuous edge of the shower floor, the entry tile, and the floor tile. Green represents the backerboard, all waterproofed with kerdi. Blue represents a natural path that gets created when you leave expansion space between the tile and backerboard. That space acts perfect to guide water right out of the shower and into the closet (yikes). Blue is water path. Also yes this is symmetrical so water does the same on the other side.
The floor outside of the shower is waterproofed to the wall represented in orange, so I’m not worried if water gets on the floor. It just can’t run all the way over to the closet.
Yellow is an imaginary bead of silicon to stop the river of water. This is my current solution. It would block the river and any water that gets backed up, ends up on water proofed surfaces. I also understand that if I seal (silicone) the wall tile to the floor, it’ll prevent water from gushing into the river and it’ll likely never seep all the way over there. I’m not building this thing assuming the silicone is going to last forever or that future owners will replace it in a timely fashion however.
I’m curious, in general for curbless showers, after the tile is put in, what is the suggestion for the trough that gets created at the edges of tile, where the expansion joint is? Water will take that path all day if it can. How is this prevented?