Tiling a Custom Shower the Modern Way | Shower Waterproofing Systems

The popularity of custom tiled showers has skyrocketed in recent years, with many people wishing to express their personal style with their tile choices. With a tiled shower, there are so many options; do you want to create a classic subway tile look, or a sleek modern stone? How about a concrete inspired porcelain or hand formed glazed ceramics?
However, before you can even think about the aesthetics, you’ve got to think about the waterproofing system underneath that tile. One of the greater reasons for the surge in popularity of tiled showers is because of the recent advancements in tiling and waterproofing technology. Tiled showers used to labour intensive, tricky to install correctly, prone to leaks and more. Here is a short history on how it used to be done... and how it’s done today.

Years ago, a tiled shower was a process which required significant skills in sloping cement, coupled with excessive labour involving hundreds of pounds of cement-boards and sloping cements (thick-bed mortar). Many people were required to complete the installation, from the plumber to the trades-person attaching cement-board panels to the wall to, of course, the tile installer. This method added cost, time and, not to mention, a greater chance of error when something went wrong.
At the beginning of the construction, the tile installer would start by “pre-sloping” the floor with a dry-pack (thick-bed) mortar to provide slope for a bladder (a type of thick rubber liner).  Once the mortar cured, a plumber would install the “bladder” and connect it to the drain. The bladder provided the waterproofing for the shower.
The tile installer would then slope the shower floor, applying an additional hundred(s) of pounds of dry-pack (thick-bed) mortar. The installer had to be skilled at creating a uniform, consistent slope which met the code requirement of 1/4” slope per ft. (2% gradient).
The tile installer would then install individual sheets of cement-board, each sheet weighing in excess of 60lbs, fastening the cement-boards to the stud-work walls. Only then, after many days of preparation, countless hours of labor and hundreds of pounds of cement, could the tile installer begin tiling.​

Today, that complex process is significantly simplified! The work can now be completed in less than three hours, with over 80% less weight in materials; even DIY'ers can create a simple custom shower installation with reliable results. ​

​Shower bases now come pre-sloped, made from specific polystyrene (foam) materials and coated with a special bonding surface so the tiles can easily be applied. The old style “bladders” are no longer necessary, as the polystyrene shower bases provide both the sloping and waterproofing functions in one.

Even better, the polystyrene shower bases come in multiple sizes which can be easily cut to fit on site, and curbs and extension panels are also available, so you can customize your space with any size of shower you’d like. You might be concerned that a foam shower base wouldn’t be strong enough to hold tile, but they have been engineered to evenly distribute weight without crushing, and form an extremely durable shower floor.

​And what about the old cement-board wall panels? The days of hauling 60lbs sheets of cement-board sheets are over, having been replaced with- you guessed it- polystyrene panels, weighing only a fraction of what the cement board panels did. You simply screw the panels directly to the stud-work (spaced a minimum 16” OC) and caulk. And what’s the icing on the cake? These foam panels, like the shower bases, are also completely waterproof! ​

Once you’ve got the base of your shower installed, the fun part begins- choosing custom features like benches, niches, fixtures and, of course, tile!
We carry the entire Ubertile Shower System in our store, and the system can be purchased online as well.