Today has been a productive day (indicating that tomorrow all hell will break loose). I got the first coat of tape and mud on the walls (seams, corners and screw holes). For the DIYers, I used a self-adhesive fiber tape for all the seams, and a paper tape for all the corners. For mud I've been using Durabond 90 hot mud which is meant for repairs so it hardens to a rock-like consistency that can't really be sanded. It's called a hot mud because it comes as a powder and you mix it yourself. Unlike pre-mixed mud which dries via evaporation, hot mud dries via a chemical reaction. It will dry and harden in 90 minutes regardless of anything else. You just can't stop it. Why use that? Two reasons: First, because it's so hard, it really aids in preventing cracks. Second, mould don't like it. In fact, mould won't grow on it so big plus there. And with drying times of just a few hours it means you can get a couple coats on in a day. The rest of the mudding will also be a hot mud - Sheetrock 90 - but it's meant to be sanded so I can get a nice flair. Final coat will be a pre-mixed ultra smooth top coat.
With the taping done and the mudding started I decided to tackle the Kerdi membrane in the shower alcove. If you're not familiar with it Kerdi is that orange stuff you see all being using on the shower walls in all those DIY shows. It's a waterproof membrane that adheres via unmodified thinset to the backer boards. Like drywall, you tape the seams (using thinset instead of mud) and and once you're done you've got a waterproof membrane to attach your tiles to.
And that is the next phase - tiling. Gosh, I really can't wait so see if I can't
screw up take on the challenge of tiling a shower. Yeah, this should be fun...
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