Tile Shower Pans Have a Hidden Secret

Tile shower pans either work or showers leak.And believe me a leaky shower creates an expensive mess.Maybe you don't know that shower floors naturally leak.They do.But there are three key features of a tile shower that makes a naturally leaky shower waterproof.The real mystery is all three features are hidden.You see a tile shower floor leaks.That's because neither ceramic tile or the grout in the tile joints is waterproof.Water seeps through the floor.Now you can apply sealer to slow the leaking.But you can't stop it.Water just goes down into the floor and through it.So there is more to a waterproof shower than you can see.That part that you can't see is the shower pan.You can't see it from the top of the floor and you can't even see it from underneath the shower.Now shower pans come in several types but they all perform the same function.The most common type of tile shower pan is built from masonry which surely isn't waterproof.So here's the first trick.A shower drain is more than meets the eye.The drain isn't like a sink drain.It actually has drain holes on two levels.The level you see in the floor is just one of the levels.The other drain level is in the floor.It's down below the surface, and kept open in a traditional shower by a layer of small gravel.How does having a drain below the surface help?That drain is where the water that seeps through the floor ends up.You see the shower floor has a waterproof layer built into it.Usually that layer is a special vinyl sheet that absolutely will not leak.So the water that makes it through the floor reaches the vinyl membrane and then heads toward the lower drain.That's the second secret ingredient to most shower pans.Then the final trick is the vinyl membrane is glued to a flange on the drain to form a waterproof joint.So in effect you have a waterproof pool built into the shower floor and thus no water gets through the shower pan.That's how you get a leak proof shower pan that will work for a long time and look good the whole time.So a shower naturally leaks.But that's not a problem because of what you can't see.The built in shower pan keeps a shower working right and looking right for a long, long time.

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