Shower door installation not a place to skimp
Q: I’m having cultured marble installed in a shower in myhouse. The installers have made it clear that they install, period. They won’tdrill holes to replace the sliding shower door. I don’t own a power drill anddon’t feel confident enough to rent or borrow one and try to drill the holesmyself, as I believe a special bit is required. Is there a way to reinstall theshower doors using some kind of adhesive that won’t damage the cultured marble?The doorframe is lightweight aluminum and the shower won’t get much use.
A: Sorry,we don’t recommend gluing the doorframe to the wall. The one exception is ifthe manufacturer allows this type of installation. The fact that you won’t useit much doesn’t play into it. The next guy might.
In ourview, there is a fair chance that you will create a safety hazard if you glueit. Often a person using the shower will grab the door and without a secureframe would run the risk of having the frame fall out, possibly causing injury.
It’s asimple job that can be done in short order. Normally we would encourage you todo this yourself but because you would have to buy, borrow or rent a drill, wesuggest you look for a handyman to install your new shower door.
Q: Inmy 1940s bathroom, the tile only goes halfway up the wall around thetub/shower. Above that were glued white Masonite panels, which I tore off. Butthat left me with a top layer of plaster that’s broken, brittle and coveredwith old adhesive.
Forshower use, I want to install new panels over this area. I am considering usingDupont Wall Surfaces, which recommends installation over green board. Do I tearthe plaster down to the wall studs and install green board? Or can I repair thetop layer of plaster and seal it? How should I do this and what products shouldI use?
A: Becauseyou have gone to the trouble of tearing up half the tub/shower enclosure, whynot go all the way and replace the tile too? This is the cleanest — and wethink the most efficient — way to do this job.
Itshouldn’t cost you much more to redo the entire shower. You can do thedemolition yourself by removing the lath and plaster exposing the studs. Youcan even install the green gypsum board that is recommended by themanufacturer. Once the wall is prepared, professionals can install the finishedwall surfaces.
We alwaysrecommend that manufacturer’s recommendations be followed when installing anyproduct. Doing so gives the best chance of successfully completing the job andwill leave any warranty attached to the product intact. We do not recommendinstalling Dupont Wall Surface over the existing compromised plaster wall. Yourwall is broken, brittle and pockmarked with adhesive. A panel of any kind isonly as good as the support below it. Even if Dupont allowed this product to beapplied over existing plaster, we’d recommend against it.
Installyour new Wall Surface over green board as recommended by Dupont. Theirtechnical information states, “The only recommended support for this typeof installation is water-resistant gypsum board.” They also caution thatonly their proprietary “Surfaces Adhesive” and “SurfacesSealant” be used in the installation. No substitutes allowed.
For moreinformation regarding Dupont Wall Surfaces go to www.wallsurfaces.dupont.com.
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Copyright 2007 Bill and Kevin Burnett
