Wedi board, Durock, Cement board?

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three_jeeps

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I am facing a complete shower tearout to the studs and redo with ceramic tile, and getting a BM together. A neighbor recently went through this and the contractor used Wedi board. The neighbor has had issues with water leaks in the floor as well the side walls, specifically lower half where the wall meets the pan. This is a 30 yo bath so it has seen its day. The neighbor, wanted something totally waterproof and decided to use the Wedi system (boards, floor pan, etc.) for every thing.
I looked into using wedi and it seems to offer lots of advantages over Durock, and the various other 'backer board' products out there, but is more expensive and using the urathane joint sealer can be a little trickey . I have no problem with that if it really does waterproof the interior. It seems that this is the ideal product for this application but from what I've seen, doesn't get speced a lot.

Thoughts on using Wedi vs others? is it really better as far as being water proof?
thanks
 
Anything of them are better than durock. I'm not familiar with this specific product. I would like to see a product that itself is not permeable, ALONG WITH all of the other waterproofing measures. Durock starts permeable and gets cracked as soon as its moved and fastened down. Then from there it gets worse.
 
It looks like the product your asking about has some pluses and some minuses. It'd be a judgment call. It doesn't look ridgid enough for my liking which is probably why it's not spec'd very often. It looks good for sound and water, and it looks really easy to use.
 
I haven't done any remodeling for years but when I started all that was available was "greenboard drywall" or Durarock. I hated Durarock, if you weren't VERY careful the board would crack where the screws went in. Then I discovered Hardyboard. Great product, totally waterproof. I haven't done any shower/tub tiling since, but have used the 1/4" (nom.) for floor tile underlayment, and have been very happy with it. AND... I install it with my narrow crown air gun. Set at about 100 PSI and with 1 1/4 staples I can install it about 3 times faster than screwing it down. I set it on "bump mode" and put in about twice as many fasteners as I would screws, but it goes in sooo fast!
 
There's a huge reason why you don't find Wediboard specified that often. It's quite costly, and has limited distribution.

You can love or hate Durock or Hardi (or their equivalents from other manufacturers) but they are pretty cheap: a 3x5 sheet of Durock at Home Depot is less than $10. For Hardibacker, it's about $15. Not only can you get these products at HD or Lowes, you can get them from about anywhere that sells building products. If it's not those exact brands, its ones almost identical.

Interestingly supply and price of those products hasn't been affected too much. OSB has skyrocketed from about $7.50/sheet to about $45. All lumber has supply issues too. At least you can get your bathroom done!

In my area of NC the only distributor of Wedi board is Tile Shoppe. It's $62.50 a sheet. I've bought a LOT of tile from the Tile Shoppe, and nothing is ever in stock at the selling location. EVERYTHING has to be ordered in. Most contractors don't want to deal with that.

All prices quoted are for 3x5 x .5"
 
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Onyx is a nice product, and they will help you with layout. This is shipped in a fixed arrangement, no wiggle room for measurements that are not accurate. Timeline for delivery will be minimally several weeks, so you have time to plan, as long as you have an alternative bathroom. An option to Onyx may be a "cultured marble" company in your area. In our area, the installer will come out and take their own measurements. The local company in our area had only one drain arrangement that didn't fit our needs but would fit most. Even with these products, do a good job of waterproofing behind the panels and pan.
 
I installed Onyx in the early 80's. It made for a quick makeover, but to me it looks dated.
 
havasu said:
I installed Onyx in the early 80's. It made for a quick makeover, but to me it looks dated.
Click to expand...
The new products appear as granite and loor great. Just rebuilt my house after fire and installed 2 showers with onyx. Love it. On another note, most of the cultured marble bases do not have a tile flange around the base leaving a good chance for a leak IMG_20210427_130455123.jpg
 
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