A shower pan foam sounds like a poor substitute for a mortar or a concrete base and indeed it can be. But the foam option effectively solves many problems with tile showers and many professionals now use foam only. Here are some tips to get why the foam is better than a good product.
Degraded to waterfall
Shower floors course only leaks. The cement and water to pass through many types of tiles. This means a tile shower base must be constructed so that water is captured and sent to a drain. A piece of the puzzle is the slope to drain water that encourages all head to the exit, instead of pooling somewhere. This slope was built with traditional mortar years by a foam is available to replace the mortar.
Not Just any foam
The foam is not just a shower foam. You will see cheap vinyl shower using the shower floor styrofoam support. This type of construction has no resemblance to what is necessary to support a tile ready to install. One of the companies that provide Schluter tile shower pan is ready. Their KERDI Pan is an expanded polystyrene core of lightweight concrete, it replaces an oblique base. It is made with handling the weight of the tile and is part of a system.
The Mold No option
The system eliminates one of the fundamental problems with the shower tile. See the water making the soil in a conventional shower pan seeps through the base into a top-liner waterproof. Liner, water flows into a special drain and away. But all that water soaks into the stove can easily be the living place for mold.
Schluter What system does the waterproof coating is placed on top or a foam or a masonry base. The leaf on top of the base and installing the tile right on the shirt, not basic wet and grow mold. It is a huge advantage.
Drain the solution too
A drain for a shower with a system that does not need a buried layer of drainage water that makes the floor to catch. The drain is located directly at the base and right on the waterproof membrane KERDI if any water remains the top right and not weeks of basic.
The mud instead of foam
As proposed, a foam not only works with this system, there will be a basic mortar. But the difference in the base, and a conventional shower pan will be only one layer. It is not necessary to construct a lining impervious to water and no need to make two layers. The mortar is used here as a base for a layer of impervious material sloped. It is very flexible and easy to build custom sizes shower.
A waterproof shower base shower foam works in conjunction with good drainage and adequate impermeable materials. These showers are built along more quickly and eliminate any problem with a traditional shower pan.