A shower pan membrane keeps water where it should be and not where it can damage your home. Shower floors leak. That's because the grout lines are never waterproof and neither are many tiles. Something must be done to keep the water from moving though the floor to rot the area around the shower.
All kinds of materials have been used to form what are called shower pans. At times liners have been constructed of copper, lead, galvanized steel as well as tar. All work to some degree but all fail too at some point. Failure leads to damage around the shower which is usually not noticed until it's quite expensive to fix.
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Today the most commonly used liner membrane in traditional mortar shower pans is a single vinyl sheet. Used for years now, only time will tell how long these sheets will remain waterproof, but results so far beat other options.
Not just any vinyl, the liners are special compounds made just for this purpose.
Technically speaking, sheets are constructed of one of two materials.
Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) sheets remain flexible longer and work easier than the others. Not as widely available and more expensive, these are the premium choice.
Most pros use the other type of material. This more common liner sheet is the polyvinyl chloride sheet or PVC. Installers seem to think this liner works just as well though a bit harder to work.
Either liner serves the same function. The core of a shower pan, the sheets stop any and all water that seeps into the tile mortar base. The sheets essentially form a pool within the floor to contain all water.
Any water that reaches the sheet then gets routed to a special drain which puts it in it's place. The whole construction of a shower floor focuses on putting the liner in the right place and getting all the water to the special tile shower drain.
Correct shower pan membrane installation insures that all water that hits a tile floor goes down the drain. It's the key to proper functioning of a shower floor.
Shower Pan Membrane Installation Tips MEMBRANE
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