My wife and I have a basement bathroom that I gutted: back in 1980 someone decided to put tile directly on drywall and not properly seal anything, with the obvious moldy result. So I ripped it down to studs and concrete.
My question is about the shower area. This is in the northern U.S. for code purposes.
The wall with the window is obviously an exterior wall. The wall on the left is an interior divider wall. The space on the right will be framed out with cement board and tile on it.
What is the proper way to seal the cinder block walls considering this is a shower? We were going to put on two coats of Drylok, but this does not actually seal anything. If we put cement board and furring strips on top of the cinder blocks, do we even need to seal it? We are not completely sure if we want to spent the time, effort and money on tiling the whole thing, so I would appreciate advice both for the tile route as well as bare cinder block walls. At the very least though we will be building a base including a lip around all three walls and the open area so water does not go wandering out of the shower.
My wife is convinced we need to paint with Drylok and then epoxy floor paint (but on the walls). Is this a good idea?
Best Answer
Drylok is suppose to be water resistant up to 2 or 3 PSI when used on an exterior wall. So I guess, practically speaking, you could use a coat or two of drylok on the walls. keep in mind, the oil based drylok finishes to a glossy smooth surface and the latex based dries to a very rough finish. This may have changed in last couple of years, however, since the last time I used latex drylok was about 3 years ago. If the floor tile is secure, doesn't leak now, you could use an epoxy sealant as long as you clean and prep the tile. Id test a small area if possible to be sure it sticks well. there are a lot of sealers out there, so be careful selecting one that says it will stick to your type of tile.