- Estrich Tolerance
I have stated that when pouring your basement floor minor variations will be taken care of when the estrich is poured. This is not quite true in that the tolerances are still large. In this room, once back on budget, we want to have a small sauna. The problem is that the estrich is sloping the wrong way, if it should have a slope. In little more than 2 meters it is out of level by 1.2cm. At the high side of this room is a walkin shower. Should water run out of the shower it will run across the room quickly. We may end up changing this before we go ahead with the sauna work.
In regard to any areas such as a walkin shower, block the area off. You can use a little styropor with foam spray to build a dam in such areas. You will be much better off to slope your own estrich in such areas. Make sure that the estrich workers know about any such particulars in your house before they start and you may stand a chance that it works out.
- Sloping a walkin Shower
In the next picture is shown the type of drain I would use next time for a shower in the basement. If you do the work on top of your rough basement floor consult a professional plumber. The system I found leaves a minimal slope to the drain even after I chiselled out some of the cement floor. The drain works well enough but I suspect that with more of a slope I would have to clean the floor less often. We have laid the floor heating throughout this area as well and the floor remains nice and warm.
- A better Drain System
Our drain sits on top of the poured floor. This type shown here comes through the basement slab and should allow you to have the drain at a lower height. Once again check this with a professional. You do want to make sure that the drain height is close to correct and that after the floor is poured you can still move it to suit perfectly.
Good Luck
- When your estrich is finished and dry take a good look at it. Take a 2 meter level and check carefully. If you are using large format tiles you may be much better off to use a levelling cement first to take the major hollows out or in the reverse case grind off a few high points. Jogi may be willing to help out if there are large extremes in height tolerances.
- Estrich comes in various types. The recommended highest moisture content at which you can start tiling can be quite different. This can make a difference in weeks or even possibly a month as to when you can start. Check with the supplier directly about the product specifications.
Just a couple of closing points: