Schluter now has a bench

[Rob Z]

FYI, if you use Schluter Kerdi to waterproof showers, they now have a corner bench. It's made of the same material as the Kerdi curb.

I'll have a picture on Monday of the bench covered in Kerdi and ready for tile.

I had this bench installed in about 5 minutes. I then spent about 30 minutes covering it in Kerdi. Compared to the "old way" of building benches (block and mud), this thing is a bargain at ~$100.

 

[jay]

looks okay whats it made of:8:

 

[Rob Z]

Jay, it's the same stuff as the curb...some sort of foam.

Believe, I was a hold out for years about the curb, and then finally stated using them and now I think they are great. I'm sure I'll be the same about the bench.

 

[jay]

so they will handle the presure of say two people in the shower at once:lol:

 

[Rob Z]

Haha....that one's not big enough for those activities. :lol:

I think I posted this one before...this was a bench and shower that was all mud and block. This bench WAS built for two, at the request of the client. LOL.

 

[jay]

now thats nice/////// id trust that one:lol:

 

[Rich]

Very nice pic Rob

Im yet to use the Schluter boards but Im looking forward to having a go.

 

[DHTiling]

That is a nice shower Rob..

 

[Spud]

Haha....that one's not big enough for those activities. :lol:

I think I posted this one before...this was a bench and shower that was all mud and block. This bench WAS built for two, at the request of the client. LOL.

lovely looking job Rob

 

[Aston]

Tile Backer Board | Schlüter-KERDI-BOARD | Schlüter

click on the above link
then look to the right and theres some great, very detailed video clips of installations of kerdi boards products....

ed

 

[garretridge]

great looking job havent had one like that to do yet !

 

[Rob Z]

The rumor mill has been saying that Kerdi board will be priced at between $2 and $3 per square foot. The seams still have to be finished with Kerdi band, so that will add to the material cost per square foot by a bit.

Even though this sounds like a lot, I think the cost of Kerdi + drywall + thinset to install the Kerdi would come close to the $2 figure, and with the labor to install the Kerdi over drywall it definately would be worth even the $3 figure for the Kerdi board.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

 

[DHTiling]

Hi Rob.

I have just spent about the last 40 mins or so going through the data and videos for Kerdi board. Tile Backer Board | Schlüter-KERDI-BOARD | Schlüter

Looks like a great product but it is not cheap on the pdf price list.. i will have to see how much my supplier sells it compared to my usual board i use on walls.

 

[Rob Z]

Dave, I just did the calcs to convert from metric and GBP to imperial and US $$. I got the ~1/2" Kerdi board on your UK price list to be $4.30 per sq ft!!!!! That is a lot.

I think Schluter built a factory here in the US to produce this stuff, so maybe that is going to help to keep the price down, where as your product might be coming from Germany?

 

[DHTiling]

Not sure Rob if it is imported or not but not cheap hey!!..:yikes:

Looks good though and no health issues cutting it.

 

[Rob Z]

Dave, for me the health issues are very real. That is a large reason behind why I almost never use cement board.

One consideration for me is that my two employees were drywall finishers and painters by trade before I hired them, and if this Kerdi board gets so expensive then I'll stick with the less espensive option of being able to pay them to hang drywall and then install the Kerdi fabric. If the job stays the same price but more of the money goes into labor for the men then that for me is the better alternative.

We'll see what is a good choice once I know the pricing.

 

[DHTiling]

I would also like to know what weight per sqr mtr can be hung on these boards Rob, there is no mention on the site.

Have you any feedback on this..?

 

[Rob Z]

Dave, I don't have any data on that. The one thing that I thought while looking at the samples of the boards is that it doesn't seem as stiff or stout as Wedi board. I'll reserve judgement untill I can see an entire sheet of the Kerdi board because samples can be misleading.

 

[DHTiling]

exactly... but it would be good to know how much weight it will hold..

Some stones are heavy, so needs to be accounted before using it.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Haha....that one's not big enough for those activities. :lol:

I think I posted this one before...this was a bench and shower that was all mud and block. This bench WAS built for two, at the request of the client. LOL.

Nice looking shower, bespoke work. Good on you Rob

 

[mikethetile]

it sounds very expensive to me

I cant see me selling it to my clients

 

[faithhealer]

Nice shower Rob, will make a note of trying to sell a 'bench' next opportunity

 

[Rob Z]

John, the ladies seem to like the corner ones so they can prop their foot on it while shaving their legs. You can figure an extra 2-3 hours of work with one of these prefab things, by the time you've installed it, waterproofed it, and dealt with the extra work of the cuts and angles. I know some guys are swinging for the fence on upgrades like this, but I take another approach and price it mid-range because I want the customer to have something that they will be sure to remember and maybe mention to a friend, neighbor, etc. I do the same thing with tanking the entire shower and selling epoxy grout-basic pricing that covers our labor but not trying to retire off of one job.

 

[mikethetile]

I think the bench is reasonable and probably the cheaper option

but I feel that the sheet @ over $4 a square ft will be to pricey compared to cement board or aquapanel

 

[Rob Z]

Mike this will be the thing for me, too. If the goal for the customer is to get a waterproofed shower, and let's say it cost $10 per square foot for labor and all materials (I'm just making that number up). I'm going to go with the combination of products and skilled labor that will MAXIMIZE the amount of labor in the job but still yield the same result (full waterproofing). I'd rather put the dollars in my employees' paychecks for their skilled labor rather than send it off to Germany to the folks at Schluter.

So, if Kerdi board crosses a certain threshold (which I don't know what that is yet), I will continue to install Kerdi fabric the old way and keep the pricing the same to the customer and retain some of the money for labor.

At > $4 per square foot, it would definately work out that I would continue paying my men to do the work rather than use Kerdi board.

 

[CBTC]

Rob, Dave - the lack of product performance information has caused a query to be raised by the architects where we are using it at the moment. Schluter requested to site visit.

Using it: It is certainly a lot less rigid like for like than say Wedi board and much much lighter - due to the lack of cementitious faces. Thats not neccesarilly a help though Ive found - apart from carrying it about.
I am wondering about the bond strength of the Kerdi to the foam core. What weight can it take. Interested in comments / observations from anyone who has used it..

The price of the stuff is frankly going to be an obstacle to wide spread use, it being about £10.00 per board more than the equiv Wedi !! Anyone with other price comparisons do let us all know.

 

[DHTiling]

According to schluter uk.. it can carry stone weight no probs..

 

[Rob Z]

arghhh, my post got lost ...I'll retype again later when I return. Here's the first part:

Kerdiboard here is ~$2.75 per sq foot, or ~1.75 GBP per sq foot.

Wedi is ~$2.00 per sq foot, or ~1.32 GBP per sq foot.

Wedi adhesive and sealer is about 1/3 price per tube of Kerdi Fix.:yikes: