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Standardization does not always find it easy to keep pace with technical developments: this is even the case for floor drains in bathrooms and sanitary facilities. The success of the shower channel has had an enduring influence on the construction of bathrooms – and led to the floor-level drain in a tiled floor becoming a leader in its field. At the same time, laying tiles in a thin-bed procedure has prevailed in recent years.
The building services industry and manufacturers of chemicals used in construction have been introducing individually tested products into practice. But when compound seals and a shower channel come together in an actual floor on site, a gap suddenly opens up in standardization as there is a wide range of products and no common standardized basis anywhere to be found. The question arises: is this truly sealed? And what should be done if not?
Seal System tackles this problem – and offers a solution: With comprehensive combination testing of market leading products in shower channels, point drains – and with the widest variety of compound seals, both planners and builders can be assured: “It is sealed”
More than 600 certificates create assurance
The special Seal System sealing tape and the Seal System sealing sleeve form the joint between the compound seal and the sanitary engineering. These sealing elements are a standardized interface for many floor drains commonly found on the market – both point drains and channel drainage. There have been 600 certificates confirming the interactive functioning of the product combinations.
17 seal manufacturers and nine brands in building services engineering combined
Seal System combines products by 17 renowned branded manufacturers of sealing systems with nine brands from professional building services engineering. The sealing products include polymer dispersions, single and dual component polymer-cement-mortar combinations, sealing fabrics and liquid polymers. The shower channels include stainless steel channels with and without a visible edge, natural stone channels, straight and angled channels, dry lining channels, channels to be built directly into the wall or the room, super-flat renovation shower channels and even channels with especially high drainage capacity and DN70 waste water pipes.
Compound seals have imposed themselves on many applications in sanitary facilities. This is not surprising, as they offer a rapid and simple option for sealing. However, the market for compound seals is difficult to gain an impression of, the range is broad. Seal System has certified the transition to the floor drain with a combination test of the various available sealing products covering the market – point, line – sealed!
Certified Seal System sealing edge at a shower channel with a two-layer thinbed seal (4 + 5) and the Seal System sealing tape (3) to bridge the area between the stainless steel flange (2) and screed (1).
Seal System butyl rubber tape seals the transition between the screed and the stainless steel flange on the shower channel. The sealing tape is applied with an overlap and ensures the seal absolutely with all tested compound seals.
Certified Seal System sealing edge at a shower channel with a point drain on screed (1). The sealing sleeve (3) is laid on the first coat of slurry seal (2), embedded and later overcoated with a second coat (4).
The Seal System sealing sleeve is laid in the first coat of the compound seal while it is still wet and then overcoated with another coat.
Taken from practice – for practice
Kiwa TBU GmbH, Greven was responsible for testing and certification. It is a testing house accredited by the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt). The tests were performed in accordance with the testing principles for the award of general construction supervisory inspection certificates for seals in conjunction with tile and slab floor coverings. Water tightness was demonstrated in a bath test. The various shower channels or point drains were fitted in the test bath and then combined with the sealing tape or sealing sleeve and the composite seal. The drains, sealing element and composite seal were then subjected to a 20 centimetre high column of water for several weeks.
A plea for Seal System
The new ZDB-guideline requires use of sealing tapes, sealing sleeves or fabric mats between the floor drain and the bonded seals. Reaction-resins and two-component plastic-cement- mortar combinations are approved for adhesive connections on site. The previously used single-component plastic-cement-mortar combinations and polymer dispersions must be reviewed and released first. Seal System already offers these releases. 2K-MDS and 1K-MDS, as well as polymer dispersions and sealing sheets are among the more than 600 certified combinations of bonded seals and drain products. The manual „Point. Line. Sealed!“ provides detailed information on this.
The 7 most common misconceptions regarding shower channel and secondary drain
Error #1:
Tiles have a functional task and guide water to the drain across a slope. The decisive sealing level is below them.
Fact:
The standard designation of current bonded seals is „sealing in combination with tiles and plates“. This makes clear that the tile surface is the sealing level surface by definition. The idea of secondary drainage originates in times in which bituminous sealing strips were used for sealing below the screed. The mortar layer between the tile and bonded seal cannot and must not be drained in the shower area.
Error #2:
When joints lose their sealing capacity, water will enter, damage the tile adhesive and cause tiles to come off.
Fact:
The water volumes that enter here are in the range of homeopathic quantities. The quality of current joint materials reliably prevents moistening. When joints or tiles break, the moisture that enters evaporates through the entry opening. All common tile adhesives are also suitable for the placement of tiles at the pool floor or on terraces. In contrast to showers, they are always wet. If tiles on terraces come lose, this is usually due to frost damage.
Error #3:
If leachate collects below the tiles, it must be drained through an additional drainage level.
Fact:
Damaged joints may permit water to enter in theory – but can it enter below the tiles as well? Not really. There is no defined drainage path either. A single transverse layer of tile adhesive is sufficient to prevent water from draining. Leachate can only drain if there are channels below the tiles. Such channels do not exist.
Error #4:
Leachate drain makes shower channels safer.
Fact:
The opposite is the case. In contrast to closed and jointless channel bodies reaching to the edge of the tile (figures on the right), the leachate drain openings pose the danger of dandruff, soap residue and hair settling and even collecting in the cavities due to the capillary effects (figures on the left). A shower channel fills during a shower and the leachate openings come into contact with the shower water in the channel – with the negative consequences described above. For channels that are performed without tile edges for visual reasons, the area between the channel body and the tile must be permanently sealed.
Error #5:
Leachate will cause efflorescence or discoloration in natural stone.
Fact:
Efflorescence or discolorations in natural stone are not caused by water but usually by unsuitable embedding or joint material. True efflorescence that may occur outdoors due to weather does not occur in the shower area.
Error #6:
Leachate openings are needed as ventilation openings so that the tile adhesive can dry in particular under large tiles.
Fact:
Tile adhesives cure cement-based. The chemical reaction works even if there is no air supply. If leachate openings were required to ventilate the mortar layer, large tiles would only be permitted along shower channels.
Error #7:
Shower channels are hard to clean and tend to develop an odour.
Fact:
Jointless and closed channel bodies of stainless steel like those offered by TECE are easy to clean and without corners or cavities that cannot be reached. They also contain no screws or thread parts on which pasty waste might catch. In particular the leachate-drain that is sometimes demanded contains such difficult zones: The microbiological disintegration of organic material in such shower channels may cause the formation of smells that will, in the worst case, require high renovation effort.