This is for the Aussies:

On another forum I frequent, an Australian poster referred to the "hob" in a shower. Is this the same thing as what we call the "curb"?

Thanks!

Hi there Rob.

a hob does nothing else but keep the water inside the shower recess. nobody likes them and tilers find different ways to get rid off them. most people use a shower screen. if my clients dont take a shower screen then i will suggest to put the shower floor first and put the outside floor on top of the shower floor. that will then give you a 1/4 inch edge to stop the water running on the main floor.

Al

Hi Al,

It sounds like what we call curbs aren't commonly used in showers in Australia. I'm intrigued with the "wet room" concept that I have noticed is commonly used in the UK. So far in my tiling career, no one here in the US has asked me to do anything out of the norm, but maybe someday I will be asked to do a shower without the traditional curb and shower/bathroom division.

Thanks!

Rob..here's a couple if vids on a typicle wetroom install........

Hi Dave.

Thanks for them vids. they improved my understanding about your tanking. we just simply call it water proofing. that guy knew what he was doing.

would you say that that job was done on a job side or in some Lab?

Hi Rob if you are still there. what do you call your tanks or water proofing?

Al

Hi Al,

We call it waterproofing, as well. We use either a liquid product (that is painted on with a paint roller and brush, or troweled on with a flat trowel) or a sheet product that is glued to the substrate with thinset or a specialty glue.

Here's one of the sheet membranes that we use a lot, Noble CIS or Noble TS:

Sheet Membranes for Waterproofing, Crack Isolation and Sound Isolation

Hobs are becoming less common in use here in Oz, though I do still come across them.Say 1 out of ten jobs. I don't care either way, whether they are used or not.Whatever the client wants the client gets.

Hi Gracer,

I missed your post until now. I just looked at your album-nice work! The kitchen backsplash (listed as "4 of 26")...did you break those tile individually to make the pattern? Looks interesting.

Originally Posted by Rob Z

Hi Gracer,

I missed your post until now. I just looked at your album-nice work! The kitchen backsplash (listed as "4 of 26")...did you break those tile individually to make the pattern? Looks interesting.

I concur! Stunning quality Gracer!

Originally Posted by Rob Z

Hi Gracer,

I missed your post until now. I just looked at your album-nice work! The kitchen backsplash (listed as "4 of 26")...did you break those tile individually to make the pattern? Looks interesting.

Hi Rob.

I did that job for a dear friend of mine, she got all the tiles & we placed them upon a towel then overlapped the towel & took to them(gently) with a hammer....very therapuetic. and just fitted them together as they came, a couple of beers helps. It's easy going until you get smaller spaces, harder to find pieces to fit. I think the trick to it looking good is using a dark coloured grout, it takes your eye away from the joints & makes the colours leap out at you.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by Bolter

I concur! Stunning quality Gracer!

Thanks Bolter, I do my best.

Hi Gracer,

Seeing all the colors in your backsplash reminded me of this splash we did a while back. I think there were 14 different colors in this, and the designer had a certain pattern of colors to follow within a repeating grid of (I think) 8 X 8 tiles). We got bleary-eyed looking at all the colors and trying to follow the pattern.

Originally Posted by Rob Z

Hi Gracer,

Seeing all the colors in your backsplash reminded me of this splash we did a while back. I think there were 14 different colors in this, and the designer had a certain pattern of colors to follow within a repeating grid of (I think) 8 X 8 tiles). We got bleary-eyed looking at all the colors and trying to follow the pattern.

Reminds me of the serving area of Pizza Epress in Falmouth, we had 7 or 8 shades of blue, 75mm x 75mm, iirc, all had to be set out as you say in sequence, about 8 m2, our eyes were well and truely knackered, you had to step back every so often and give your head a shake, it worked well mind you, with a few mishaps ( corrected as you went ), well they all look the same gave a shimmering effect like water, seeing as how the shop is on the harbour it works well. Shame I have no pictures, all lost

Originally Posted by Rob Z

Hi Gracer,

Seeing all the colors in your backsplash reminded me of this splash we did a while back. I think there were 14 different colors in this, and the designer had a certain pattern of colors to follow within a repeating grid of (I think) 8 X 8 tiles). We got bleary-eyed looking at all the colors and trying to follow the pattern.

I had a similar situation around a swimming pool wall. It was huge & took me weeks, definately did my head in...esp as it was also in the hot sun.
Funny thing was I had been working to the architects plan, when I was halfway through he came along with his designer wife(what a team), she asked me if it's not too much trouble could we just change these 2 colours around, they are too close. Yes it's too much trouble I said, do you know how long I have been at this....& it's your design? She insisted...it got a bit ugly...The owner said ignore her, I like it the way it is.Nothing changed.
Unfortunately I have lost the photos to that one, it looked pretty awesome.

Designers....we worked for one really wealthy guy one time...he was GC'ing his own house, had some guys in from the UK to do a lot of the finish work (it was a trip to hang out with those guys), and his wife and her decorator/designer would come through the house all the time and insist that a whole laundry list of stuff get torn out/redone/changed. The husband was cool, but all the trades wanted to strangle the designer.

Originally Posted by Gracer

Hobs are becoming less common in use here in Oz, though I do still come across them.Say 1 out of ten jobs. I don't care either way, whether they are used or not.Whatever the client wants the client gets.

Have y'all no code requirements for height above drain for your shower entry down there, Gracer?

And would y'all kindly send RobZ back where he belongs when you're finished with him. I now see why he gets no work done over here.

CX

Hello CX my happy JB buddy.....

Hows ya'all doin..

Dave,

You need to caution all your mates in the UK to beware now that CX has arrived at this forum...all of you will understand why it's a good thing that you let us have our colonies back 200+ years ago. FYI to all speakers of the King's English, CX speaks a variant known as "Texican". I'm available for translation duty when you need it.

Is that wot it is called Rob....i thought it was a mouthful of marbles or summit.....


CX...

Well, I can certainly unnerstan y'all not being a little confused at times, y'all coming for non-English-speakin' countries and all. But not to worry, we're a friendly group and try to make allowances.

Would somebody care to answer the question about the code requirements there Down Under?

Hi CX..hopefully one of the Oz members will help you out there...

will have to wait till one drops by...

CX, I 've learned of some interesting differences in the way things are done in the UK and Australia. One is more of an emphasis on mandatory levels of waterproofing in showers (wetrooms), which I think is a good thing.

Also, plumbing traps used in the floors are of a different design. In some ways, I think they are better from an operational standpoint, and also it looks like they take up less room vertically than a standard 2" trap. This of course helps in those tight floor situations where there are short joists and by the time you need to get the fall on the plumbing it is difficult to get the trap to clear the ceiling below.

Originally Posted by cx2

Have y'all no code requirements for height above drain for your shower entry down there, Gracer?

And would y'all kindly send RobZ back where he belongs when you're finished with him. I now see why he gets no work done over here.

CX

Hi CX,

A lot of people these days are going for the flow through look and are wanting a hobless shower, sometimes without a full shower screen. This really tests your screeding skills, esp. when using a larger format tile,
to make sure there is plenty of fall to floor wastes.
See attached pic, linked from my album(if I've done it right)......
When the wet seal, aka, waterproofing is done, a 40mm or 50 mm aluminium angle is set in the floor at the shower edge to stop water leaking out through the substrate.The angle protrudes through the mortar bed.
Hope I'm explaining this clear enough.
http://www.tilersforums.co.uk/member...work-21-26.jpg

No, can't see anything of the floor of the entry to the shower in the photo you posted, Gracer.

But my question was about y'all's building code or industry standards for curb height above the drain. Here in Central North America (US of A) the curb (hob) top must be two inches (50mm) higher than the shower drain. The tile industry standards require the curb top to be two inches higher than the high side of the shower floor.

Those requiements can be waved when building handicapped-accessible showers under our "system," but generally not just because our paying customer doesn't want his shower that way. We're a very sensible lot in that regard, no?

CX

In Aus /QLD the min fall the waste in a shower recess is 1/60 , rest of the wet area/ bathroom 1/100 to waste depending on what the substrate is or multi story
I do about 1 of these a week,


Regards
Trev

Originally Posted by cx2

No, can't see anything of the floor of the entry to the shower in the photo you posted, Gracer.

But my question was about y'all's building code or industry standards for curb height above the drain. Here in Central North America (US of A) the curb (hob) top must be two inches (50mm) higher than the shower drain. The tile industry standards require the curb top to be two inches higher than the high side of the shower floor.

Those requiements can be waved when building handicapped-accessible showers under our "system," but generally not just because our paying customer doesn't want his shower that way. We're a very sensible lot in that regard, no?

CX

Interesting the difference in fall to drain there, Trevy, but the question was about the curb (hob?) height requirement above the drain in a shower.

Do y'all not have any such requirement?

Your fall to drain requirement is a bit steeper than ours. We require a minimum of 1/48 on a shower floor.

CX

No requirment for a hob as long as waterstops are installed and visable.

hence the steep fall to the waste
check out my post in the new member section (ive posted pics) shows 2 floors done this way,
I had to screed all of the wet area's to acheive the desired fall,

Regards
Trev

Originally Posted by Trevy

No requirment for a hob as long as waterstops are installed and visable.

'Fraid I've got no idea what "waterstops" might be, Trevy.

Here u go mate, these are the waterproofing regs i work to , very breif but u get the idea?
http://www.bsa.qld.gov.au/SiteCollec...d%20AS3740.pdf

Trev

Originally Posted by cx2

'Fraid I've got no idea what "waterstops" might be, Trevy.

Trev, interesting reading there......thanks for posting that link.