Tile over Corian Shower Pan

[Grapeview Jim]

I have a project that will require to tile over the floor (only) of a Shower Pan.

The shower is made of separate pieces of Corian. The pan is Corain, The threshold is Corian. The three walls are Corian sheets. Bottom surface of shower is unsightly and chipped but solid. Ripout just will be too expensive and only the unsightly bottom surface is to be tiled. I plan to sand and thoroghly clean the surface first to get good anhesion. After laying the tile, I plan to grout with epoxy grout to help with water intrusion. The drain will have to be raised slightly to accomodate the tile thickness.

The real question/issue I need to resolve is what material to use as the adhesive to lay the tile.

My research so far shows that there isn't agreement about tiling over Corian. I am asking advice on method to keep the bottom joints of the shower water-tight and the best material/process to lay the tile.to the Corian surface. I have seen suggestions of Mastic, modified thinset, and epoxy adhesive.

Any advice or obvious flaws in my approach would be appreciated!

[dgbldr]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Are you a contractor or homeowner? Please fill your profile so we can tailor our answers appropriately to your level of expertise.

[MarkMc]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Any clue as to what's under the corian? Are you positive it is Corianâ„¢? I've seen many of those that were bedded down in but a few beads of tube adhesive which could have too much flex for a good tile install over. Corianâ„¢ can be refinished if the chips are not too deep. Otherwise abrade heavily, use epoxy to set and grout. Probably a good idea to allow for some expansion at the perimeter and seal there with your favorite stuff in a tube. Something like Kerdi-fixBW or Bostik 70-03A would fare well as would 3M 5200; all three could be used to set with with the latter being the faster cure IIRC. Whatever you do if the base has any flex to it....

[Grapeview Jim]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Hi markMc,
I can't find the tab to update profile. I am not a contractor but have a lot of experience with construction and building. Just not with Corian.

I am looking at the pan and it is definately nice slope, solid corian (or similar material). I now see some suspect areas that I want to fill with epoxy seam fill before I tile but I probably will have to slightly route a shallow groove to ensure a good clean bond in the defect. I will check every square inch for flex, hopefully none.

Thanks for the advice, I think I will use the epoxy tile set adhesive then epoxy grout for finish.

[Shawn Prentice]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

I would have the chips repaired and refinish the base (you could probably do it yourself), then save for redoing the shower right. I just don't see tiling a corian shower base as a good solution.

[Grapeview Jim]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Do you see an issue with tile over Corian? The only unknown that I see is what material to bond to the Corian that will also allow good adhesian to the tile/grout. I haven's started this project yet because I want to be sure I get the bonding agent(s) between tile and Corian right.

I considered Corian repair but there are many repair sights and the patern would be impossible to blend. Besides, the Corian patern is dated/unsightly anyway. Tile seems the only overlay that would add to the shower and not detract.

I am looking at the suggestions for bonding materials but would still appreciate any other ideas of bonding materials that might work.

Also, if anyone knows of any other thin overlay material other than tile that would work well I would like to know about that.

Thanks all!

[Shawn Prentice]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Mark gave you the bonding material possibilities. I've never bonded tile to corian, but I would guess it would work as long as the bonding material is flexible enough to bridge the differential movement between the tile and corian.

If the corian pattern is dated, then I don't understand why you would want to spend money on a band aid that probably won't look very good anyway. Personally, I wouldn't do it and I would save my money for a complete redo, but that's just my opinion which is worth the price charged.

[tomthetoolman40]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Do you see an issue with tile over Corian? The only unknown that I see is what material to bond to the Corian that will also allow good adhesian to the tile/grout. I haven's started this project yet because I want to be sure I get the bonding agent(s) between tile and Corian right.

Jim,
Please re-read this post:

Any clue as to what's under the corian? Whatever you do if the base has any flex to it....

The bonding of tile to the Corian isn't the only issue you're facing. If the adhesive under the Corian has flex to it, then no matter what you use to adhere the tile with the tile may crack.

[Grapeview Jim]

Re: Tile over Corian Shower Pan

Good point Tom. The corian pan is set over standard plywood subfloor. Lot of unknowns with the flex as everyone points out (Thanks everyone!). The area is confined and difficult to remodel so I want to try a overlay first to save the expense....
I am thinking another route now. The two-part epoxy flooring material they cover garage floors might adhear to roughed corian (so one dealer claims when I called them). I might experiment with the expoxy flooring and a sample piece of Corian and see how that works. Wish me luck! :0