Prepping the Shower for Tile – Part 2: Red Guard

Red Guard is a product from Home Depot that is a paint-on waterproofer.  It’s a little pricey but is pretty easy to use.

The first step is to paint all the seams to get a nice foundation.

To apply, use a cheap-o (but not so bad it will fall apart) brush and go to town.

It’s a goopy product and it comes out of the bucket hot pink but dries to a nice red color.

One recommendation we read online was to use fiberglass to reinforce the crack-prone areas. We cut a strip the appropriate length and worked it into the wet redguard along the back edge of the shower where we have some concerns about leaking since the shower pan and the wall don’t fit tightly.

We push it in with a scraper and redguard over it. Once it’s dry there will be a nice reinforced corner where there was once a trouble area.

Once the seams were dry, we’ll rolled on 2 coats of the redguard. Once the final coat had turned red, it is time to tile.

(what’s a blog post without a Vector photo-bomb. That ledge is one of his new favorite spots. I don’t pose him..he just loves the camera!)

Sarah