We’ve got quite a bit of tile work that needs to be done.  The first thing the tile guys are going to start on are the showers.  In preparation for that, some guys came by yesterday to water proof the shower pans.

This had to be one of the worst smelling things we’ve done so far.  The tar smell was pretty bad all around the property outside, but, inside the house, it was almost unbearable, and visibly smokey.  For instance, here is a picture I took in teh basement.

The camera did a pretty good job of capturing the smoke.

The tar looks like it might be wet and gooey, given how shiny it is, but even just a short time after they laid it down, it was quite hard, and not at all sticky.

I’ll admit to having watched quite a bit of Mike Holmes shows on HDTV, and I remember they always used a water proofing product called Ditra right over the plywood.

I just assumed this was the way to go.  In comparison, a layer of tar seems old-school.  I have yet to ask the tile guy about why tar might be better, or whether they plan on using a layer of a something like Ditra as well.