Did a search for KERDI membrane in the archives; nothing.
Won a roll of this polyethylene membrane by Schluter (Germany) at contractor day at my local tile & design center in a raffle. If you’re unfamiliar with KERDI mat, it’s designed for waterproofing shower walls & basins, the stuff has a polypropelyne anchoring fleece for mortar and other curing resins. Super durable, you can take trowels to it, screed it, beat it up, etc. Tear resistant.
I joked I’d save this roll and lam a surfboard w/it. Ironically, after testing it, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. The stuff is super puncture resitant, vapor-proof, waterproof. I shot a section with high PSI positive air at close-range & point blank, nothing happened to it. Taking it to the shooting range next.
KERDI MAT weighs 8.83 oz/sq.yd. (might lighten my glass schedule to boot). Warp is OK, not amazing. I’m adhering it direct to the blank w/ a dusting of Super 77–once tacky, it doesn’t attck my EPS. Glassing over that. Can’t sand into this stuff obviously. Not covering the entire board; select areas, ding-prone, maybe underfoot too. Have a pleasing pattern in mind, enough to look well-executed, (or just above hack-grade, cheers.)
Time to build a ‘creamsicle’ daily driver. I’ll update the thread when I’m finished w/it.
So it is non woven so it won’t drape. It is waterproof so it won’t saturate. Its polyethelene, so it will peel off when the resin is cured. Also since it is polyethelene, there are other much stronger fabrics available.
yep, non-woven. Interesting stuff for .5mm. Bends around rails, warps to an extent. Not a fabric at all though, doesn’t pull apart, no axis or direction in the material even though it totally behaves like…fabric. Probably serves ‘trivial’ lam/sandwich strength once the fleece is wetted, but no infusion, minimal uptake on the fleece. Moisture/suction prevention is my only driving factor at the moment, maybe other benefits along the way, but I doubt this stuff can prevent pressure dings. We’ll see.
Schluter’s description: “Schluter-KERDI is a bonded waterproof membrane with limited crack-bridging capabilities. It is made of soft polyethylene, which is covered on both sides with a special fleece webbing to anchor the membrane in the thin-set mortar.”
