Thread: Hello Gents.

I found you site after searching for problems with the Schluter's products.
Figured I should introduce myself since I am across the pond.

Hello and welcome to CF...

Are you having problems with something from schluter..?

Yeah we have had quite a few problems with Schluter's Kerdi and Ditra.
The kerdi is falling off the wall in many applications, tech support says use unmodified thinset, I have no confidence in umodified thinsets. I know that is the problem.
We had a ditra job fail, it was installed according to specs. There was another guy in our are that had a large ditra job fail, Schluter would not stand behind it so he removed schluter from his 6 locations
We have removed Schluters stuff from our two locations, and I know of over 60 US tile suppliers that have removed it from thier stores.

I was just wondering what was going on on your side of the pond ?

Hey and welcome to CF

Thanks for signing up.

That Shcluter issue is a bit strange as over here they're known as being the leading brand for most of their products, and over here their support is second to none. Perhaps they run totally independent or something therefore the USA side of things being not so good?

I know Schluter are associated with the John Bridge forum (the tile forum for USA and CA) and they're always bigging them up. Perhaps give them a nudge on there and see if they can help you out in any way? Worth a try perhaps.

Welcome along.

I know about that site but they are known over here for being arrogant and rude.
Few fellows from Texas put the site together and did a bang up job on, started out good but has become typical site with moderaters spitting out by the book install suggestion when they themselves do not follow thier own advice.
You cannot tell a Do-It Yourselfer how to install floors with a tech manual , you have to explain it in laymans terms. The worst part is I know half the saps telling them what they should do, may not have ever done it by the book.

I am inclined to believe we all put our pants on one leg at a time, having a strong Scottish background I don't take kindly to others telling me what will and what will not work when I have done it myself.

What we have seen Schluter doing is a sorry thing.
I have sold and installed Schluter since they got popular in America, good solid concept. I liked the stuff until we started having problems.
I argued with the US tech guy about the modified V unmodified and got nowwhere. They want to tell me that drywall is an impervious surface and modified cannot be used in a kerdi application.
That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
We started having customers call us and tell us the kerdi was falling off the wall.Then it happend to me, I have been in this trade for 28 years and possibly have the best concept of how the stuff works out of most setters in my area. I fixed the job with modified thinset, but guess what, as soon as I put modified thinset on that wall I lost my warranty.

Schluter keeps calling "all" problems "installer error", they do no wrong.
One time they blame a failure on expired thinset...... funny because my book of physics tells me that these componets are static unless introduced to moisture.Sand and Portland cement do no degrade in a bag on the shelf in a controlled inviroment.Maybe in Schluterville they do...

Now they got this ditraset, it is a "slightly" modifiid thinset, the only modified thinset they will warranty....... really.... it stuff is $20USD per bag, higher than all the modified thinset.
The term "slightly" gets my goat, it only slightly has a latex polymer in it..... uh... okay.
It is a snow job mates and it's time somebody did something about it.
We kicked em out!
Got some new stuff, same polyethelyene fleece and you can install it with modified.Prova mat, Canadian manufacture.

Schluter jacked the price up on all there stuff over here and is forcing companies to sell at the price they dictate.
Them Germans are smart, make the stuff popular and then jack the price up.

I got to much Scot in my blood give them an extra dime!

I had a sort of discussion with JB forum guys about using modifed adhesives with Ditra and Kerdi...Especially with porcelain tiles.

So after a few emails with Schluter uk and not .com advice...schluter uk advise that a modified adhesive can be used with ditra or kerdi..the said just use the adhesive that suits the tiles or substrate..

So i use modified all the time with schluter membranes and have no problems at all..

But latley i have been using the other german mat Durabase Ci and wp from Dural..this version is yellow..

Have you tried the Noble membranes..?

Over here they are say use only unmodified, I think it a cost issue. I think they are so high on the price they are trying to show a lowerpriced area and it is in the thinset.
That is what they told us at the last seminar.

Tell me more about this Durabase.
The Noble stuff is too expensive.