Shower Pan Replacement Project Step by Step

In case you can't read what the pictures say, I rewrote it below:

Picture 1-Original 1962 shower floor. Shower leaking into crawl space over entire area.

Picture 2-Using a 4.5 inch diamond blade angle grinder, cut at grout line of first tile from floor; the floor was easily removed with hammer and chisel since the water soaked mortar bed was soft

Picture 3-The original waterproofing membrane was similar to heavy roofing felt and rested on the wood floor. This membrane only came up on the sides to this cut line- it did not overlap the threshold. The original membrane was completely removed.

Picture 4-View looking toward the front of the shower showing the water piping and remains of the water proofing membrane

Picture 5-Layer of roofing felt put down against the wood floor and "floor mud" (essentially mortar, sold at tile stores) put down to form the "pre-pan". The plumbing drain consists of PVC drain assembly (3 pieces) with the first part put down with the prepan mud. The prepan has a 1/4"/ft slope toward the drain as measured from the longest direction (the back) and then that height is transferred to all the sides. Floor mud to water ratio as directed on the mud package (a dry mix).

Picture 6-Orange PVC waterproof membrane placed on pre-pan and up the sides. Membrane is folded in the corners and attached to the sides at the top (fasten as high as possible to avoid holes in this membrane). Spacers and then cement board placed on the sides- screws go into the studs in the walls. Caution: take special care to adjust the cement board and spacers so that when tile with its normal mortar bed is installed , the new tile will be flush with old tile- do not rely on extra thick mortar bed to get the new tiles flush with the original wall. The bottom of the cement board is approx 1/2 inch above the membrane The drain ring clamps over the membrane- cut small holes in the membrane for the screws and cut center hole for drain flow. The drain top screws into this ring and its height can be adjusted. Small pebbles placed at drain assembly weep holes so any water between membrane and mud and easily drain.

Picture 7-Approx 1.5 inches floor mud w/same slope toward drain as pre-pan is installed over the waterproof membrane. Mud is installed up to the bottom edge of the drain top which is the same thickness as normal mosaic tile with its mortar bed.

Picture 8- 2 inch by 2 inch tiles installed in a mortar bed- shown before grouting. Tiles laid out to minimize small cuts around the drain. This required extensive cuts around the perimeter but the score and snap tile cutter is very fast compared to using a tile saw. Tile comes in sheets with mesh backing holding the tiles together which maintains even spacing but makes it difficult to remove excess mortar from between the tiles- where the grout goes. Tile cost roughly $6/ft ^2 or $80 for this job.

Picture 9-Based on discussions with Augusta Tile Center personnel, grouted with epoxy grout which is stain resistant
and virtually waterproof, thus serving to further reduce the chances of water leaking thru the pan. Note: ordinary grout is not waterproof and the waterproofing membrane must be watertight to protect the subfloor. Cost of epoxy grout was $25 (roughly 20x times the cost of ordinary grout). Grout has short worktime- 1 hr or so, but installs easily and did not tend to lift out when wiped off during the installation process.

Let my know what you think, thanks for watching.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Shower
• Pan
• Replacement
• Do
• it
• yourself
• DIY
• Plumbing
• Tiling
• Home
• Bathroom
• Devo
• Safety
• Dance

[ceramictiletonight]

I just posted a video on how to test a shower pan, This was a great follow up to mine. Kudos! I see that you added text to your video, it was al little hard to see but I liked the Video. Correct me if I'm wrong but you are using a mac right? See ya Tileman.

[DerPicnicker]

Thanks for commenting. I took pictures, then did a Powerpoint with test, then my son uploaded it to you-tube. We noticed the text wasn't readable on the pictures so we rewrote the text in the information section- to the right of the video.

[CNYRON]

A job like that what would you charge........ roughly

[DerPicnicker]

It would take a professional or handyman 2 or 3 days of time and labor. Total parts cost less than $200, a tile man would charge around $1,000 for labor.

[howliboy1]

hi. in picture 5, did you glue the roofing felt to wood subfloor? You put the pre-pan mud right over the top of the roofing felt? Lastly, i see that in the picture of the prepan, it looks like you have new wood around the perimeter of the shower...did you use new wood to nail the roofing felt to and frame the mud? thx.

[DerPicnicker]

I stapled it to the floor and sides. The main purpose of the roofing felt is to keep the mud from flowing thru the gaps in the floor boards and keep it out of the wall cavities. Yes, the pre-pan mud went right on the felt. I fastened some wood pieces between the studs to keep the mud out of the wall cavities (served as a backstop for the felt and orange waterproofing membrane).

[NOesmeralda1]

I want to install a shower in my basement, everything is concrete do I still need a waterproof membrane/ I would appreciate your suggestions

[meatpole55]

when did you install the pan ..?? i never saw the pan that Replaces the old Pan..

[bob4friends]

Contrary to what your video says, it's not cement board on the walls...it's hardi board...and you installed it on the pan liner INTO the pan bottom. This insures the hariboard will be saturated with moisture from the pan & get soggy wet, causing a problem in less than a year. Trust me, hardi is like oatmeal when saturated with water over time. That wall tile you put on it will fall off..2007 ?? It's now 2011, you might want to do a follow up with your customer !!

[bigtoysdt]

People like you know only enough to be Dangerous..

[Cambria0001]

Dude, why is the tile along the wall all kicked out and crooked. I am happy to see you didn't cover the weeping holes in the drain. I hope your plumbing work looks better. Sorry for the bad comment but you butchers need to go back to the meat department.

[MultiGrandmalinda]

8 years ago my husband and i installed a new shower did all the steps correctly including durock on the walls, we put down durock in the floor instead of tarpaper. then 2 layers of concrete, properly sloped. We did not know about the shower liner so our shower failed have watched dozens of videos very helpful. My husband repaired the floor, put down another layer of wood, then roofing paper, metal mesh, special pan mortar mix, then the UPC liner as directed, then another layer of mortar.

[mojo84th]

70ish shower, rip it all out

[albafier]

there is no way u can be happy with this shower pan , u cut the old cement board 4'' from the end ,(u know that is going to crack in 2 mo or sooner )the pan looks fine in the middle and so on ,but u fucked up the cuts (left top side),there was no need to run the 2x2 on the walls . if u wanted u might have run a cove base at least against the wall over lapping the cut u did on the wall (so u could hide that crack line that is coming )good luck !i hope u don't do this for a living

[boblyndh]

I'm a DIYer and I have done a few showers now. There's a reason why you do things certain ways. Preslope 1/4" per ft to drain the water that WILL leak to the pan. The vinyl pan HAS to go 8-10 inches up the sides without puncture or you WILL have rot, mold, etc... Around the 1min mark and you will see the damage that probably went a LOT further up than what was torn up and replaced. This is better than SOME jobs I've seen, but could've been better.

[llazy1]

Nice job!