Shower Pan Install

[Anonymous No.1411824]

I am trying to remodel a shower in my house that's on a slab. It looks like the cut a hole out in the concrete for the shower area, about 3-4 inches below floor level, and then filled it with concrete to make a shower pan. I don't want to learn how to pitch concrete correctly, so I was just going to buy one of those expensive shower pan kits from kerdi or similar company. My question is, do I need to take the old pan out completely and get down to the original foundation? Can I reuse the old one even though it's covered in thinset already? Can I put concrete on top of the old one to get it level, then add the foam pan?

[Anonymous No.1411906]

Thrown some thinset down on top of it to level it out, and install the prefab pan on top.

[Anonymous No.1411911]

>>1411906
What's the best way to get the drain connected , cut the old one out and put a coupling on and extend to the correct height?

[Anonymous No.1412114]

suggest to remove all residual materials from old pan, won't be in the way in buildback. a couple thoughts on pans anon, the prefab pans look good for <5 years then finish starts looking worn and are not flexible in sizes so if your existing opening is larger you'll have to furr with wood & cement board to align walls to pan dimensions. your existing recess in concrete was to allow for liner and grout base for tile and get slope to drain. tile replacement will be slightly more expensive though you will get much better end result. old master plumber here anon, good luck

[Anonymous No.1412123]

[Anonymous No.1412137]

>>1412123
Should have 2x6 for support of liner, notch in corners of studs so you have place to hide the glued and folded flaps. Helps on the finish.
I'm assuming you didn't do a pre-slope.
Nope you didn't.
Water will get in to those areas of the mortar and mold.
You are probably going to pour it too wet; it will slump.
Buy, hey, you have that pic where you actually did something once.

[Anonymous No.1412195]

>>1412114

Thanks for the info, I started looking at the material this morning and noticed that it was hollow in areas so I took it out. There was no pan liner, or any water proofing at all. I was actually able to just lift off mortar in a giant sheet when I was about 80% done.


The shower area is 38" x 38" which I was able to find a Kerdi shower kit for that size. Should I just be able to clean up the concrete and get all the dirt off, and then thinset directly to that to apply the foam base? Or should I get some mortar and get it back to a similar level as before, since the recessed area is still about 3 inches below floor grade, which is where the curb will need to go. Thanks again.

[Anonymous No.1412203]

>>1412195
The shower apparently hasn't been used in a few years. I tested it a few weeks ago for about 10 minutes and didn't see any obvious leaks into the bathroom itself. But I could see signs of old water damage all over. As I tore it down, I saw mold on the concrete backer board, and the bottom of the metal studs and steel protector for the pipes were all rusted out. They used drywall screws to hold in the backer board, and they were all rusty. There was also something weird growing on the back of the wall tiles and backer board that looked like tree roots, but they didn't go anywhere outside, so I am not sure what they were.

[Anonymous No.1412407]

All those wires in the shower walls, kek!

[Anonymous No.1412426]

>>1412407
Well they are normally behind the walls , I just took the walls off...

[Anonymous No.1412462]

>>1412137
>Water will get in to those areas of the mortar and mold.
>>1412195
>>1412203
Wood looks a little dark in your pics. You might want to look for a mold inhibitor that you can spray on before sealing the wall up. But it's got to be water tight. Or mold will set in again.

[Anonymous No.1412463]

>>1412137
That was 10 years ago and working fine
There are 10 different ways to do shit and every dipshit thinks his is the only way.

[Anonymous No.1412481]

>>1412195
>>1412203

Tile guy here. Been doing it for 5 years.

I'd say that probably 1/2 of showers that I see have been improperly built.

>no liner
>bad slope
>shit grout
>improperly caulked (clear silicone won't cut it)

Even $500k+ homes, it doesn't matter. Hell I've seen showers where they put the tile down on wood.

Thing is, the homeowner is not gonna know until 3 to 5 years have gone by and the shower is falling apart.

And OP, I can't speak for the pre-fab pans, but I would just use the proper shower pan concert and make a proper slope. It's not that hard. Let that pan cure a good week before moving forward with the tile.

[Anonymous No.1412577]

>>1412463
Fact: you have mold in your pan if no pre-slope.
>>1412481
What's wrong with pic related?

[Anonymous No.1412605]

>>1412462
Yeah the wood was kind of moist. I was actually considering replacing it. There is a metal channel under it, and it's completely rusted out.

For waterproofing, I was going to get the kerdi kit with the water proof membrane, since that seems less error prone than going with a red guard type of solution, where you can't tell if you missed an area.

>>1412481
Yeah there was no liner, no real slope, two layers of tile to get the drain to the correct level, grout was completely missing in all of the corners on the lower tiles, and there were massive amounts of caulk only near the glass door, and not in the corners or anywhere else. This is only a 15 year old house, so I would expected better to be honest. Not sure how it got through inspections. The other bathroom in the house has a fiberglass tub and shower surround that was installed perfectly and has had no issues. Maybe they had different people working on different days.

[Anonymous No.1412613]

>>1412605
Kerdi is not for beginners.
You would have to be retarded not to get the Redgard right.

[Anonymous No.1412623]

>>1412613
Oh I just watched like 4 videos on youtube of tile installers complaining about how people fucked up the waterproofing. It just looked easier to fuck up than the kerdi

[Anonymous No.1412627]

>>1412623
Give me a better pic of the shower pan.
I want to see what kind of a flange it has on it.
And I will repeat, Kerdi is not for beginners and it takes a special kind of mortar that I believe is hard to find.

[Anonymous No.1412694]

>>1412577
anyone that thinks they know it all is an idiot

[Anonymous No.1412782]

>>1412694
It's not rocket science.
No pre-slope means you have mold in your shower pan.
Mortar is porous; there's no way for the water that gets through to get back out.
Basic gravity.

[Anonymous No.1412783]

>>1411824
Dude. Just get on youtube for half an hour and get a pvc shower pan liner.

I fucking promise you it's easy as shit and save you fucking $600. Let alone not leak in a year like the faggot fiberglass ones

[Anonymous No.1412785]

Not to hijack op thread. But my house has a goofy wall in the bathroom. Wanna make a walk in tile shower. Can i just throw green board over existing drywall. Or do i need to gut it and hang the cement board?

[Anonymous No.1412791]

>>1412481

>improperly caulked (clear silicone won't cut it)

Thanks for saving me a fuck up. Wtf i use just bathroom caulk from home depot?

[Anonymous No.1412792]

>>1412605
If it's a 1 piece molded tub and shower walls you really cant fuck that up. It's one giant piece. Some glass over cardboard and gel coat

[Anonymous No.1412880]

>>1412577

It's fine for a tub tile combo but not sufficient for a true tile shower. I would use a good epoxy grout for all the corner joints.

I like Sentura from Pfokus. They have a colorant you mix in to match the shower grout.

[Anonymous No.1412881]

>>1412577

Basically it will always shrink crack and mold.

It wont last more than 5 years. Regardless of what the tube says.

[Anonymous No.1412886]

>>1412881
...and that's when you scrape it, clean it and recaulk.
It's called maintenance.
What is this mysterious substance that you would interchange it with?

[Anonymous No.1413166]

>>1412627
I took it out, it's just a hole now, do you want a picture of the drain?

[Anonymous No.1413251]

>>1413166
So what are you planning on using for a pan then?