Re-Doing Upstairs Shower

[Aprofetto]

Hi everyone,
I live in a brand new house, its only a year old built by a builder.

We are friends with the builder, and I used to work in a tiling warehouse in the summers and knew a few installers, etc. Anyways, we set it up so that I would be allowed to do the tile work throughout the house, including bathrooms.

A guy who I worked with for 5 summers straight who was also a friend outside of work had a lot of experience tiling so we did the house together.

The problem is the upstairs ensuite. The shower has a tile base which he self leveled using sand mix. I've seen him do this before in other installs and he is usually really good. However, I think he kind of rushed the job and the slope of the floor was done terribly. I mean, it all drains to the center drain, just the slope is probably a 1" drop across a 1 foot span.

We haven't used the shower and haven't installed the shower glass just yet because the second I stood on the base I knew it needed to be fixed.

I have plenty of tile left over to basically redo the whole shower, including the walls. My plan is to tear off all the tile, base & walls. I'm also going to remove the green drywall behind the tiles and replace it with cement board.

I am going to use something like this for the base, instead of a tiled base.

Now, the current drain is in the center of the shower. I want to know if I can simply cut open the plywood floor (once all tile, sand mix, etc has been taken away) and relocate the drain to the to the one side of the wall?

I hope that the drain is coming from the wall that it will be moving closer to and I guess all this would take is me just shortening the length it comes out from the wall, but if it comes out from the other wall, can I put a 90 degree bend in the drain?

This may sound confusing, so please refer to my picture below:

 

[Jadnashua]

First, what about the liner and the preslope? You need 1/4" per foot from the longest distance, but since it usually looks best to have the bottom row of tile at the same level, that means that the shorter side will have a steeper slope to keep that bottom row consistent. If you want to move the drain to one end, you might want to consider a trench drain, then, the whole floor is flat, but sloped to the drain at the end. There is no place for greenboard anywhere in a shower, and if your locale has updated to the latest building codes proposed by national agencies, nowhere in the bathroom at all! Wet, cbu, dry, drywall. If you use a conventional drain at one end, you'll have a VERY steep slope on that short side to the wall, or live with an uneven bottom row, your choice.

There are a few approved ways to build a shower, and lots of ways to mess one up. Check out www.johnbridge.com for some help in doing it right.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Aprofetto]

Thanks for the advice. I realize that the picture of the new shower base I want to install never showed up, so I am attaching it to this post.

I believe these pre-fabbed shower bases already have a slope built in, as long as the subfloor is level.

About the current slope, I might've been wrong, it could be worse than I stated. I can take pictures of it tonight.

 

[Terry]

The drain can come from any direction. You won't know till you look.
Yes, you can shorten, if that works, or use a 90 el if needed too.

 

[Jadnashua]

Depending on how that pan is constructed, it may be best to bed it in mortar. One of the main reasons for premature failure of that type of design is flex, either from a floor that isn't quite flat, or level, or that all of the ribs don't quite touch the floor so it flexes when you stand in it. Bedding it in mortar makes it rock solid, and it will both feel better and last longer. As long as you maintain the proper slope, you can relocate the p-trap. Your biggest problem may be how the joists run.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

The truth will be known only after you pull the existing shower and see how the drain is run. Depending on the position of the drain and the location of the joists, you might be able to us a long-turn 90 or a couple of 45's.

For setting the new shower base, floor will need to be reasonably level and you can shim it a bit if needed. Once you have that all figured out, adhere the shims to the floor where they need to be and then set the new base in a mortar bed to firm everything up.

Good advice I have seen here is to place several piles of mortar on the floor and then cover them with a sheet of plastic wrap so the mortar does not stick to the bottom of the base. Carefully set the base in place over the piles, allowing them to "squish" into the contour of the base and then re-check for plumb.

 

[Basement_Lurker]

How wide is your shower stall? If it's less than 5', then using a prefab acriclic shower base w/ integrated seat will feel kind of silly, as you will feel pushed forward too much. An acrylic base is great (if properly installed), but they don't give a shower a luxurious finished look like full tile can. If building a tile base from scratch and freehanding the slope is too much for you, then there are presloped pans available on the market. Schluter has their system (which is overpriced and overhyped IMO), but there are also other versions on the market like the one MAAX makes.

 

[Aprofetto]

How wide is your shower stall? If it's less than 5', then using a prefab acriclic shower base w/ integrated seat will feel kind of silly, as you will feel pushed forward too much. An acrylic base is great (if properly installed), but they don't give a shower a luxurious finished look like full tile can. If building a tile base from scratch and freehanding the slope is too much for you, then there are presloped pans available on the market. Schluter has their system (which is overpriced and overhyped IMO), but there are also other versions on the market like the one MAAX makes.

This was actually my first thought. Using one of those pre-sloped pans. I really don't know what I'll do. I better run it by the wife and see which see prefers.

The shower base itself is 3' x 5'.