Mirolin Shower

[ton]

Good Morning

I had a Mirolin shower with base installed three years ago. It's leaking at one corner. (see picture the gap here between the glass and the base is (1/4 to 1/2") What has happened is the base has dropped. I believe the seal between the wall panels and the base broke due to poor install and taking water. The water has caused the floor to likely freeze and thaw during the seasons. I will be taking the entire shower out if I can!! Given its only three years old I am hoping to reuse it again. Any suggestions on how to this right given what I got is appreciated.

How do I build that floor up? Plywood, cement board?? How do I glue and fasten the material together that is being built up? How do I shim it and what material shims are best. There is access to a crawl space and my beams are sitting on sand and and seems solid. (see picture, trap at right is shower trap) Do I use a liner? Do we place the acrylic base in cement (what type of cement) to reinforce and remove flex? Can I use marine 3m silicone to seal that bottom base or what is the best silicone I can use? I used 100% clear but was not impressed. Thank you all and have a good day.

 

[Jadnashua]

First thing I'd try is to check with the manufacturer and try to get a set of installation instructions of the thing. As to whether you can reuse any or all of the thing, it depends somewhat on how it was installed. On some, they glue the panels to the wall surfaces, and you'd likely damage them when removing.

It looks like you have a wooden subfloor. Once you get the thing out, you'll want to check how plumb the walls are and how flat and level the floor is. Those kits work best if everything is perfect, which is rare in a house. TO get the walls perfect, it's often easier to sister in new studs than trying to remove the existing ones (especially any wall that is a load-bearing one). They need to be at right angles to each other, too.

Once you have things out, measure how much you need to level the flooring, and come back...some of it depends on how bad it is. If things were leaking long, you may have to replace some of the subflooring, and that will give you other options like sistering the joists so the new subfloor will sit flat and level verses trying to level it afterwards.

Often, you can use piles of deck mud, then squish the pan down into it to level and support it. Deck mud is a lean mixture of plain sand and concrete with enough water to activate the cement. Think wet beach sand. You need piles of the stuff so when you embed the pan, there's room for it to move and let you level the thing. It won't fully support 100%, but enough to prevent it from flexing. But, some of that depends on the shape and structure of the bottom of the pan and your subflooring. More details later as you provide more info.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ton]

First thing I'd try is to check with the manufacturer and try to get a set of installation instructions of the thing. As to whether you can reuse any or all of the thing, it depends somewhat on how it was installed. On some, they glue the panels to the wall surfaces, and you'd likely damage them when removing.

It looks like you have a wooden subfloor. Once you get the thing out, you'll want to check how plumb the walls are and how flat and level the floor is. Those kits work best if everything is perfect, which is rare in a house. TO get the walls perfect, it's often easier to sister in new studs than trying to remove the existing ones (especially any wall that is a load-bearing one). They need to be at right angles to each other, too.

Once you have things out, measure how much you need to level the flooring, and come back...some of it depends on how bad it is. If things were leaking long, you may have to replace some of the subflooring, and that will give you other options like sistering the joists so the new subfloor will sit flat and level verses trying to level it afterwards.

Often, you can use piles of deck mud, then squish the pan down into it to level and support it. Deck mud is a lean mixture of plain sand and concrete with enough water to activate the cement. Think wet beach sand. You need piles of the stuff so when you embed the pan, there's room for it to move and let you level the thing. It won't fully support 100%, but enough to prevent it from flexing. But, some of that depends on the shape and structure of the bottom of the pan and your subflooring. More details later as you provide more info.

Thank you for the reply. Should I reinforce the floor under the crawl space..looks like its on 24" centers with massive beams. Should I put blocking in between the joists. Should I install two layers of subfloor.......one that floats with movement and the other that is glued over top of it with flex glue?

 

[Jadnashua]

What are the actual layers of the subflooring? If they're plywood, verses thick planks (on the west coast, one practice is to use 2" thick planks as a subfloor on older houses), I'd want to reinforce the joist structure so you had narrower spacing. A single layer of undamaged 5/8" (I like 3/4" better) plywood is all you need underneath the shower. If you're going to retile the floor, you'd need to deal with that area as well since it doesn't sound like it would pass current industry standards.

 

[ton]

What are the actual layers of the subflooring? If they're plywood, verses thick planks (on the west coast, one practice is to use 2" thick planks as a subfloor on older houses), I'd want to reinforce the joist structure so you had narrower spacing. A single layer of undamaged 5/8" (I like 3/4" better) plywood is all you need underneath the shower. If you're going to retile the floor, you'd need to deal with that area as well since it doesn't sound like it would pass current industry standards.

Yes there is boards and three layers of plywood. I will remove first layer given its wet likely. Will replace it with whatever come out and Im sure I will have to shim it somehow. those cement pads on sand don't aways give you a leveled surface. I will also reinforce under it by blocking in between the joists with joist hangers. I'll try to screw into them from the top as well. thank you for your help