Once the rough plumbing was finally completed, the shower in the basement bathroom has finally started to take shape. Rather than replacing the old shower stall with a new one, we are trying for a fancier installation. The work started with a layer of roofing paper for waterproofing, followed by cement backer board. The backer board joints and screws were taped, mudded with thinset, and coated with a brush-on flexible membrane for additional waterproofing.
For the shower pan, we are using a Schluter low-profile pan. The space is small - the original shower stall was 32 inches by 32 inches. I found a Schluter pan online that was 32 inches by 38 inches, giving us a little larger shower without overwhelming the space. Unfortunately, the drain pipe needed to be moved. A hole had been previously cut in the concrete for the original pipe installation and covered with a thin layer of concrete. I broke out the concrete, excavated the old pipe, and glued in a pair of elbows that would allow me to shift the drain the 4.5 inches needed for the new pan. The hole was backfilled with sand, and new concrete poured to provide a firm foundation for the new pan.
I installed the new pan in a bed of thinset, and used Schluter Kerdi membrane to seal the joints between the pan and walls. The drain flange was then set in thinset. This was the tricky part, because if my placement was off, the flange would not line up with the drain.
The shower pan is made of dense foam. Although it is low-profile, it is about an inch thick. To dress it us, we bought one $5 sheet of mosaic tile from Home Depot, cut it into strips, and used it as a decorative band on the sides of the shower pan. I found some marble shower curb at Floor & Decor, and thinset that around the perimeter of the pan. The curb will hopefully keep water in the pan, and it covers the top of the mosaic tile band. We have several boxes of marble pebble mosaic tile originally bought for the upstairs bathroom floor, but is now being reconsidered. I used a few sheets to tile the floor of the pan. We used a dark grout to finish the pan, and installed the drain cover. I think the dark grout give the impression that the pebbles are floating, and will hopefully hide dirt better than light grout.
The curb on the shower pan is not very tall, so hopefully a low-hanging shower curtain will keep splashes contained. The next step will be the finish walls of the shower nook. The project will then enter the home stretch of trim and final plumbing fixtures.
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