Dry packing shower pan

The shower pan is the all-important foundation of a stand-up shower. Water is a merciless foe, so cutting corners here can lead to rapid and expensive dry packing shower pan of the entire shower. In this project guide, get the key practices for building a mortar shower pan after the framework of the shower is in place.

Building your own shower floor from scratch requires shower deck mud, also referred to as dry pack mortar. Deck mud is made from portland cement, sand, and water. The mixture should be approximately 1 part cement to 5 parts sand but anywhere for 4 to 6 parts sand to 1 part cement is acceptable. Be very careful with how much water you add to the deck mud as you mix it up. It's referred to as dry-pack mortar for a reason.

Dry packing shower pan

Advice and installation help at the John Bridge Tile Forums. I have therefore taken a few pictures of the mud I make, and I will explain the process once again. Maybe these pictures will be a little clearer than those previously published. Deck mud is made with clean sand, portland cement and water. The basic recipe is 5 parts sand to 1 part portland cement — Too much cement and the mortar tends to clump as you mix it. Other pros advocate a or even a recipe. I think can be considered the median of the industry. It has been suggested that deck mud should be mixed with latex additive instead of water, this to make the mortar more cohesive and to give it greater compressive strength. That strength is more than adequate for shower floors and other small areas. Adding latex in this instance is simply a waste of time and money. It might also be called concrete sand or torpedo sand. It is much courser than masonry sand, but masonry sand can also be used. Portland cement is the universal name for construction cement.

Project Tip: Make a final pass with a steel finish trowel to establish a smooth finish surface. This can take several days depending on the thickness of your deck mud.

Read This]. View First Unread. I am remodeling a bathroom and building a new 4'x8' shower. Existing floor is concrete slab. I followed all the instructions on this website to make dry pack mortar and installed the pre slope yesterday.

Each day, our editors assemble the latest breaking industry news, hottest trends, and most relevant research, delivered to your inbox. Those with curbed entries are common, but curbless installations—where the shower floor is flush with the bathroom floor, then slopes to a drain at center or along the back of the stall—are gaining popularity. As with any shower, leaks are most common at the pan; in the case of a custom shower, the pan tends to be fabricated on site and finished with ceramic tile or a similar hard-surface material. The details needed to deliver a leak-free installation depend on whether the shower pan is fabricated and finished over wood subflooring or a concrete slab. With wood subflooring, the least expensive option is to use dry-pack mortar to slope the shower floor to the drain, then cover it with an EPDM rubber waterproofing membrane. But in my experience, this type of installation is the mostly likely to develop leaks. Shower waterproofing problems like these are why the tile contractors working for most of our builder clients use a prefabricated shower base, such as the Schluter-Kerdi system , among others—a polystyrene tray that slopes to the drain with a waterproofing membrane for the tray and waterproofing elements specifically designed for the edges and corners. The tile contractor then applies unmodified thin-set mortar directly to the membrane, followed by ceramic or stone tile—all of which is outlined in detailed instructions from the pan manufacturer. Regardless of which approach you take, the waterproofing membrane is always installed before the drywall or backerboard is placed on the shower walls.

Dry packing shower pan

There are a lot more steps to shower installation than the average person may be aware of. Waterproofing, while one of the most underappreciated steps, should never be overlooked. In a typical shower construction model, there are five layers to the shower floor: the subfloor; the slope base or first mortar bed; the shower pan liner; the final mortar bed; and shower tiling or floor. The shower pan liner is the most important aspect when it comes to waterproofing, since it protects both the porous shower wall framing and lower floor layers from eventual water permeation and subsequent moldy outbreak. Disclaimer: This guide concerns typical center point drain installation. If you are working with a linear drain or curbless shower design, head over to Quickdrain to view more specialized instructions. If your drain is pre-assembled, loosen the bolts connecting the clamping ring to the flange and remove the clamping ring, but leave the drain plug in place in the middle of the drain.

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Wearing respiratory protection, pour Sand Mix into a mortar pan or 5-gallon bucket. The first layer of the shower pan is underneath the waterproofing membrane. That one hasta be right as it's your actual tiling substrate as well as part of the water removal system. What happened? Project Tip: Make a final pass with a steel finish trowel to establish a smooth finish surface. Pack the perimeter layer with a rubber or wooden float by repeatedly tamping the material down. My opinion; worth price charged. Pack down material as you progress. Use a hand level to maintain level around the perimeter. I am remodeling a bathroom and building a new 4'x8' shower. It is damp enough to hold itself together when packed but at the same time it contains no excess water. Make sure to tape off the drain opening to keep it clean. Install metal lath or reinforcement over the cleavage membrane, securing it to the subfloor with nails or staples.

Waterproofing a shower.

Last ». Advice and installation help at the John Bridge Tile Forums. Find More Posts by Northmen. I think can be considered the median of the industry. I did mine in two batches. I packed it down with a trowel and a 2x4 end, and I added mix, packed, and screeded until everything was packed and flush with the top of the sticks. There are pre-mixed mortar products that contain only sand and portland, and these can be used to make deck mud. Seal ring with manufacturer-approved caulk. You can use a shovel, but a masonry hoe above works much better. The mortar is packed in with a wood float or flat steel trowel and rubbed or scraped off until the dish shape of the shower floor is attained. Wearing respiratory protection, pour Sand Mix into a mortar pan or 5-gallon bucket. In this picture I have crushed the clump with my thumb. Use a hand level to maintain level around the perimeter.