Framing The Ceramic Tile Shower
Framing the ceramic tile shower is done with normal wall construction practices. Use regular 16 inch center spacing with wall studs. It's surely a lot easier as you go along if everything is reasonably close to plumb and square too!!!
Make sure to securely fasten the wall base plates to the subfloor. Use screws and even waterproof glue between the plate and the subfloor is a plus. To prevent rusting, use galvanized deck screws all around the shower whenever screws are used.
Though pressure treated lumber sounds like a good idea around a shower, really dry wood is actually better. Pressure treated wood is notorious for being wet. You know what's going to happen as it dries. It will move around on you. That's all bad for shower construction. So leave off the wet pressure treated lumber.
Here's a trick.
A mud shower floor with cement board walls requires notched wall studs.
Here's why.
The shower pan membrane is folded up the walls to waterproof up above the floor.
That liner membrane is about 1/8 inch thick or 1/4 inch thick at the corners.
Unless you notch out the studs to allow for the liner to recess back even with the surface of the studs, the wall board will tilt out at the bottom.
That won't work.
See, the tile will be curved out at the bottom of the wall, because the cement board cannot be pulled up to the studs if they're not notched. That's a sure path to early cracking of the wall, especially at the grout lines.
The answer...
Notch the studs back 1/8 inch on the walls and 1/4 inch in the corners and the liner fits back in the recess...
Problem solved.
You can notch before the studs are installed or after. A wood chisel and hammer will do the cuts.
Read on about supporting the walls of the ceramic tile shower.