Just Add Tile Shower Pans

The just add tile shower pans are the route to avoid all the trouble you get when building typical mortar or mud based shower pans. There are some good reasons for the traditional mortar showers, but some great reasons to avoid them too. For one thing, many so-called professionals make messes with the mortar based showers. Consider the following as you look at shower floor options.

Tile ready shower pans are much different than a cheap acrylic shower pan. You cannot tile over a typical plastic shower floor. That's so for a number of reasons, but chiefly because cheap shower pans are not stiff and rigid enough to serve as a tile base. The tile floor will crack and come apart if the floor moves. Ready to tile shower base are different.

Tile-Redi is one of the leaders in these products. What you get is a rigid pan that is already pre-sloped and ready to set in place and ready for tile. Standard sizes are readily available and custom sizes are too with a little more wait time. By using Tile-Redi pans you eliminate the multi-layer build up of a masonry base and eliminate the tricks to getting a vinyl membrane all sealed in and waterproof. It's a lot faster installation and less knowledge and skill are required. Many pros use these too partly certainly for the greater speed of installation.

A competing base is from KBRS... Interesting that this came from an inventor with a background in bath and shower supply sales and kitchen and bath building and surfing. See the surf board technology is similar to what you need to make these shower floor bases. The materials are composites and solid to maintain a tile base that allows no movement that can cause come-aparts of tile joints. So these are surf-board technology for your floors.

There are years of history for both of these companies and both are use widely by contractors for several reasons.

Foam Shower Base For Real

Another option is from Kerdi-Schluter. This is your foam shower base with a special membrane that goes over the base, not in it, and a special integrated drain. Also includes special related features for waterproofing walls and ceilings as well. Go to custom sizes and Kerdi uses a completely different system that involves mortar too but not in the same way as the regular mud shower base. All in all the Kerdi is an option but quite different from KBRS or Tile-Redi.

Skip the mortar with one of the tile ready shower bases and get a waterproof shower with little or no mortar work... Just add tile shower pans are proven and work as stated and have been is use for many years.