Pre Sloped Shower Pan To Waterproof Showers

Using a pre sloped shower pan makes shower pan installation much simpler in many cases. Prefab shower pans let the installer skip all or most of the mortar work to putting together a shower base and that can be a very good thing. Here are some points to consider with tile ready shower bases.

A slope to a tile shower floor is a must to get the water to head right to the drain. Maybe you already know this, but in a concrete shower base the masonry that makes up the base is in two layers. One layer is buried and that layer is sloped too. That bottom layer is the one that has a liner membrane over it to catch any water that leaks through the floor. That buried liner membrane is attached to a drain that has weep holes at the base that are again under the floor and buried in the masonry.

With a foam shower pan you get the waterproof layer up on the top of the base so there is no buried drain holes that may or may not work. Keeping buried weep holes open in a concrete base is a little bit of a hit and miss proposition.

Here's another thing.

The ready to tile bases that are waterproof at the top do not get water in the base if all goes as planned. Contrast that with a typical masonry base that is by designed soaked all the way down to the buried liner membrane. A soaked base is a perfect home for all sorts of mold and live creatures of all kinds. Skipping that is a better idea.

Pre Sloped Shower Pan Options

You can pick a number of different no mortar shower bases.

The Tile-Redi base is one. That product is waterproof at the surface and is ready to tile once it is set in place. That sounds like a marvelous idea and may be. But... To get a waterproof base you still must get the base down using an adhesive and at the same time get the drain glued together with a very limited time to get everything together. This is not a trivial project.

On the other hand...

The KBRS system also used foam as a substrate and the foam they use is also waterproof. But this system is made to be sealed with a paint on sealer. That sealer can also be used all over the shower stall to make for a waterproof layer at all parts of the shower.

Seems to me the sealer is a good idea.

Another option is the Kerdi system. This can be used with a foam base of it can be used over a single layer of sloped mortar. With the Kerdi method the waterproof layer is at the top too. In this case the layer that stops the water is a special sheet of liner that is put down with adhesive and then the tile goes on top of that.

One of several pre sloped shower pan options makes it easier to get a waterproof shower. What's more there are several other benefits to the bases other than just ease of use.