Shower Pan Kit To Do It Yourself

If you're like me, you may consider a shower pan kit instead of just going for the standard multiple layer masonry methods to build up a shower pan. Two main options for a kit for building ceramic tile showers with a minimum of mortar work are the Kerdi by Schluter and the Tile-Redi pans. Both are tile ready shower pans. You can certainly decide on an acrylic pan or one of fiberglass but if you want a tile floor here are some things to look out for.

Why A Shower Pan Kit

If you grow through the ordeal of putting together a traditional shower with mortar floors, you still get some problems that are part of the project. If you put in a regular shower pan you have to slope mortar to build a base for the tile. That slope is what gets the water headed to the drain.

You first lay down a mortar layer at the right slope. Then that layer has to dry so you can walk on it before you put down a vinyl sheet that is the layer that really stops the water. That sheet is called the liner membrane and it is then laid over the mortar. The trouble then begins.

The liner must be sealed to the base of a special drain. Now this is a thick vinyl sheet and you can use proper adhesives to seal to the drain but at best that still is a little shaky kind of a connection. What's more the liner is sloped to a set of weep holes in a special drain. The weird thing is the drain layer that the liner slopes too then gets buried. How do you keep buried weep holes open and working??? Good question. Actually pea gravel or broken tile pieces are put in the weep holes in an attempt to keep them open but at best that whole effort is a bit of a stretch.

The liner must also be tucked into the corners and fastened and then the liner has to be cut and fitted over the curb too. All that has to be done and the liner still kept waterproof... quite the trick I must say.

Then over that goes another layer of mortar that really makes the base for the tile.

A serious problem is the shower base gets soaked all the way down to the liner if water gets through the floor, which is does.

That means that if the shower is used often and not allowed to dry between uses the top layer of mortar just stays soaked with water.

Soak the layer with water and what you get is mold growth, fungus growth, efflorescence, and just general deterioration of the mortar in the base.

There is another way...

Prefab Shower Pans From Tile-Redi

Tile Redi makes a shower pan kit that replaces all the mortar base with a foam or polystyrene base. It too is pre sloped to a special drain.

Instead of building up layers with this one though all you do is set the drain in place and set the base in place over a solid floor and the base is ready for tile.

Now what you get with the Tile-Redi pan is a base that is waterproof on the surface of the base. That means the tile gets put down right on top of the base. That means:

• No mortar mess
• No cure time for mortar
• No tricky liner sealing trouble
• No buried drain lines
• A minimum of soaked shower area, just the thinset and grout
• Installation all in one step, no waiting for mortar to dry

These bases only come in certain sizes and shapes though. You can get custom sizes but with a wait time.

The real drawback to these liner is cost. With all the advantages the high cost is a serious obstacle for many but when you look at the lowered risk of a less than perfect installation this is often worth a look.

Then there is the...

Shower Pan Kit by Schluter

Kerdi shower pan kits by Schluter offer a number of options.

Kerdi makes a waterproof membrane that can be used several ways.

What you can get is a foam base or what they call a substrate that installs much like the Tile-Redi except the foam is NOT waterproof on the surface.

That's where the membrane goes. The base goes down and then the liner membrane goes on top of the base. Much like the Tile-Redi the competed base is then waterproof on the surface of the base and therefore is ready at that point for tile installation.

Another plus to this membrane is on the walls.

You can install the liner material up the walls and get not just a vapor barrier but a waterproof liner on the walls. That is a real plus.

Another Schluter option for tiling a shower floor that works particularly well for odd sizes is to skip the foam base and use mortar for a base but with a difference.

With the Schluter membrane you can put in a sloped mortar base but only with one layer. And you leave out all the liner membrane work too.

You just put down the mortar sloped to the Kerdi drain and then the membrane goes over the mortar again making the base waterproof not down in the base but at the base surface.

A traditional shower pan works and goes together at a relatively low cost. Either a Tile-Redi or Schluter Kerdi shower pan kit goes together with less trouble and less fuss but for more money.