fiberglass shower floors

jerry scharf_2

I have been beating my brain against this problem for a while, and want some thoughts on a possible solution.

The problem is a custom sized shower area in a house that is supposed to grow no mold. The walls are single panels of trespa, so they are handled. It's the floor that is driving me nuts. Tile with grout lines is the normal way to go, but it's pretty much impossible to prevent water from staying in the grout. I talked to a concrete waterproofing admix company to see if they thought you could use that with thinset, but was told that it probably would not waork and they certainly wouldn't guarantee it.

If the shower were a standard size, I would use a prefab fiberglass bottom. So my thought now is to have someone build a custom fiberglass shower floor that sits on top of a secondary waterproof layer. A bit like a surfboard...

Do you think that would work? If so, where would I go to find someone to build it? What should I be looking for should I decided to do this?

I know there are people on the wall you have done just about anything. Please give me a hand.

jerry

jack z_2

You could have a custom shower base made out of Corian. Any good Corian fabricator should be able to accomplish this. However it will be expensive.

adambuild

Shower floor

You can also have a granite fabricator make a one piece base with tile going all the way down to it. If pitched correctly, it will drain nicely to one corner or edge. Obviously, it must also be etched/rough but not polished so it's not slippery.

Adam

steve gates

granite

I installed a granite one a few months ago in a hotel. Nicely drained to the center. It came from china with toooo small a hole for the brass drain though...

Plumdog

Find a place that makes Cultured Marble bath products. They can fabricate shower pans in any shape or rough drain opening in any color or combination of colors. Visit if they have a showroom, not all of them are first-class. Ben-Ray Marble in Denver is excellent.

Lurker_2

stained/colored concrete?

hr

Any stone or porous

material should be installed over a pre-sloped floor AND waterproof pan, be it PVC, copper, or lead.

One piece cultured marble would be my choice. It could be custom made and colored with the curb intergral, drain located as needed and shaped to fit the room via a cardboard templete. This type of base would not need a pan underneath.

The curb to floor connection gets trickier with corian or other bases fabed from sheet goods.

Fiberglass, actually you would want an acrylic coated fiberglass, need to be supported from below to keep the bottom from hairline cracking. Plaster or expanding foam products stiffen fiberglass bases nicely.

hot rod

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Robert O'Connor_7

Why not...

How about just getting a custom fiberglass pan. The boat people around me have found a nich in doing custom pan installs. I hate to give away work (which your really not, cause of the drain anyway)but most companies that do it will guarantee the pan for ten years and for about 500 bucks, its certainly cheaper than I would do a lead or vinyl one and I wouldn't gaurantee one that long anyhow.Robert O'Connor/NJ

jerry scharf_2

cultured marble

Thanks for the pointers to cultured marble. that's the ticket for the job. I found a reputable place and now understand what it is and how it goes together. For those who don't know (like me until today,) cultured marble is really a polyester resin with a powder filler and pigment. It's a solid surface with a gel coat, so there shouldn't be a problem with the mold.

I talked to a local fiberglass fabricator, and he said the form would cost way too much to build. I asked why they can build surfboards without a mold. He said they build around foam and have no inside corners. He recommended the cultured marble as well.

Thanks again,

jerry

hr

Ask the CM fab shop

to install some 3/8" pex in the mold when they pour, for a heated cm shower base! I would

hot rod

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jerry scharf_2

I've got warmbaord underneath

Hot Rod,

That would be a great idea and one I will save for the future. The baths have warmboard, so the heat will already be there.

thanks,
jerry