MISTAKE---Professionals advice---save ny shower!

16 years ago

We are the GC for our new home...little problems here and there, all and all things are going well. Next little problem, actually this one maybe a "BIGGIE"!

To make along story short our master shower is roughly 60" X 52". I was so paranoid about the tile floor and I hated the idea of the grout getting dark & looking dirty, cleaning it, etc. I was trying to make my life easier, so I ended up going with a "custom" cultured granite shower base. It is installed, one thousand $$$'s later. I don't much care for the look and now we can't even figure on how to finish this DIY project.

The drywallers had installed the walls prior to the base baing installed (mistake, they were supposed to wait until after base was installed). So, they cut the walls from the bottom and took out about 6 inches give or take. The shower is a walk in and was made as if it has a regular doorway.

The base sets in a white form that feels like plastic. It feels strong, but still somewhat flexible. The guys who did the shower base just said to run the shower walls (durarock) all the way down over this plastic liner base. The problem is that there is a gap and in order to do this the walls will be quite sloped in towards the base. Is that the way it is supposed to be? They said they would install a hearth at a later date, but I actually do dot want it because I don't like the look and rather not see it from outside the shower.

Should we add the walls to the part that was cut out and then really slope them? Then would you use kerdi and keep the slope or would you try to straightern it out by adding more thinset or something? OR should we try to fill in the gap with wood and then try to watertight the areas? I would really appreciate you help and experience with this.

I called the cultured marble company and they didn't care to hear anything about me being unhappy with the product. I wish I could get rid of the pan and do tile, but I'm not about to be out the $. And, I think it will be fine if we can figure out how to tile the walls and all.

THANKS!

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Comments (3)

kgwlisa
16 years ago
You need to take out all of the drywall and fur out the walls so that they are in the right place relative to the size of your pan to tile the walls. If you are not using kerdi you should be using cement board, not drywall. If you are using kerdi you can then install new drywall.

Here is a diagram that mongo drew that sort of shows it:

{{gwi:1489044}}

Rather than the tub though that little lip should be sort of what the lip on your cultured marble base looks like. You will need to put furring strips between the stud framing and the drywall/cement board so that it has that relationship to the inside of your shower pan. There is no quick and easy fix for this, the drywall has to come out.
bill_vincent
16 years ago
Mongo-- looks like you're gonna get some mileage out of that diagram!! :-)
MongoCT
16 years ago
If I'd have known, I would have written more neatly!