regaldozer, The situation may not be all that bad. What you propose might well work. But the things that will determine the stability you have not related to us. The wall details linked to by Dave are some good general construction ideas. If you have marginal soils that may sometimes become saturated and you are doing a 3 to 5 ft wall you better get close to what those details show. Keep in mind that engineers that do generic plans count on a worst case scenerio. Then they throw in a 50% safety factor. For a 1 ft high wall the details are way overblown. There is a world of difference in the force behind a 2 ft wall compared to a 1 ft wall. Taken all by itself a 1ft wood wall can stand with rebar through the wood and 18 to 20 inches in hard undesturbed subsoil where the rebar is used on 16" centers. But in your case you are doing multiple beds up the slope. So you must take into consideration the overall stability of the slope itself. Since your plan calls for 1 ft high then 3 ft horizonal, I assume you have a basic 3 to 1 slope. A compacted 3 to 1 slope of most soils is stable. But it is close to the point where there can be an instability. As the length of the slope increases so does the chance of a slide. Saturation of the soil in a slope robs the ground of its strength. If the total weight of the saturated soil exceeds the soil friction, then the whole slope breaks loose and slides. The slip point will be at the depth of the soil saturation. And dead men or rebar anchors won't help unless they extend into the slope to a depth well past where the soil will become saturated. For this reason it is important to know the geology of the slope. Take a posthole digger out there and see what you have. Does the slope level off just above your top bed or does it continue on upward?

A diamond hole saw bit will be your best friend for this. They are a little expensive but the best way to avoid cracking the tile. I would recommend have a second pair of hands available with a spray bottle of some sort of liquid to spray the tile and keep everything cool, also to help avoid breaking the tile (alluding to Geoffrey's post about making a pool or bath).

afaik. each province has its own code, and they all allow 1.5" drains. Everyone says so, but I've never seen it in writing. Check with a Master Plumber. Any Master Plumber. They are professionals who do not lie. They know 100% for certain what is required and they tell you the truth, when it concerns their expertise; also you do not have to hire them first before they answer questions about their area of expertise. Each Master Plumber will give you the same answer as the previous one and the next one. Ditto, do not decrease any "drain line in the direction of flow." The trap size has to be the same as the drain size. Many people conclude that a 2" trap can be reduced to a 1.5." pipe after the trap. Use a 1.5" trap if the drain line is to going to be 1.5" diameter. This is very serious, not to be disregarded. Ask a Master Plumber if you need to hear it again. You may wonder why you see on the internet that showers need 2" ... I feel that this forum is the right place for this discussion. It find the 2" diameter requirement for showers to be overkill. I'm surprised that after many years of searching, I've never seen an internet comment from an experienced Master Plumber telling me how Code changed over the years. I'm 100% certain that a 1.5" drain line used to be Code everywhere, for showers. I'd like to know what discussion went into voting for the new size, 2" diameter. (?) Here is a link showing 1.5" is OK in NY. http://publicecodes.citation.com/st/ny/st/b900v07/st_ny_st_b900v07_7_sec009.htm Code has changed over the years and will continue to change in the future. I'd like to think I'm helping to air out the issues which leads later to clearing up confusion about 2" shower drains. Imagine all the people who have been forced to do a lot of extra work for no reason !! When a 1.5" drain already plumbed could have been used, they ripped it all out and put a 2" drain in. I'm not a plumber. Since this is a discussion forum, I'm posting this here as part of a *discussion*; everything I have written here concurs with the previous post from an expert who knows, and who shares, precisely what is code today. Code has changed over the years and will continue to change in the future.

Glad you got your answers. I did not expect you to know about how to construct a shower, but your complaint about the slope sounded like that seemed wrong to you. If you were complaining about shower slope, looking up the slope seemed the first step. Now that I have read Blubird's and your further comments, I see that your pictures are not showing the curb from inside the shower, but from outside. From this angle, now that I know to look for it, I see that there is a row of lighter colored,long narrow pieces of tile that may be quarter round or may just be flat pieces, and then the shower floor. Is this section at an angle, or flat with the top of the shower floor? If it is flat on the floor, then it is, indeed, as high as the curb, I am hoping that it is at an angle to give you a little bit of curb and some peace of mind. I was not noticing the size of the tile under the rosin paper. It would have been a give away that this was the room floor. Now that you have explained it more, I understand. Did the shower hold the water to your satisfaction? I imagine you are on a concrete slab and it was built this way for ease of construction. I have no idea if this is proper or not. Curbless showers are done everyday now, and though they make some people nervous, others do like them. I am doing one, though mine will have a linear drain across the front so water should not escape. As far as I know, once a post is up for a while, you can't erase it. About all you can do is put a comment in the comment section saying it was answered elsewhere.