Thanks, gardenweb. We really appreciate the frank input on our shower trainwreck. To answer the specific questions: 1. There's a custom fabricated copper pan under the mud, which was installed by the plumber. This is in a a basement, and the copper sits directly on the slab with nothing else underneath it. 2. Yes, we may have forgotten to pull a permit. This turns out to be a pretty forgetful town. I'll deal with the plumber who caused this mess, but priority #1 is keeping this project on track. 3. There is no corresponding cement board on the interior of the curb, yet. It's just exposed copper right now. I'm planning to attach durock there, but please let me know if that's a bad idea. 4. The attached picture shows the "corrected" mud job. We spent a good deal of time measuring and fabricating a form which would allow us to achieve a good slope, and I'm pretty confident this will drain (and plan to test before tiling). So I've at least got one vote for ripping it all out and starting fresh from live_wire_oak. Frankly, that scares me a little, and I'd appreciate any further thoughts folks have about the pros and cons of tearing it out vs proceeding with the added mud. Please don't be shy if we need a little tough love here. Here is a link that might be useful: Corrected mud job

Thank you everyone for your responses! I love the idea of practicing! Also, thank you for the links. I want to learn as much as I can about building a shower. If nothing else, at least I will know how it's supposed to be done, so that if someone else does it, I know it's done right. I really want to try to do it myself. So, Lazarususa, you do like the Quick-Pitch. I saw where someone else really liked using them too. I think I need to buy a book with step-by-step deatails of the process. I did read that the tiles are going to need to be flush with the drain when they are laid. The plumber installed the new copper pipes for my body sprays and then told me that he went ahead and put in the new liner and drain. He did that without a pre-slope being done. What should I do now? I saw a product called Proslope that will cut-to-fit and fit around the drain. Can I use that and then lay the liner back down on top of it? Or do I need to remove the liner and drain and start over? I didn't know the plumber was going to install that. The floor underneath it is level and then just drops off around the drain. This shower wasn't done right in the first place by the builder. When it was torn out, it became evident that the tile was set right on top of sheetrock. It will be wonderful to have a shower in my master bath again! I am doing one thing at a time. I also have a separate tub in the master bath. But it's just a regular porcelin tub on a wooden platform. I would like to remove it and add a jetted tub after I tackle the shower issue. :)

My brand new master shower does not have a pre sloped pan. They also had a very hard time sloping my mosiac tiles during install(long thin tiles). It looks/works fine now, please tell me it does not need to be redone... If it's new construction and does not meet code, I'd want it to meet code. You'll get a better shower and the installer will learn to follow code. Or you can leave it as is. You may not ever have problems...or you may have problems. The irony? I'm not a tile guy like Bill. Yet I still know code. Why do Bill and I know code? Simply because we're professionals. He in his field, me in mine. We didn't flunk out of cooking school, or get fired from our jobs at the factory, or flunk out of college, and decide as an alternative to set tile or build houses. And if we had flunked out of cooking school, that's cool...as long as we learn about our new job before we pick up a margin trowel and bust open a bag of thinset for the first time. I'd say close to 70% of people in construction build incorrectly. That's inexcusable. When I buy a new car I shouldn't have to learn about internal combustion engines and then visit the plant to make sure the line guys are building my car correctly. It shouldn't be that way in construction either. Sad. Getting off my soapbox so I can go decorate the Christmas tree, Mongo

beesneedsWe have a tankless water heater that sits about 12 feet (on the outside of the house) from where the tub is installed. The tankless provides unlimited hot water at call. They are also VERY eco-friendly and conserve energy (not always heating and re-heating like the tank-style water heaters). Lowering both our gas bill and water bill! I obviously won't be taking baths every night ~ or even every week... And there would never be a desire to fill the tub all the way to capacity whenever it is in use. I just love how big it is for a fun bath playtime (or indoor "pool" time in the hot California summers) for my 3 small children. They can splash around and not make a total disaster on the bathroom floor. To answer your second question, I wouldn't think you'd want to leave water standing inside copper for days upon end... mostly because stagnant water breeds bacteria and I've been instructed to not put any cleaning chemicals or even products like Epsom Salt in the tub since it can scratch the finish. If you anticipate getting something like this tub for an outdoor pool, I'd contact a professional to discuss if its a good idea for long-term standing water. :)