With a curbless shower, I see two issues you may be facing. If he is planning on using a traditional rubber liner, a pre-slope under the liner is required. This slope is a minimum if 1/4" per foot from the drain to the farthest wall. In this case, I assume that to be the entry. I fugure that to be about 2 3/4" higher at the entry than at the drain. The rubber or vinyl liner sits on this and a FINAL mudbed is then formed over the liner. As you can see, there will be issues with no curb and how you'll terminate the slope to a feather edge at the entry. I don't see how that can be done. The other issue is with the liner itself. I see no way to attach it to a mudbed that would have to end at a feather edge. These liners are designed to go UP the vertical walls about 6-8" and nailed into place. Having built these before, scrap the liner and use the Kerdi. It's a bulletproof install, you only need ONE mudbed as the material is bonded directly to the mud and you can generally extend the Kerdi six or eight inches into the bathroom for a bit more insurance. On one hand, yes...it's a bit more cost, but realistically, it's also a shower you'll probably never need to repair or replace. The Kerdi is under $1.40 sq/ft. Their drain will run about a hundred bucks. On the other hand, you only have the cost of one mudbed, you eleminate the vinyl liner, as Kerdi is completely waterproof, you can save by using standard drywall in the shower as opposed to cement board. This is what Schluter recommends. Bottom line is that you'll pay a little more but get a far superior shower. If your tile installer isn't comfortable or familiar with Kerdi, find one that is. Here is a link that might be useful: Kerdi Shower Handbook

docket, I received your email, but apparently cannot reply to it because you have not enabled the email option. Here's what you wrote: I am seriously considering going with cast iron. I like the fact that it strong, I do not want to worry about leaks. It seems that w/ acrylic it is prone to get damgaged. Tile you have to worry about the grout getting black. The picture looks great how is the feel. Is is slippery? You still happy with your decsion to go w/ cast iron. Why did you go cast iron did you look at other options? We've been using the guest bathroom for some months now while work is being done on our MB and hall bath, so can tell you first-hand about the Kohler shower pan. It's very nice! Feels nice and solid underfoot, and not slippery at all. We recently installed two Toto cast iron tubs (one in each of the other two bathrooms); one bathroom is functional. I've been showering in there daily and the tub is very, very nice also. I really like it. Also, not slippery. We chose the cast iron because we liked how it looks, we liked the sturdiness and durability, and we liked the heat retention for which cast iron is known (and it was cheaper than a tile shower floor, which for a guest bathroom, was a good place to save a few $). We originally ordered a Kohler acrylic pan, thinking it was fiberglass. When it arrived though, we discovered not only was it acrylic, but it had no non-slip grips, which was a deal-breaker for us. We returned it for the cast iron pan. I really wasn't interested in a solid surface material (e.g. Corian, Swanstone), so never looked into those. Two things to note. One, cast iron can be a bit colder than other materials initially, but once you runs some warm-hot water, it warms up right away. Our guest bathroom is on the ground floor, on a slab, so it was a little chilly to the touch back in March (when we started using it daily). But, like I said, it warmed up quickly. The second thing, is that the non-slip grips can and do discolor. Regular cleaning with Lysol Basin, Tub, and Tile cleaner doesn't seem to remove the discoloration (at least not too well), however, the Magic Eraser (I use Mr. Clean original Magic Erasers) cleans them with little to no effort. They clean up so well, the first time I used it to clean mine, I thought I had scrubbed away the non-slip grips they were so clean and white! If I can help with any other questions, let me know.

So as I understand Greendesigns suggestion: use a 3cm slab and lay it at a slant to one side, using a trench drain at the end of the slope. The build up for this slope would be made under the slab, instead of removing material from the slab, to get the 1/4" slope needed to drain H2O. I think that sounds doable. What would one use to build up the slope? I wonder if you could joined 2 or more slab remnant pieces together (to keep the price down) to get you shower pan size that you want. I bought remnants at a local stone yard for a potential bathroom remodel in the near future. I am so happy that I got these pieces! I got them for $5/sf. It may have been under priced but the yard went with the quote anyway. They ended up adding an extra piece to the pile that I hadn't planned on but was so happy to get. I got 29sf for $150. The reason I am interested is that we too put in our own soapstone kitchen counters. I had my husband do the heavy lifting but I did the cutting, scribing, shaping and sanding. I loved doing this work.

This could have just as easily been a subway tile..... Sometimes its fun to take on a "sticker shock challenge" ( For only the right client!) Today with all the budget materials and Big box store sales you can get crafty and build a waterproof budget shower id say for around $4K. Shower pan/drain- Prefab insert ( would be around +/- $500 installed but we salvaged her old one) Fixture-Reused old valve/trim Waterproofing - Goboard and sitka sealant ( This stuff $20/board) Budget sale tile- Big box Ceramics/mosaic (2$-$3/sq.-ish) Glass- Prefab kit( $300-ish) This is what we here in the midwest call an upgraded Menardo's job ! This client blew up at sticker shock for a real shower. Since I was already Rebuilding their staircase and working onsite I took it as a challenge to meet a price point. Client bought all the materials I specified (she chose tile and did some driving around and procuring of materials) and the labor was kept at $2750 flat rate(demo to finished). This is my version of A budget job but I think it came out OK for a Price point and so did my clients....... it meets TCNA /ANSI specs..... Its waterproof ! There was no budget for lippage tuning glad i can float..... Not bad for a budget rush job ! It is very hard to build an Tile industry compliant waterproof shower with tiled pan for under $5-6 K you will find handyman that will attempt it but you may end up here on the forums crying in a few weeks time...