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

Pepperidge farm--are you talking about the page with the shower on the left and the dark vanity and mirror on the right? If so, yes I see what you are talking about after looking more closely and that does look nice. That is what you mean about "running bond" pattern? My ceilings are 9 ft. BTW. The project is already so ridiculous as far as cost, what's a few more bucks. The custom Alantra base is costing me over 2K. Couldn't find anyone around here that I trusted to build a non-leaky shower pan out of tile. Not to mention I have already paid a man to build the shower, tear it out, rebuild it, have it leak again and then not return my phone calls for over a year. So now I am paying again to start from scratch. Okay now I will stop whining. Thanks for the advice. Happy Valentines Day all!

We went with 76 inch sliding doors that sit on top of a 4 inch shower curb so we're actually 80 inches from the floor. Our old shower was 70 inches and we always had to bend over so that we didn't hit our heads on the frame. We had the shower tiled to the ceiling (8 ft) so I think 70 inch doors would have looked out of place. I paid around $800 for 3/8 inch glass and installation. (local company) We love it!

1) no, they can't. 2) It depends on the tile used. If you're using thru body color porcelain, it's relatively easy to do. If it's anything else, it's a bad idea, because the edge will look terrible, and depending on the tile, it may not even be strong enough. As for the shelves they're using, there are only a couple of colors-- white and bone. Pretty much cut and dry. All that said, I agree with remodelfla. This should be redone, but not that the shelf should be moved down. it should be removed completely. Those corner shelves are not made to put any real weight on. for that you want something like the betterbench. It's an aluminum tray that sits on the edge of the tile, gets bolted to the wall, filled with mortar, and then tiled. THAT, you could put your weight on and not worry about it breaking, and end up cutting yourself badly. Here's a pic of it installed: Here is a link that might be useful: Innovis Better Bench