Shower Pan Leak Test Passes!

Okay, I'll admit it, folding the shower pan liner was not fun at all. In fact, I hated it. At one point I actually said "forgot it, it's too hard." But with Melissa's help absorbing my frustration, we did it. And we must not have done too bad because after holding water for 24 hours we declared the leak test a success! Which was more than we could say for our plumber's attempt.

Building the Preslope With Deck Mud

It sure was depressing removing Pam's preslope. I thought I was done removing concrete.

However, her attempt at a preslope was unlike anything I had read about. The code demands at least 1/4" per foot slope. Pam's slope didn't even go all the way to the drain.

After more research, Melissa and I came back from Lowes with roofing felt, galvinized metal lath, Sand Topping Mix, sand, and a PVC liner that was actually the right size.

I nailed some carefully sized wood strips around the perimeter to use as a guide for the slope.

We put down the felt and metal lath to help hold our mud in place, mixed the deck mud to carefully researched consistancy, and spread it using 2X4 floats. Tomorrow it should be ready for the liner...scary!

Shower Pan Leak Test Failure!

After letting the shower pan (i.e., PVC membrane or liner) hold water overnight, I discovered it failed the leak test. Water was running out from under the curb and appeared to have soaked through the two subfloor layers near the drain.


I wanted to cry. I called Pam and she said sometimes they get pin holes. She told me to drain the pan and agreed to come back in two days. I ripped out the PVC membrane because I knew my subfloor was soaked and I wanted to let it dry.


In the meantime, I posted some pictures and asked for advice on the John Bridge tile forum. I was not thrilled with Pam's mud slope and I was already uncomfortable because she essentially refused to build the shower floor per some instructions Melissa had found. The good folks on the forum pointed out Pam's failing to wrap the liner around the curb and nailing it to the top was a code violation. They noticed some other problems and I decided I wanted to do it myself.

So I called Pam and told her not to come back because I wanted to do it myself. She was cool and offered to give me some materials. I'm really amazed at the different opinions of how to make these shower floors. The two other plumbers I got quotes from before picking Pam, didn't even make a preslope. They just attached the liner directly to the subfloor. 5 minutes of research shows these guys are building showers that will not last long, result in discolored grout, and mildew.

Why are these professionals doing such crumby work? I don't get it. I guess plumbers do plumbing well and these shower floors are best done by someone else....like me!

Pam the Plumber

Punctuality is not Pam's strong point. After rescheduling five times she promised to be at our house by 9AM so Melissa could get to a meeting at work. Pam never showed so Melissa had to leave. Then she had to come back at noon to let Pam in. Pam finally showed, though!

On the second day Pam let herself in using the key we gave her. She worked until 9:30 PM that evening (with her helper Todd). Before leaving, Pam showed us her beautiful copper work...


...and left water in the shower pan for the leak test. This was the shower pan she talked me into doing because she was sure it was beyond my abilities. More on that later. She also posed for a couple pictures with Todd. Yes, she is a clown.


So far, I'm happy with her work. She gave me good advice and had some good extras, like making the toilet discharge higher than I would need it, which is good. I'll be able to cut it down to where I need it when I tackle the finished floor. There were two things I was disappointed with, however. One, she removed the shut-off valves I had added for the hot/cold water lines running to the shower and two, the shower pan didn't wrap around the curb.

Bathroom Renovation #2 - Waiting For Pam The Plumber

Once again, I'm waiting on Pam the Plumber. I think this is the fifth time she has rescheduled my appointment. I'm getting a little frustrated but trying to be fair. After all, I rescheduled on her during the whole re-framing of the shower thing. She is supposed to come tomorrow. If she cancels again, I told Melissa I may give up on her and do it myself. If that's the case, I'll probably use Pex instead of copper. We'll see...

Bathroom Renovation #2 - Stupid Electrical Boxes

Adding 9 inches to the width of my shower, caused other things to have to be moved. For example, I had to move the box for my toilet task lighting 9 inches to have it centered between the shower and opposite wall. Annoying.

Okay, I have to complain about the blue "Old Work" junction boxes. They neglect those who have really old work. Like in my case where I have drywall over plaster. The stupid little screws with the plastic pieces that are supposed to flip up and grab the back of the wall board only go so deep. Replacing the screws with longer longs doesn't work because the plastic barriers that force the flippy things to flip up only go so deep. I always end up wasting my time getting something to anchor these boxes to. Everything I have replaced in my house has given me this same challenge.

Bathroom Renovation #2 - Shower Strainer

One nice thing about re-framing the shower was the shower drain can now go exactly in the center without having to cut any joists. I was lucky there were no nails or screws in the way on the hidden first layer of plywood subfloor. This picture shows the four bolt strainer just sitting in the hole. The actual strainer portion screws on to this thing (to adjust to the tile) and is not in the picture.

Bathroom Renovation #2 - Sink Faucet

I installed the sink faucet and trim today. It was a relief that we had all the parts and everything actually fit our porcelain vanity top. We used all Moen stuff and I think it went together a little easier than the Kohler faucets I put in the upstairs bathrooms. But then again, I hate Kohler.

I was pleased with my vanity design. The open back made it fairly easy to install everything. I hate going in from the front upside down trying to get to everything.

I'm excited to get these faucets hooked up to some water but it will be a long time until we're ready for that. Until then, we'll have to just look at a non-functional vanity in our guest room.

Bathroom Renovation #2 - Re-Framing The Shower

Our new design called for extending the depth of the shower by 9 inches. I built a little 9-inch wall that extends to the ceiling, built the curb, and trimmed back my tongue and groove panels to the new curb.

Since the tongue and groove panels are now terminating between two studs I built a deadwood stud between the two existing studs. The deadwood stud will also have to serve as the anchor for the shower door. Since I didn't want to remove my finished wall, Melissa removed the drywall and plaster along our terminal line. She left the plaster slats for my deadwood. Since I could only fish the deadwood stud in at a certain length, I had to build it out of two pieces. I used the plaster slats as support and screwed the deadwood stud up against the slats. To my surprise, it actually worked. The slats were solid enough to anchor the deadwood stud.

Okay, so now we've got our larger shower. Oh, we also decided to tile all the way to the ceiling. So we ripped out more plaster/drywall layers. This should finally be the last of it!

Subpar Subfloor

During my recent shower size dilemma I was fortunate enough to have one of the John Bridge Forum moderators, CX, catch another major problem with my bathroom renovation. He noticed I had installed the plywood subfloor with the sheets parallel to the joists, thus not making my subfloor strong enough to support a tile floor.

I had used my own twisted logic at the time, and managed to convince Bob, my father-in-law of the same. We thought we were saving on plywood and supporting the plywood edges better to prevent flexing. Turns out this was at the expense of maximizing the ply grain strength and we did not end up with the minimum 5/8ths plywood subfloor strength needed for a tile installation...even though we used 3/4" plywood.

Following the advice of said moderator I used Titebond II to glue additional 1/2" plywood sheets on top of my 3/4" plywood, laying the 1/2" sheets perpendicular to the joists.

Renovating the Renovation

When Pam the Plumber stopped by last week to get her materials list (to change our polybutylene to copper), she noted how narrow our finished shower was going to be. She suggested a different design but said she was ready to rough-in the current shower. After a sleepless night and lots of staring at our unfinished shower and bathroom design, I posted the question on Terry Love's Shower and Bathroom Forum and John Bridge's Tile Advice Forum. Is a 26" wide finished shower too narrow?

When I read the first of many similar responses ("As long as you're not planning on using your arms to wash your body while in the shower, you should be fine."), I knew the decision was a no-brainer.

This will set me back several weeks because I have to remove framing, part of my tongue and groove wall panel, build a new wall, move my electrical, and determine how to install a deadwood stud without removing all of my finished wall.

I had my reasons for trying to build a shower in the old tub's footprint but I should have done more research and design. Oops. In the end, I'm sure it will be worth the pain, misery, and humiliation.