A number of ways and techniques have been tried and applied to have a shower stall that wouldn’t leak. For so many years shower pans of lead and copper were in use without 100% success. Employing a combination of metal, cement and water failed to provide the expected results in a matter of a couple of years. Subsequently, some of the user opted to have an installation comprising of hot mopped asphalt over concrete. That also failed in many of the case. Even the present day installers continue to follow one of the said practices.

Continued efforts to get an efficient system that won’t leak over time, have resulted to the use of different techniques and modified materials for achieving success in this particular field. There are many claimants for having developed a fool proof system that promises to prevent leakage over long periods of use. Nevertheless, we have to wait and see how promising these new methods are. Here are some of the modern practices being adopted for getting the desired shower stall.

Tile Ready Shower Pans

Three companies are known to apply polyurethane, foam and those famous waterproof membranes.  These companies include Tile Redi, Schluter and Wedi build systems. These companies use the said two materials for preparing a base on which tiles are set. The mortar is used only for having a base for the shower pan, included as part of the system.
Of course the system followed by these companies eliminates the requirements of skilled masonry work but the cost of such a shower is much higher than a conventional shower. However the shower goes faster and that certainly is an advantage under certain conditions.

Fiberglass Pans

It may be worthwhile to have a fiberglass or acrylic shower stall if you are on a budget. Certainly you will miss the looks and feel of ceramic shower but remember you are on a budget! Cheaper versions of shower stalls wear out faster and can’t be expected to last as long as tile showers unless of course someone is unlucky to have a prematurely leaking tile tower.

Conventional Masonry Showers

Most ceramic showers continue to employ masonry construction. A masonry shower pan is built the same way.  It needs a solid base or subfloor. A tentative setting of the shower drain is prepared, taking into account that a shower pan has two built in sets of drain holes, a lower set and an upper set. A layer of mortar is then put down at the bottom drain holes. Lest the drain holes get blocked, these are filled with Pea gravel or broken tiles. Finally, a special vinyl sheet is used to cover the mortar layer and glued to the drain base with an appropriate adhesive.

Vinyl membrane is the critical element of the shower base. The shower floor consisting of the tile and grout that one sees is not waterproof. As a result, water seepage is continued and ultimately water flows down the sloped membrane to the bottom drain holes.

The above is taken care of by having a pouring of mortar over the vinyl membrane. This works as a base for the ceramic tile. The base is allowed to get cured before setting the tile that is then grouted on the top with the drain.
The construction of the curb too demands extra care as there are points and around the curb and the corners of the floor from where the membrane is susceptible to crack and thus leak. Walls and the ceiling is built subsequently.

Some of the present day practices will continue to bring changes to the techniques and materials employed for construction of showers. Though construction of shower has been simplified, it appears that in the immediate future, the conventional practices followed for construction of showers will be continued. A conventional masonry shower built with modern engineering practices and materials will go a long way to provide flawless service for many years to come.

1. Fiberglass Shower Stalls Says:
   March 11th, 2010 at 4:00 pm

   Hey Great articles. Ive been looking for a site with good installation tips on shower stalls for some of my customers thank you.