As I write this, it’s early April, and pretty much everyone in the United States is stuck at home to “flatten the curve” in the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now you might think that is a great time to work on a DIY project, like our master bath remodel that’s taking FOREVER (just my rough estimate).
Maybe there’s a large percentage of the population that is super productive in this crisis. I’m not one of them. Hubby Shawn is working as hard as ever on his day job, now sitting at his desk in our bedroom. I did have a lot of writing work to do until layoffs hit one of my clients and delayed most of my stories until mid-summer. And, of course, no substitute teaching.
The truth is that stress and anxiety don’t help my productivity. How about you? Some days are better than others, and I won’t give up trying.
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item after clicking one of my links, the item doesn’t cost you more, but I get a small commission. Read more about my disclosures here.
We’re still making progress on our shower, but it’s sooooo slooooowwww. Since my last update, we installed the pre-slope beneath the shower pan, not once but TWICE.
Then the vinyl underlayment, the niche, the cement backer board on all the walls, and the all-important shower pan. We then had the pan inspected by a city inspector.
The Quick Pitch part of the Goof Proof kit includes sticks, the center ring and a weep hole protector.
The most complicated part of that is the various layers that make up the shower pan. For most of it, I purchased a Goof Proof Shower Kit from Mark E Industries. It contains the Pre-Pitch Kit, the Quick Pitch Kit, Kirb Perfect, a center ring to ensure the drain is at the proper height and a weep hole protector, along with a DVD that includes how-to videos (also available on YouTube).
Here’s a link to the kit we used for our roughly 3-foot-by-4-and-a-half-foot shower pan.
I looked at lots of shower pan options, but most of them had the drain exactly in the center or at one end for a tub to shower conversion. We didn’t want to move our drain, and we wanted a non-standard shape. With those limitations, I couldn’t find anything better than the Goof Proof products.
In addition to what was included in the kit, we used several other items:
- felt paper to waterproof the wood subfloor while the pan mud dried
- long stainless steel staples
- wire mesh on top of the felt paper
- 2-inch multi-surface screws to hold the Pre-Pitch sticks in place
- Portland cement
- clean sand
- long rectangular trowel
- small diamond trowel for the corners and around the drain
- 40 mil vinyl shower pan material
- shower pan test plug
- plumber’s putty
I’m not going to go step-by-step through the installation because that is better achieved by watching the videos and reading the installation instructions. But I wanted to share the biggest challenges.
Second time’s the charm
If you read my last post on the shower, I told you about having to re-do a couple of things. Well, that happened again here.
What forced us to tear out our first attempt at the pre-slope was the consistency of the mud. Most experts recommend a mix of 4 parts sand to 1 part Portland cement for the shower pan. Then you add just enough water to get dry pack that feels like you could make sandcastles from it.
The second time we made the mud for the pan a little wetter so it was easier to smooth.
Our mistake was making our dry pack too dry. When the pre-pitch layer dried, it had places where you could dig down into it with a screwdriver.
We decided to start over. Shawn managed to save the Pre-Pitch sticks so we could reuse them. But we had to do another layer of felt paper and wire mesh and mix up another batch of shower pan mud. This time, we did more research.
One YouTuber suggested that you make the mud wet enough that you can form a handful into a ball. It shouldn’t be dripping water. Toss the ball several inches in the air. If it doesn’t break apart when you catch it lightly, it’s a good consistency. We also made a few sandcastles with a plastic cup.
Then we made it just a little bit wetter. When we smoothed it out, using the sticks as a guide for the slope, we sprinkled some water on top. We wanted to make sure it was dry enough to hold the slope but not so dry that you could easily dig it out.
This time it worked. Phew!
Plodding through so many steps…
Then came the vinyl liner layer. The hardest part of this step? Getting the corners folded as flat as possible. We watched many YouTube videos before the attempt. We stapled the liner to the studs at least two inches above the shower curb. You don’t want any holes in the liner where water could get into the wooden studs.
When it was time for the Quick Pitch part of the shower pan, the sticks and center ring went together fast.
Kirb Perfect is the plastic form that goes around the two-by-fours that create your shower curb. I used a Dremel Multi-tool to trim the side that rests on the pre-slope.
Then we mixed up a lot of mud, just like the pre-slope mud. The snowball that’s not dripping but doesn’t bust when you catch it.
When that dried, we used our test plug to make sure the pan didn’t leak. We let it sit overnight, and it worked! I’m glad we spent the $21 on the test plug because the city inspector didn’t have his own. He signed off on it, saying it looked good! Yay us!
Cutting large holes in cement backer board requires multiple steps and tools.
After that, Shawn installed the cement backer board. For most of the cuts, he used his circular saw equipped with a diamond blade. It made soooo much dust in our garage. He wore a construction-grade N-95 mask (bought months before they became scarce) to keep from breathing in the particles and kept the garage door open as much as possible.
He also used a drill for the fixture holes. For bigger holes, he made a pizza sort of shape, with a hole in the middle and multiple holes along the outer edge. He used a cement board scoring tool, tile nippers and a cement board file to shape the hole. Then he followed the manufacturer’s installation instructions.
We taped the joints with alkali resistant tape and used thinset mortar to cover the tape. We also ran waterproof caulk along the bottom of the boards.
The last step before tile was to paint on two or three coats of waterproof membrane. We used Red Guard from our local Home Depot. Shawn said that it made the shower look like a portal to H-E-double-hockey-sticks because, as you can see below, it dries a deep, blood red.
Next up, tiling adventures.
Finally.
Related links:
- How to get more bang from your bathroom remodeling buck
- Behind the walls on the master bathroom remodeling project
- Planning a budget bathroom remodel
Red Guard waterproofing is the last step before tiling the walls.