Sexytom976 wrote:
KenM wrote:

I'm going to re-do our shower, using tile. It has an acrylic shower

base

which I want to replace.

Should I go with acrylic again, or do tile? What are issues

regarding

durability, lifetime, leaks, ease of keeping clean?


Good to see you are spending a bit extra and going for the acrylic.
Much stronger than the cheaper shower bases that are made from
plastic and easier to repair than fiberglass bases.

Tile is nice, but can fail very easily to a bad installation.


For acrylic, I've found info on Jucuzzi and American Standard. Can

you

recommend one of these, or another?


Doesnt really matter, I forgot the brand that I used, but mine
was about 400.00+ and is 60" x 34"


Judging by the instructions I've pulled of the web, installation of

acrylic

looks pretty straightforward. Any useful tips?


It is pretty easy to do, just make sure to use something like
structolite underneath the base to make the thing SOLID.


I've done a half-dozen floor/backsplash tile projects, so I'm pretty
comfortable with doing the shower walls. But a tile base is another

story.

Looking in a tile book, it doesn't seem too difficult. Is this

something

that takes some experience to get right, or could I reasonably expect

to get

it right the first time? This is on a second floor, so I definitely

don't

want leaks to be a problem.


Between the lead liner (or other material) or using a tar to seal up
the place, angling it to the center drain etc etc.... to me it was
just easier putting the base in and its done.


The book I looked at said to use a heavy plastic liner. I know in

the old

days they used a lead liner. What's the current thinking in that

area? Any

other tips for installing a tile base?


Lets face it, tile DOES look nice. But it will fail at some time and
point. Whether or not you have to replace it again in the future is
entirely up to your talents. The shower base is REALLY straight
forward. Just follow the instructions, make sure its level when
installed and just set it something like thinset or even better
something like structolite.


Thanks for your help.

Ken


Hi,
Level? drain is in the center and water should flow towards it, level base?
Tony