I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor. The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

Is this going to work? What do you think? Your comments will be
appreciated.

"nascenta" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor. The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

Is this going to work? What do you think? Your comments will be
appreciated.


The membrane needs to be sloped to the drain. The tile also should slope
towards the drain in each direction - in your case 3 directions.

http://www.ontariotile.com/preslope.html
http://www.thetiledoctor.com/howto/showers.cfm

Bob

Newer mind if it will work...why would you do this?
You have 3 planes to slope...you always form the slope from the front
of the drain and the remining sides.. that is what works, that is what
has worked, and it always will work.
Think about this a little more.
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriatedrain==== yes, good, correct
2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). ====== close but much to much slope (thanks again HGTV)
3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.====where the &^%$ did this come from? this is going to completely negate the slope and is completely unnecessary.
Look in order to make this drain you need very little slope more like
1/ 8 per foot with 1/4 per foot you are going to have to use mosaic
tiles or have a bunch of cuts that look ugly. take a sharpe and draw a
line from the drain arcross the floor to the other wall thats 1 plane
and on either side of that line is 2 & 3. 2 & 3 drain to 1 and 1 to the
drain hole.....

nascenta wrote:
I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor. The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

Is this going to work? What do you think? Your comments will be
appreciated.

"Italian" wrote in message
ups.com...
Newer mind if it will work...why would you do this?
You have 3 planes to slope...you always form the slope from the front
of the drain and the remining sides.. that is what works, that is what
has worked, and it always will work.
Think about this a little more.
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriatedrain==== yes, good, correct

Except it lacks the necessary slope. Water will not drain to the weep
holes in the drain.


2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). ====== close but much to much slope (thanks again HGTV)
3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.====where the &^%$ did
this come from? this is going to completely negate the slope and is completely
unnecessary.
Look in order to make this drain you need very little slope more like
1/ 8 per foot with 1/4 per foot you are going to have to use mosaic
tiles or have a bunch of cuts that look ugly. take a sharpe and draw a
line from the drain arcross the floor to the other wall thats 1 plane
and on either side of that line is 2 & 3. 2 & 3 drain to 1 and 1 to the
drain hole.....

1/4" per foot seems to be the accepted minimum slope. That's why
shower floor tiles are usually small. I was told 3" max.

I suggest the O.|P. talk to people at a quality tile shop about his plan.

Bob

nascenta wrote:
I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor. The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

Is this going to work? What do you think? Your comments will be
appreciated.

What the other guy said. Also, what is the purpose of the backer board?
Not needed if I remember correctly for your situation. Hire a pro, get a
pre-fab/custom one built or read-up more on the process.

It is not that big of a deal to break the floor and relocate the
drain to center. This will allow you to set the elevation and the
slopes. Why would you install wonder board? Shower bases are
typically mud (cement and sand) packed to drain on top of the
shower pan. Maintain the slope to drain at 1/4 per foot.

______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"nascenta" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor.
The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the
following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10
inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope
needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down
fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

Is this going to work? What do you think? Your comments will be
appreciated.

3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.====where the &^%$ did this come from? this is going to completely negate the slope and is completely unnecessary.

I was going to use cement board because it is already flat and strong
and my floating skills are not that great (for doing a regular mortar
bed.) The mortar would just secure it and maintain the slope.

Thanks for the responses.

The membrane needs to be sloped to the drain. The tile also should slope
towards the drain in each direction - in your case 3 directions.

Good point. Thank you Bob.

"nascenta" wrote in message
ups.com...
3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.====where the &^%$
did this come from? this is going to completely negate the slope and is
completely unnecessary.

I was going to use cement board because it is already flat and strong
and my floating skills are not that great (for doing a regular mortar
bed.) The mortar would just secure it and maintain the slope.


A mortar shower pan is done with a very dry pack of mortor. There is lots
of scraping and packing involved in getting it right. It ends up being
porous, allowing water to weep through to the weep holes. Proper
use of straight edges and levels to maintain an even grade to the drain
is what it takes.

Another issue with having the drain at one end is that the wall tile will
have to vary in width around the shower instead of being even.

Bob

I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor. The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

No need for the cement board if you're floating a mortar bed.

With a vinyl membrane you'll need to float a sloped bed, apply the
membrane, then float another bed on top for the tile.

I recommend Schluter Kerdi waterproofing membrane and their special drain
instead. I used it for our large 6'x6' shower and it worked great. You
float a single mortar bed, and install the drain. Apply the Kerdi membrane,
and you're ready to tile. It's a bit more expensive, but saves a lot of
labor, and eliminates mold problems in the upper mortar bed.

You should visit the tiling forums at www.johnbridge.com. There's lots of
advice there about preparing shower mud beds, tiling, etc.

Anthony

From the posts you would think you asked how to build a rocket to
shower on the moon...
These are the steps to tile in a shower assuming the subfloor is
complete.
1) Place and secure the membrane
2) Flood test it for leaks
3) Establish your slope plane
4) Pack your mortar bed to your plane (or close you can adjust it you
didnt get it exactly)
5) Instal tile
You are on the right track but your beating this thing to death there
is alot of time to get the bed right. your mix should be like moist
sand NOT WET just enought water to form a ball in your hand...then just
take your time kinda like icing a cake and follow my instructions below
for the planes.. the reason for the 1/8 slope is... well because more
is not necessay alot fo guys (professionals) use 1/4 because it is
idiot proof for the employees producing so much drain it cant possiably
be skrewed up. But if you go into any local bathroom (stores, ect) you
see all the tiles near the drain cut in half diagonally yea this works
but do you want this in "your house". The smaller the tile the less
cutting you will have to do but with your space and drain orentaion you
should be able to use all full tiles. tile is like a puzzle play with
it a bit to see what is going to work out and look the best for your
tile size and your dimentions.

nascenta wrote:
I'm building a shower enclosure (32 x 70) on a concrete floor. The
drain is right against the wall on the short side. Since I have,
essentially, one plane to slope I'm thinking of doing the following: 1)
Apply rubber membrane on floor with hospital corners to 10 inches high
and put in the appropriate drain 2) put in mortar to the slope needed
(1/4 per foot). 3) while the mortar is still wet put down fiberglass
reinforced cement board and firmly set in the mortar.

Is this going to work? What do you think? Your comments will be
appreciated.

Thank you for all the responses.

I'm going to float a pan and use the Kerdi system. I've used it before
but I didn't like the styrofoam floor. It compressed in a couple of
spots as I worked on it doing the walls. It sounded a little to hollow
too. So doing my own pan out of mortar and then using the Kerdi drain
and membrane should to the trick.

Thanks again all.