We have a shower made entirely from tiles and the floor is a concrete
slab. The beams aren't even securely on the floor, so minor wall
pressure causes the seal on the tiles to crack. One obese neighbor
(twenty nearly identical houses on my block) fell through the shower
floor to the basement a decade ago. The house is wood frame built in
1965. What's worse, the dimensions aren't standard (less than a yard
each wall) and the design is somewhat trapezoidal instead of truly
rectangular. Adjacent to the shower are two closets and the main
bathroom bathtub. It is also a big pain because it is one of the
furthest points in the house from any outdoor entry door (so
construction really inconveniences and messes up half the house).

First question: where do I find non-standard fiberglas (or similar
material, eg PVC?) shower stalls and floors?

Next question: anyone have similar experiences they wish to share?

- = -
Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Health Reform means abolishing FDR's insurance tax exemption]
[To stop SPAM, Charge net-postage] [Abolish 16th (Inc Tx) Amendment]

wrote:

We have a shower made entirely from tiles and the floor is a concrete
slab. The beams aren't even securely on the floor, so minor wall
pressure causes the seal on the tiles to crack. One obese neighbor
(twenty nearly identical houses on my block) fell through the shower
floor to the basement a decade ago. The house is wood frame built in
1965. What's worse, the dimensions aren't standard (less than a yard
each wall) and the design is somewhat trapezoidal instead of truly
rectangular. Adjacent to the shower are two closets and the main
bathroom bathtub. It is also a big pain because it is one of the
furthest points in the house from any outdoor entry door (so
construction really inconveniences and messes up half the house).

First question: where do I find non-standard fiberglas (or similar
material, eg PVC?) shower stalls and floors?

32 X 32 is a standard size. I would reframe the walls to match
a fiberglass base that size. Consider adding some kind of
stiffener or support system to the floor joists too.

Or....you can have custom pieces made from "cultured" marble
or similar materials to exactly fit what you have.
Or....shore up the floor and have someone float and tile a base.

Jim

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 15:10:07 -0400, Speedy Jim wrote:

wrote:

We have a shower made entirely from tiles and the floor is a concrete
slab. The beams aren't even securely on the floor, so minor wall
pressure causes the seal on the tiles to crack. One obese neighbor
(twenty nearly identical houses on my block) fell through the shower
floor to the basement a decade ago. The house is wood frame built in
1965. What's worse, the dimensions aren't standard (less than a yard
each wall) and the design is somewhat trapezoidal instead of truly
rectangular. Adjacent to the shower are two closets and the main
bathroom bathtub. It is also a big pain because it is one of the
furthest points in the house from any outdoor entry door (so
construction really inconveniences and messes up half the house).

First question: where do I find non-standard fiberglas (or similar
material, eg PVC?) shower stalls and floors?

32 X 32 is a standard size. I would reframe the walls to match
a fiberglass base that size. Consider adding some kind of
stiffener or support system to the floor joists too.

Or....you can have custom pieces made from "cultured" marble
or similar materials to exactly fit what you have.
Or....shore up the floor and have someone float and tile a base.

Jim

Or select the smallest standard size in fiberglass, take a slice out,
i.e. cut to fit, rough up the back edges and glass/epoxy tape.
The seam can be made fair with epoxy filler and a taped front
face to provide a shiny surface during the cure.

Brian W

Why do you have to cross-post this bull**** all over the
****ing planet ???

Asshole ....



Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me
'Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.'

HVAC/R program for Palm PDA's
Free demo now available online http://pmilligan.net/palm/
Free Temperature / Pressure charts for 38 Ref's http://pmilligan.net/pmtherm/

non-standard shower sizes require custom tile.
-B
wrote in message
...
We have a shower made entirely from tiles and the floor is a concrete
slab. The beams aren't even securely on the floor, so minor wall
pressure causes the seal on the tiles to crack. One obese neighbor
(twenty nearly identical houses on my block) fell through the shower
floor to the basement a decade ago. The house is wood frame built in
1965. What's worse, the dimensions aren't standard (less than a yard
each wall) and the design is somewhat trapezoidal instead of truly
rectangular. Adjacent to the shower are two closets and the main
bathroom bathtub. It is also a big pain because it is one of the
furthest points in the house from any outdoor entry door (so
construction really inconveniences and messes up half the house).

First question: where do I find non-standard fiberglas (or similar
material, eg PVC?) shower stalls and floors?

Next question: anyone have similar experiences they wish to share?

- = -
Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Health Reform means abolishing FDR's insurance tax exemption]
[To stop SPAM, Charge net-postage] [Abolish 16th (Inc Tx) Amendment]

* [alt.building.engineering]:
Why do you have to cross-post this bull**** all over the
****ing planet ???

Asshole ....

Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me
'Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.'

HVAC/R program for Palm PDA's
Free demo now available online http://pmilligan.net/palm/
Free Temperature / Pressure charts for 38 Ref's http://pmilligan.net/pmtherm/

Perhaps *you* should also learn a bit about netiquette and acceptable
signatures.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt?number=1855

--
T R O Y P I G G I N S
e :

Hi, I;d recommend ripping up what you can & leaving in place what you can't
easily remove.
Then box upthe shower base & sides to 1800 high with say 8mm good quality
plywood.
You can stitch the edges together with copper wire or fix to existing walls
or glue a corner timber cove to join.
The point is to provide a clean reasonably well sealed "box" which you van
then fibreglass over & make compleytely waterproof & strong. So long as the
glass cloth is not forced into tight corners it can flex & need not be so
thick as to be rigid. I would envisage two maybe three coats of 6 ounce
cloth. you can do as much at a time as you can manage. When complete you can
use a variety of resin based fillers to trowel out severe imperfections, you
need it smooth & sounf enough to be sure it will remain waterproof & strong.
Then fix ceramic tiles if you have minimised the shower wall flexure under
live load, use generous amounts of flexible waterproof tile fixing glue. An
alternative is to line with one of several available decorative waterproof
vinyl flexible membranes that are available for similar purposes, can't
recall trade names just now.
Fair bit of work but manageable just proceed slowly & be aware the resin &
glass handling is messy, don't use ytoo much resin, it should just penetrate
the glass cloth & not be over wet which will result in the resin running
down.
Good luck
Pete
wrote in message
...
We have a shower made entirely from tiles and the floor is a concrete
slab. The beams aren't even securely on the floor, so minor wall
pressure causes the seal on the tiles to crack. One obese neighbor
(twenty nearly identical houses on my block) fell through the shower
floor to the basement a decade ago. The house is wood frame built in
1965. What's worse, the dimensions aren't standard (less than a yard
each wall) and the design is somewhat trapezoidal instead of truly
rectangular. Adjacent to the shower are two closets and the main
bathroom bathtub. It is also a big pain because it is one of the
furthest points in the house from any outdoor entry door (so
construction really inconveniences and messes up half the house).

First question: where do I find non-standard fiberglas (or similar
material, eg PVC?) shower stalls and floors?

Next question: anyone have similar experiences they wish to share?

- = -
Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Health Reform means abolishing FDR's insurance tax exemption]
[To stop SPAM, Charge net-postage] [Abolish 16th (Inc Tx) Amendment]