08/02/2025
Repairing a shower base.
Customer didn't like the birdbaths, low spots that made for puddles of standing water. No big deal, just chip out a few tiles here & there, put them back in flat.
Oh jeeze, that looks like... yep concrete, that's not quite right. That drain doesn't look right either, oh no, looking at it from underneath doesn't look right either; remove a little grout around the drain & oh boy, previous contractor neglected to install a shower pan liner or any waterproofing.
Only option was to remove the floor, a course of tile around it and the curb.
Went with a liner, availability issues of a small town.
Underneath the concrete shower bed was drywall of all things, wet mushy sheetrock, on the floor to build up around the subfloor where the last guy took a chainsaw to the floor. He cut a third of the way through two floor joists. Okay, no biggie, repair the joists & subfloor.
Now that we have a structural floor, I reinforced for the weight of the walls too since the floor was torn apart: let's do this right; recess the studs a little, so as that the bottom course of tile lie flat on the wall, build a perimeter for the liner to have contact; install the liner, properly with no fasteners beneath the waterline, got a few tricks up my sleeve for that; flood test the liner overnight, all good; throw down a proper dry pack sloped floor, some dura-rock (seam sealed into existing walls) & red-guard for a good waterproofing membrane; time to cover all that work & polish this turd, luckily the homeowner had just enough leftover tile & grout from the original installation (less the stone for the curb) to finish it out. Wallah, a functional shower.
Moral of the story: make sure your contractors know what they're doing and take pride in their work.
I offer you my knowledge and experience for new installations, repairs, remodels or consulting/ management to make sure the jobs done right the first time.
