I’m remodeling a bathroom with a 4’x5′ shower room. I’m following Tom Meehan’s technique (FHB 2001) for doing the floor pan, but I have a couple of questions.
1. What are your opinions about using foam wedges under the pan instead of a sloped mud base? I don’t know if these wedges were available when Tom wrote his article.
2. I need to build a bench across the 4′ span of the room. I was going to build a 2×10 header, attach this to the wall framing, and then use 3/4″ plywood to form the bench, and keeping the front of the bench about 1″ above the final height of the floor. What I’m unclear about is how to wrap it. The pan will run under the header for added insurance, but I’m not sure how to waterproof the bench framing and tie it into the floor pan.
Thanks in advance for your advise.
Eric
Replies
Check out http://www.aquafitusa.com for the bench.
Try schluter.com.
Mike
Think JLC had a shower seat "New Stuff" last week.
Yup, it's on page 123 of this magazine on top of the monitor.
http://www.innoviscorp.com
Joe H
I like benches to be built as part of the wall, with a heavy membrane covering (same as the pan). The seat membrane then overlaps the lower pan membrane. The pan then butts into the seat, and doesn't extend under it. As hardi or durrock is installed on the seat the locations of the screw holes is predetermined and the area of the membrane is pretreated with red goop to help create a secondary seal around the screws.
When the seat is placed over the pan it complicates keeping moisture out of the wood since there are multiple paths for moisture to migrate into the wood.
All wood, even pressure treated, expands and contract with changes in moisture levels, which dramatically increases the likelyhood of cracking grout. Not good. When the grout cracks it lets in more water, which increases swelling even more.
Also remember to use a caulk joint where two surfaces plane into each other around the seat and in all tiled corners. Otherwise you'll get hairline cracks in the grout from expansion/contraction.
Cheers,
Don
The link in post #2 is actually http://www.aquafit-usa.com . No hyphen, no get there. You'll find reference there to Better Bench, an pre-fabbed aluminum form to use for your bench. You can get a straight, telescoping one, or two sizes for the corner. I used four of them in the house I just finished. Less work, nothing to rot, big open floor underneath. I highly recommend checking it out.
Bruce
Between the mountains and the desert ...