Prefab NEOANGLE SHOWER


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Old 02-12-18, 04:59 PM
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Question Prefab NEOANGLE SHOWER

Three years ago when I started the project of doing over the basement into a studio inlaw I purchased a prefab neo angle shower that included the glass doors and base.

I had planned on doing a tile back to give it more of a custom look but now I'm wondering if I should go a step further and do a custom pan as this pan is 6" in height which is really unnecessary now that I trenched out the plumbing into the floor. I would still use the glass doors and trim.

I guess I am looking for some input. Would I just be making more unnecessary work for myself or is this something people commonly do?

 
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Old 02-14-18, 06:16 AM
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Well, here's my $.02... One of the things i don't like about the pre-fab shower enclosures is the "feel" of the pan. They sound kind of hollow and there is a bit of flex - at least to me. I'f you're inclined to custom build a pan, i'd say definitely go for it! It will match the tile walls better, too.

You said it was for an In-Law studio apt. If In-Law means elderly, then i would lower the step-in height to reduce falls or trips. Lowering the pan closer to floor level is a good idea.

More work? Yes, but worth it, i think.
 
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Old 02-14-18, 09:26 AM
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Well, you are already talking about not using the shower walls and pan that you have. At that point you're basically scratch building the entire shower as the only thing you'd use from your original purchase is the shower door. And if you spend much time on this forum you'll see that shower doors can often leak. So, I think you either use the shower that you already have or chunk it all and build a custom shower. Obviously using what you already have would be the least expensive and should be OK for intermittent use or use by someone that's careful.
 
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Old 02-14-18, 10:46 AM
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Thanks for the input. The reason I originally went with a prefab was that I was going to use a saniflo system for the bathroom. I then decided against the idea and dugout the floor and installed a full-size liberty septic pit and proper pump.

I'm not against the idea of forgetting the whole prefab thing and start from scratch but I would like to go over my options first.

I've seen a few of these showers that appear to have no base or pan using a similar shower door. Not sure if its just because these are display models but they seem to have a drain. Seeing this will be on a concrete basement floor would I be able to do something like this?

PS
Just to give you an idea of my setup. I only have room for a corner shower and said corner showers opening has to be centered to give the proper clearance needed to pass code inspection. The bottom picture is my bathroom.

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Old 02-14-18, 01:10 PM
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Yes, you could build up a traditional shower with waterproof barrier and traditional tile and use the enclosure/door from your pre-fab unit. I would give the enclosure a good look over and measuring to make sure it will work. Some pre-fab enclosure walls are not truly vertical (they are at an angle to make it easier to remove from the mold at the factory). A slight angle isn't visible to the naked eye especially since the enclosure is made with an angle to match. Put that enclosure into a shower with truly vertical walls and that angle will be visible and could cause a problem. If the walls of your pre-fab shower are truly plumb/vertical then the door should be able to be used in a stick built shower without much trouble. If the enclosure is built with a slight angle then you could build your shower walls with a slight angle to match. With the correct tile choice it could be hardley noticeable.
 
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Old 02-14-18, 03:20 PM
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Personally, I would not want to have to try to build a shower curb that is radiused to accept a curved shower door. You would have to use mosaic tile on the curve and special cement board that is designed for curved walls. Most bull nose tile is linear so finishing the edges would be a challenge. I'd also hate to try to figure out how to fold a pan membrane around the radius, same with getting wire lath to fold over the curb to build the cement bed.

I also wouldn't put much faith in a computer generated picture that shows glass directly on the floor. At some point the floor needs to be sloped 1/4" per foot towards a drain. A simple emergency floor drain would not be acceptable either. Shower drain bodies are built differently.
 
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Old 02-15-18, 10:57 AM
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You guys bring up some great points. I am really considering aborting the whole prefab thing.

My buddy mentioned that since it is such a small area, I should consider an open shower and tile the whole bath or at least the shower area and the bottom half of the wall. I had never really considered this as I was worried about it not meeting code but in searching google I see it is quite common and very sharp looking IMO. What do you guys think? Anything I should consider before looking more into this??

Something like this
 
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Old 02-15-18, 03:33 PM
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Trust me, in the picture shown, the floor is sloped toward the drain in all directions. I've done half a dozen roll in showers. It needs to be water tight, needs a pan membrane of some sort to keep water inside the shower. I usually run the pan out into the bathroom itself around 6 feet in case of splash, create a damn around the toilet flange, the whole nine yards. Last on I did was one that had a drain body hidden in the wall, no drain was visible at all. Easily the most complicated bathroom as far as preparation I have ever done. Customers are happy, it was expensive but the end product was a complete transformation of a traditional old school mudbed bathroom. The shower pan I took out was made of lead.
 
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Old 02-15-18, 05:14 PM
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czizzi, when you said the floor in the picture is sloped toward the drain from all sides are you referring to the last picture I posted of the open shower concept? I took a level to my floor when I got home tonight and there is already a pretty heavy pitch toward the drain. How much of a pitch would be needed??

I did a mockup in Sketchup with the proper dimensions and this looks like it could be doable.
 
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Old 02-15-18, 08:57 PM
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Every shower regardless of open floor concept has to have allocations for a pan membrane/liner and slope of he floor at 1/4" per foot. You just can't place a drain in a shower and expect it to do all the work. Water seeks its own level, with out a membrane of some sort to direct it, it will go to the point that is lowest in the bathroom. This is basic tile shower stuff. Hopefully you are not trying to rewrite how to build a shower.
 
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Old 02-16-18, 07:36 AM
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Thanks czizzi.

No, I am not trying to rewrite the book. I am just trying to figure out if this idea will work and if so, what the next steps are. As you can see from my previous posts in here, the room is still wide open. a waterproof membrane can be applied to the whole room if necessary. I'm not trying to get out of this the easy way, I want it done right the first time.

Can you recommend a video or some sort of directions that show the proper steps in order to do something like this?
 
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Old 02-16-18, 07:58 AM
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How to Create a Shower Floor ? Part 1

This link is pretty comprehensive for a traditional shower install.
 
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Old 02-16-18, 08:35 AM
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Looks good, I will give it a read when I get out of work!
 
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Old 02-17-18, 09:16 AM
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So from what I have read the first steps of the best way to do this would be to block the bottom of the walls between the studs with either 2 x 8 or 2x 4 for the waterproof membrane to sit against and Pitch the floor in all directions toward the drain.

All of the things I have watched or read have had a more centered drain. Not sure how to go about this. Should I pitch the whole entire bathroom floor with Pre-Pitched plastic shims? If so do the lines in the photo look right on where to place said shims?
 
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Old 02-17-18, 01:21 PM
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Not following what you are going to do. A mudbed shower pan is built up around 2 1/4" with a membrane sandwiched in the middle of it.
 
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Old 02-18-18, 10:56 AM
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I was thinking of going with a liquid barrier like redguard or Hydroban over the pitched cement, fiberglass mesh tape seems, joints, corners, tile and grout. Is this not the correct way to do this?
 
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Old 02-18-18, 02:54 PM
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Is your floor already sloped to accommodate the layout your considering? Usually concrete basement floors are mostly level or have a very slight slope. Unless you poured the floor with your design in mind I doubt it will work as is. Also, do you have the plumbing (shower drain and trap) buried in the floor for your new layout? There is a reason kitchens and bathrooms are the most expensive rooms in a home. There is a lot behind the scenes to consider.
 
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Old 02-18-18, 04:20 PM
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Hi , pilot. Yes, the shower drain and trap is buried in the floor and the tranch still hasn't been filled with cement.

The floor pitches slightly toward the drain now but I am thinking of digging up a 40 x 40 area ( roughly inside of where the 2x4s are in the picture below) and doing a proper 1/4 inch per foot pitch to the drain leaving the back corner lower than the rest so if it starts to pool it will pool in the corner of the two joining walls.
 
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Old 02-19-18, 03:58 PM
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No, do not have water pool in the corner, everything is pitch toward the drain.

Understand that simply painting on a waterproofing membrane is not enough. You need to figure out how you are going to install your drain body, which drain body and have ts waterproof around that. You also need to extend the waterproofing up the wall around 9 inches. This means that you have formed a water tight PAN not just a water tight floor. Think of it this way, you should be able to flood the area with water and it will not have any possibility of getting under the walls you will have on 2 sides of your shower area.

Hate to say, but it is so much more complicated than painting on Redgard or Hydroban.
 
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Old 02-26-18, 03:38 PM
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I totally understand its more than just painting on a waterproof membrane. I will be sure to take each step at a time and make absolutely sure it is done the way it should be as I do not want issues later on.

Today I finished cutting out the shower area. I am unsure of the next step though.
I understand I need to get a proper drain assembly before filling this in and pitching but I am unsure of how I go about the filling in part.

Do I use concrete to fill in the whole area and pitch the concrete to the drain? Or do I use concrete to create a flat lower level foundation then put and pitch mortar on top of that??
 
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Old 02-26-18, 06:35 PM
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You will want a good solid base (flat) with which to build your initial slope. The key is which drain body you are going to use and how do you incorporate it into the preslope, membrane and final mud bed mixture.
 
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Old 02-26-18, 08:35 PM
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So should I dig the hole out and compact the ground enough to get a 2" flat concrete base leaving myself 2" for a mortar bed to slope into the drain?

Do you have any suggestions for a drain assembly? I believe it is a 1 1/2" pipe.
 
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Old 02-27-18, 08:10 AM
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Ok, doing a bit more research ( and hours upon hours of video watching).

I think I may be better off going with a pre-pitched base of concrete, PVC pan liner, pitched mortar and redgard on top, as well as proper wall corner, seems with Alkali-Resistant mesh tape. I have looked everywhere and even though it is stated that redgard can be used alone, I have yet to see someone recommend or use it by its self.

I did, however, see quite a few people mention that in time, where the redgard meets the drain would be the week spot which makes sense.
 
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Old 02-27-18, 03:05 PM
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Most slabs are 4" thick so start there. Shower drains need to be 2" pipe, not 1 1/2" as stated. In order to have a 2" thick mudbed at the drain, you need a 2 1/2" thick mudbed at the wall to get your slope. PVC liner works with a traditional 3 sided shower (walls) and curb, but will not work with a 2 sided shower (walls), look into another sort of membrane like Kerdi that can be folded and taken 9" up the wall as well as extending out into the room for extra protection. I would refuse your job if you insisted I just painted on redgard.
 
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Old 03-03-18, 03:08 PM
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Exclamation Best way to center this shower drain?

Change of plans from when the plumber set the plumbing. I was going with a prefab and decided to do a custom shower so now I need to center the drain. What would be the best way to do this??

Center appears to be just right of the sink drain.
 
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Old 03-03-18, 03:27 PM
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Identify what drain is which.

If you're going to have a custom shower then have the shower drain pitched to where the drain is currently located.
 
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Old 03-03-18, 07:47 PM
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Well, my new plan was to have a corner seat and with the bonded type flange it wouldn't fit. If it's too much of a pain to move than I suppose I could forget the corner seat.
 
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Old 03-04-18, 02:27 PM
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If I have the room, would it be ok to cut the shower drain pipe down ( pipe on the left) enough to put a 90 elbow, run a straight ( pitched) pipe under the sink drain ( pipe on the right) and another 90 to come up on the other side of the sink drain?
 
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Old 03-04-18, 06:21 PM
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Care to fill us in on which system you are going with as far as the overall shower? Whose "bonded" drain are you using.

May require a complete rethink. Too many turns in a drain line could spell trouble as far as code and the ability to clean if there is a clog.
 

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Old 03-05-18, 08:50 AM
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I would dig and cut out the trap, wye, and vent lines. Use the same layout but adjust the bends to land where it needs to be.

I would not drop any of the drains further down, the overall layout is good, it just needs to be moved around.
 
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Old 03-18-18, 05:38 PM
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czizzi, I am going with a HYDRO ban bonded flange by Laticrete

I re-routed the plumbing ( picture below).

I have a little more than 1/2" pitch to the drain from the surrounding floor I hope this is enough! The first time around I cut the pipe too much and ended up with1.5" pitch. So I cut the pipe a bit more to put a coupling on plus 3/4 pipe to connect the drain.

Will this pitch be ok? I had a hell of a time trying to get the right height :/
 
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Old 03-18-18, 09:33 PM
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I'm not sure you understand how that drain body is used. If you watch the installation video from Laticrete, it states that you first screed a 1 1/4" thick mudbed that is sloped toward the drain body that incorporates a 1/4" per foot slope. You then paint on your waterproofing membrane (2 coats) and tile your floor. You seem to have just set your drain lower than the surrounding. I don't think again, that you are following the concept. You need a 1 1/4" mudbed at the drain and then a 1/4" rise up to the walls/ surrounding floor height.
 
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Old 03-18-18, 10:03 PM
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If you watched the same video as me, they showed the installation on a wood substrate. I will have a 1/4 pitch from the walls and ajoining floor but because I have to fill in the area I dug out I will no doubt have more than 1 1/4 under the flange. I'm not sure how that would be a problem. Will it??
 
 

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