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Shower Shrunk
You have a very informative site
and was wondering if you can point me in the right direction. I
gutted out a bathroom 50" by 96" all the way down to the
subfloor and wall studs. The old bathroom had a mud floor with tiles
on top and the shower was a wall to wall on the 50" side with
mud and plaster on the walls and tiles. I purchased a shower kit
(32" x 48") to put in the location of the old shower. I am
2" inches short with the shower kit.
I was planning on putting up 1/2" Durock around the wall first
and then attach the base to it, but I would still be an 1" or
less short. Would you recommend I build up the wall first with
5/8" plywood, add Durock and then the shower base. Or would
laying 1 x 2 around the walls and building up on that be better. Any
other suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
David
I'm
not entirely sure what you mean by "shower kit". Do you
mean a base with thin plastic sides that are glued onto the walls?
Or do you mean a two- or three-piece fiberglass shower unit that
is assembled in the room and slid into place?
If the second case is what you're using, then all you need is to
provide a solid wood frame around the nailing flange.
If the first case describes your kit, then you need to build a
wall with sheet material that overlaps the shower base pan. At
least that's how I describe it in my
article on the neo-angle shower. The base went in before the
drywall went up. The Moisture Resistant drywall hangs over the top
lip of the base, so if the plastic sheet wall surround ever leaks,
the water won't get behind the wallboard. In fact the base was
installed along with the rough plumbing, which was quite early in
the project.
Durock is sturdy, but it's really meant for installing ceramic
wall tiles. Type MR drywall (green in color) is very effective IF
your instructions say to glue the surround material to the wall. I
don't think gluing to Durock would work.
As far as taking up that 2 inches of slack... I have done things
like rip plywood into 1.5" strips and tack them to the studs
to make them deeper. Whatever thickness works. The most important
part is getting the drain hole in the new base to line up with the
old plumbing. Also, you will have the opportunity to check the
walls to make sure they are perfectly square. You can shim those
1.5" wide strips if necessary so everything is perfect.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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