| Building a shower pan correctly is often left to the | | | | Most of the floor is mortar. It is not like the mortar |
| pros. That's partly because the working parts of a | | | | used to lay brick. That kind of mortar is too sticky to |
| shower lie buried within the floor. Here are tips for | | | | work properly in a floor. This is a drier mix and it's |
| getting started building a pan yourself. | | | | simple to make. It is just made with three ingredients |
| 1. Build a layer at a time. | | | | in the right proportion. You mix sand, portland cement |
| Bottom up, floors come up a layer at a time. Each | | | | and water. That's all. |
| layer serves an important function. Get any one layer | | | | 4. The drain in two spots. |
| wrong or leave out a step and the shower fails. | | | | Tile shower drains collect water at two spots. One |
| Sadly, some pros still get it wrong. They often leave | | | | you see in the shower floor. The other hides down |
| out steps. | | | | inside the floor. It is the one that catches the water |
| 2. The membrane stops the water. | | | | from the liner membrane. |
| One main key to stopping leaks comes in the form | | | | 5. Curbs fail too. |
| of a vinyl sheet called the liner membrane. The trick | | | | Curbs hold the water in the shower and they fail too. |
| is the liner is built right into the masonry floor. It is | | | | Often failure starts with the wrong foundation. |
| there to catch any and all water that seeps into the | | | | Forming the curb is simple. Form it by either stacking |
| floor. And water does seep into the floor. Grout isn't | | | | wood or brick. Hollow forms fail. |
| waterproof and some tile isn't either. The liner layer is | | | | Building a shower pan happens one step at a time. |
| a must. | | | | Each step is simple, but no steps can be left out or |
| 3. The mud is special. | | | | failure is certain. |