by Roger
I get a LOT of questions about how to build and waterproof a bench in your shower. I’ll touch on the easiest method here, but there are a couple of different methods you can use.
I will describe simple framing of a bench with your substrate over it. You can also use after-market, pre-fabricated benches. Better Benches (google it) attach directly to your wall substrate, the top gets filled with deck mud and it gets tile. There are also several different Styrofoam products available from companies like Schluter and Laticrete. They are made from the same type of foam used for their shower bases. Although they are ‘foam’, once tiled they are more than sturdy enough to support your tile.
While you ‘can’ build a bench in your shower after you form the shower floor with deck mud, it’s always easier to make your bench first. Your floor substrate is flat, your shower floor (should be) sloped. It’s difficult to build a level bench on a sloped floor.
But you can do it if you wanna.
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by Roger
72 hours.
That’s the answer to your question. 72 hours. Three days.
Your question, by the way, is ‘Now that I have my linear drain in and my shower deck fabricated how long do I have to wait before installing my Laticrete HydroBan to waterproof everything?’
That’s a great question!
72 hours.
If you don’t yet have your linear drain installed and your mud deck fabricated – you’re in luck! You have time to do that. Go read this first: Installing a Laticrete linear drain (part 1)
Then you can go on that three day bender vacation.
‘Why 72 hours?’, you may ask. Also a great question. Negative hydrostatic pressure.
‘What is that?’, you may ask.
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by Roger
Series: How to Build a Traditional Shower Floor
This series covers building a traditionally waterproofed shower floor using a clamping drain and rubber liner. Each step builds on the previous one.
- Building the curb and installing the pre-slope <-You are here
Creating the foundation that ensures water moves toward the drain — not into your framing.
- Positioning and installing the shower liner
Correct placement of the liner over the pre-slope and into the drain assembly.
- Forming the liner around the curb and flood testing
Properly wrapping the curb and verifying the liner is watertight before moving forward.
- Finishing the drain and forming the level perimeter
Setting drain height and creating a consistent, level perimeter for the final mud bed.
- Tying in wall waterproofing and finishing the mud bed
Integrating the walls with the floor and completing the final sloped surface.
- Building a shower floor – Video
Time-lapse video of creating a shower floor
This series covers building a traditionally waterproofed shower floor using a clamping drain and rubber liner. Each step builds on the previous one — skipping steps is how shower floors fail.
- Building the curb and installing the pre-slope <-You are here
Creating the foundation that ensures water moves toward the drain — not into your framing.
- Positioning and installing the shower liner
Correct placement of the liner over the pre-slope and into the drain assembly.
- Forming the liner around the curb and flood testing
Properly wrapping the curb and verifying the liner is watertight before moving forward.
- Finishing the drain and forming the level perimeter
Setting drain height and creating a consistent, level perimeter for the final mud bed.
- Tying in wall waterproofing and finishing the mud bed
Integrating the walls with the floor and completing the final sloped surface.
Curb and Pre-slope
Properly built shower
There are a couple of options to create a shower floor for tile using deck mud. The first is a single-layer shower floor which can then be coated with RedGard or a similar product or covered with kerdi to waterproof it. The other is a normal shower floor with a liner which will have two layers – a preslope, the liner, then the top slope which is then tiled. This series of posts will describe the latter.
Before we start I should note that unless you are using the kerdi waterproofing method or utilizing a liquid membrane as your floor liner you should not have the backerboard installed in the bottom part of the shower. Your waterproof membrane for a shower floor will be installed behind your backerboard. The curb and pre-slope need to be completed before installing the lower wall substrate.
Creating the curb for a wooden floor
The first thing you must do is create the outside curb of your shower. You need to create the “box” which will become the inside of your shower floor. Depending upon whether your shower will be created on a wood or concrete floor will dictate what material you use for your curb.
If you have a wooden floor you want to use regular dimensional lumber. The 2 x 4’s they carry at Home Depot – those. That is the easiest and most readily available material. Ideally you want to use kiln-dried lumber. That is lumber that is, well, dried in a kiln. By removing moisture in this manner the moisture content of KD lumber is normally between six and eight percent compared to regular dimensional lumber at close to 15%. Why does that matter? Well moisture and wood don’t mix. As it dries wood has a tendency to warp and twist. The less moisture initially in the wood the better. KD lumber is best and regular air-dried dimensional lumber is also acceptable. NEVER use pressure treated lumber – ever.
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I get a LOT of questions about how to build and waterproof a bench in your shower. I’ll touch on the easiest method here, but there are a couple of different methods you can use.
