How to Prepare a Shower Base for Tile
When building a tiled shower, often the base of the shower is tiled to match the walls. By using tiles on the base of the shower instead of a plastic shower enclosure base, the look of the floor and wall tiles blend together naturally. To place tiles on the floor you must first prepare the shower base for tile. Without a proper base, the tiles will not adhere to the floor and eventually loosen or crack. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Roofing felt
- Mesh lathe
- Sand
- Portland cement
- Latex concrete additive
- Trowel
- Screed board
- Shower pan liner
- Staple gun
- Utility knife
Instructions
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1
Cover the entire base of the floor with roofing felt to provide a layer of moisture protection for the subfloor material. Cut a piece of mesh lathe to fit over the felt. Cut holes in both materials for the drain flange in the center and to install the flange to the drain pipe.
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2
Prepare a mortar mix of 5 parts sand to 1 part Portland cement. Add a latex mortar additive in place of water to fortify the mix.
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3
Pour some of the mortar into the shower bed. Trowel the mixture so mortar on the edges of the bed is about 2 inches thick, sloping downward evenly around the bed until it matches the top edge of the drain flange in the center.
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4
Screed the mortar with a screed board to ensure the mortar bed is as flat and evenly sloped as possible. Remove any high spots and fill any low spots as you go. Finish the bed with a trowel to be as smooth as possible and allow the bed to dry for 24 hours.
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5
Cut a piece of shower pan liner to match the base of the shower bed, adding at least 24 inches to each side. This will allow at least 12 inches of liner to cover the base of the walls around the shower. Staple the sides of the bed liner to the wall studs to secure in place. Cut the hole for the drain in the center of the liner, using the utility knife.
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6
Install the drain cover over the drain pipe.
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7
Prepare another mixture of sand mix, using 5 parts sand to 1 part Portland cement, but use only water to wet the mix this time. Pour the mortar into the shower bed over the liner about 1-1/2 inches thick across the entirety of the bed, retaining the same consistent slope as the previous concrete bed. Screed and trowel the top of the mortar bed until it is even with the drain flange and consistently sloping but flat around the remainder of the bed.
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8
Allow the second mortar bed 24 hours to cure before applying tile.
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References
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