Surface hairline cracks in new shower pan

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RMP

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I installed a 34" by 60" shower receptor made by Sterling. The sub floor is 3/4 plywood and was screwed down to floor joist. Because of a seem in the sub floor and some patch work I installed a sheet of 1/4 backer board over the entire area the receptor would sit for one seamless flat surface. I used the pad supplied with unit to prevent squeaking. The receptor fit very tight to studs and was secured with roofing nails per instructions. The receptor checks level length ways on both curbs, level from back wall to front curb at center, level diagonal from corner to corner across center. However when checked on the right from back to front there is a difference of 1/4''. There is a slight squeaking that has developed. The cracks are showing up on the back long curb. They are not in one straight line but random, horizontal, and one inch or so. Some are in the vertical flat part of the curb and some are in the curved part of the curb. The walls were just tiled. Is there a product made to fill in these cracks,or am I about to experience a real nightmare. Much thanks to all for any info offered. Really don't want to be tearing that new receptor out.
 

Statjunk

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You can call a resurfacing specialist that can make it look like new.

I'd be concerned with the cracks coming back.

Tom
 

RMP

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Thanks for the reply, Tom. Thats my first concern too. Coming back and bigger. I have only installed three pans before this one without any problems. So I am trying to figure out what I did wrong in the installation or do I have a defective pan. All opinions are welcomed. Thanks and Have A Great Day!!
 

Statjunk

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RMP,

One thing I noticed is that you did not mortor in the pan. I've never installed a tub or shower pan without using mortor.

Tom
 

Jadnashua

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There's another current thread discussing setting a tub and ledger boards. I disagree with some of the comments...anything you are going to walk on needs to be fully supported, especially something that can't bend easily without cracking. 1/4" ply is great for vinal flooring, but is not good for brittle substances since it is fairly soft, doesn't have waterproof glues, and often has voids in the internal plies. It can kill a tile install, and you might consider the pan a large tile. I'm not intimately familiar with it, so I don't know how flexible it is.

In any case, as you've seen, you need 100% support under this sort of thing. Now, how to get it is the big question. You may have to live with it. Hopefully, someone else will have some thoughts. You may want to discuss it with the manufacturer; it is possible it is defective. Often, their liability ends with replacing it which won't help a lot, but may be the best choice. Hopefully, you have some spare tile as you'd have to tear out a few rows to be able to remove and replace it if it came to that.

Will be interesting to see what others think...
 
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