What should I put under a one piece fiberglass shower?

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BrettS

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I'm adding a one piece fiberglass shower to an existing half bath on the first floor of my house. The shower is going into space that is currently part of the garage... The garage floor is about 16 inches lower than the floor of the house, so I needed to build up the floor so the shower would be at the same height as the bathroom floor. I built a parameter wall out of cinderblocks to put the shower on, but I'm not quite sure what would be best do to now.

I was thinking I could just fill the whole thing with sand and then set the shower into the sand. Alternately I could mostly fill it with sand and then pour a small concrete pad over the sand, then either set the shower into the concrete or just put it on the concrete after it cures... or something else entirely.

Any suggestions for me here?

Thanks much,
Brett
 

Gary Swart

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The most common and most often recommended material is mortar. You place it in several clumps so that the shower will squish it out when it is set in place. Not solid mortar as there needs to be space for it to spread out. It does not have cover 100% of the base.
 

BrettS

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Thanks Gary, that definitely helps. And in that case I think I'm better pouring a concrete slab for the shower, then after that cures, setting it in the mortar.

As I thought about it more and more I started to get a bit concerned about doing sand... I was just afraid that I wouldn't be able to totally compact 16" of sand and over time it would compress a bit and leave the shower with no support.

Do you think a 2" thik concrete pad would be sufficient (the whole area is only 32"x44") or should I go with 3 or 4"?

Thanks again,
Brett
 
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Hey, wait a minute.

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