Is replacing the Shower Pan the only way?

**JRJ** · 08-29-2010, 02:27 PM

The “shower pan” under our ground floor shower has developed a leak. Instead of a digging up the tile and replacing the “Shower Pan”, are thinking of having a “Prefabricated Shower Stall” installed. Needless to say this would not be worth it if water would still seep into the leaking “shower pan” afterwards –is there a 100% SURE way to do such an installation without digging up the tile and replacing the “shower pan” BEFORE installing the “prefabricated shower stall” or do we really need to do both?

**Terry** · 08-29-2010, 03:27 PM

If your leaking shower pan is a mud set tile base, then it must be removed.
A prefab shower stall will go in nicely once you remove the walls and doors to your home. You may even be able to just remove the outer wall of your home to slip that baby in. That's how we do them, just knock out walls and carry them in.
Of course, we are doing that before the home gets wired and drywalled.

**jimbo** · 08-29-2010, 03:47 PM

You would have a hard time making a proper drain connection that way, and how would you deal with a 10" tall curb?

**jadnashua** · 08-29-2010, 04:21 PM

Almost any legal sized one-piece shower stall would be too big to fit through normally installed doors and hallways of a house...one-piece jobs are usually only installed during new construction. While they may be sold, that doesn't mean that they are legal to install! Seems kind of counter-intuitive, but true.

Repairing a shower pan is almost as expensive as replacing the whole thing. A new tiled shower, done properly, should last a lifetime. Can't say that of any of the one-piece or multi-piece showers available. Check out www.johnbridge.com for help on tiling. Lots of DIY'ers have installed great showers with their help.

**JRJ** · 08-29-2010, 05:36 PM

Is it possible to just replacing pan and tiling of shower floor without redoing the wall tiling?

**jadnashua** · 08-29-2010, 05:46 PM

80% of the labor is in doing the pan. You have to tear it all out and up the walls maybe 8-10" or so. the curb normally has to be replaced as well. This is so that you can get the liner up higher than the curb. Then rebuild. The labor to redo the whole thing isn't often much more since the walls go up quickly. Check out the www.johnbridge.com Tile Your World website...lots of people are in the same situation, and they can help.

**jimbo** · 08-30-2010, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by JRJ

Is it possible to just replacing pan and tiling of shower floor without redoing the wall tiling?

The walls overlap the flange of any type of pan, so once you get into this, you are in for a complete redo. The easiest is a preformed fibreglass shower base, and a 3 piece preformed wall kit. These are not terribly expensive, and the labor is quite within DIY skills. You can see these at any home center.

There are two types of wall kits...one type is glue up. You must have an intact flat drywall surface to glue to. The other type is direct-to-bare-studs. If you have to do a complete tearout of what is there now, this second type is an easier install.

Some will say this type of shower is not of the same quality as tile floor and walls. True enough...but there is nothing inherently wrong, there are millions of them in place around the country, and they will provide you many years of good service if you are careful about cleaning the surfaces.