Replacing a Tub by a Shower in a Condo

[francoisg]

Hi,

Apologies if the questions sound simple, but I haven't been able to find an answer after looking online (on this forum and google).

We've been renovating our condo (built in the 80s), one bathroom at a time. We first started with the master bathroom and all was pretty straight-forward, we replaced the existing bathtub with a more modern one. We did everything ourselves with the exception of plumbing which was done by a professional.

It went pretty smoothly, and now that it's time to tackle the second bathroom and I've been really struggling when it comes to the shower.

Plumbing in the bathrooms is pretty straightforward, it's a concrete slab (and being a condo, it cannot be altered), in which a waste and overflow brass pipes go through. The original tub itself sits on legs about 3" above the floor which leaves enough room for the pipes.
When we replaced the first tub, I simply bought a tub that also had a 3" space between the bottom of the tub and the floor, and those were pretty common (the brand I god was Mirolin). I bought the drain and overflow, and our plumber did the installation.

So for the second bathroom, I was planning on taking the same approach, but instead of a tub, buy a shower base sitting 3" above the floor (after all a shower base is just a tub with much lower sides isn't it ?).

And this is where the problem is, aside from Bestbath (https://www.bestbathshowroom.com/pr...-clearance-for-above-floor-rough-in-plumbing/), which doesn't seem available in Canada, I can't seem to find any manufacturer providing such shower bases.

I know most people build tiled shower bases, using the many kits are available to make it "easier" (Schluter and co.), but I don't want a tiled shower base.

It seems that my only option is to build a 4" high platform to install a shower base on, but then I have a tough time finding drains with a 90 degree angle (i.e. the "shower" equivalent of a tub drain: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Westbra...Cover-Polished-Chrome-7941817-AF-26/204719699 without the overflow and with the correct shower-compatible diameter).
I stumbled upon this product: https://osb.ca/products/downloads/O...Side-Discharge-Shower-Drain-FMSDB478-0314.pdf but if I understand properly it's for a different application and wouldn't fit a shower pan.

It seems to me that what could be have been a simple 1-1 replacement, is getting much more complex.

I would really appreciate it if you could give me any recommendations, brands I might have overlooked or general directions to tackle such a project.

I'm attaching the original drawing I sent our contractor for the master bathroom, the bathtub drain on the left side will be the exact same we will find in our second bathroom. Note that this was the initial drawing, discard the red lines, the end result looked pretty different

Thanks a lot,

 

[Jadnashua]

Canada may allow it, but in the US, a shower drain needs to be 2". Your tub drain is likely 1.5". Now, that change was a long time ago, but there's lots of showers out there with 1.5" drains. The issue is that in a tub, you have a chance to recognize the drain is clogged, but the curb in a shower is much lower, and you want it to drain faster if you then get your foot off of the drain, for example.

Keep in mind that stepping out of a shower with wet feet that is higher than the norm can be a safety hazard. Building it up on a 4" platform, then with the nominal thickness of the shower receptor, it could be really dangerous. Make sure you have a suitable safety bar installed. IMHO, you will never really like stepping out of a high shower pan. FWIW, I'd not like your tub up higher, either. A couple of inches higher will make a difference for the worse.

What's your aversion to a tiled shower pan? A study in the US showed that 70-80% were not installed per industry standards. Do it right, and it works.

Most shower receptors that you can buy off the shelf tend to have the drain centered in the pan. That doesn't work well when replacing a tub where you can't move it. Keep in mind that if you run the drain horizontal over to the existing one, all of that surface area will be open, above the trap, and potentially accumulate hair, body oil, soap scum, etc., and it can be hard to keep it from smelling like a sewer. It's also going to be tough trying to clean that or get a snake around the 90-degree fitting going from horizontal to vertical into the existing piping. So, there are some practical things to consider.

Personally, I'd build a shower with an offset drain and potentially consider using a linear one centered over the existing piping. If you use a surface applied membrane (Schluter is one), then the whole thing would only need to be maybe 2" thick at the far end.

An elevated shower just looks like a hokey solution to me and screams poor decision.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[francoisg]

Thanks, actually, I didn't consider the tripping hazard since I assumed it would be pretty much the same as stepping out of a tub, but you are right, the motion is different.

And what you said also "connects-the-dots" with what I remember a neighbor telling me (same unit, different floor), I remember him mentioning that he had to offset the shower from the original tub location, and that would make sense if he had to get the drain right above the current pipe.

Any other ideas/feedbacks are welcome, I definitely need to do more homework.