A broken shower pan.

Long story. But I figure I'll share with the rest of my HI board Aggie friends.

We moved into the house first week of July. House meets all our needs, 4/3 and in a good neighborhood. Reasonably priced for our area too. However, we were the 3rd owners and it hasn't been updated since it was built in mid 80's... you know what that means... lots of floral and striped wall paper. Old lady country blue and brass/glass fixtures.

We knew it was gonna take some work to update our taste but with 3 kids under 5 & #4 otw the positives outweighed the work ahead. Plus we enjoy updating and doing work like this...

Then came early September. we noticed a funky smell in master bath. And I became suspicious as it looked like the base boards were feeling soft to the touch. So I did some exploring.



Crap. Mold over the candy stripe wall paper. I investigated further. And pulled the base boards and wainscoting.





I figure at this point... it does not hurt to check and make sure the valve isn't the culprit..



Nope. It's solid. It's the shower pan or drain. I never could pin point the exact failure but now i know I'm knee deep in a full shower demo and replace. It was a cultured marble solid surface shower. Frosted glass and brass framed door. You get the point.

We figure we are doing the shower. Might as well replace the popcorn ceiling and wall paper. St east update it a bit. We have a big spa tub and vanity that match the old shower. Those are working fine and money is tight (see baby #4 due in November) so we decide to just do shower and other simple cosmetic stuff. All in budget $10k hit on the emergency fund.

Tgot a few bids and can save around $800 to do most of the demo myself. Shower, wall paper, ceiling.

Now it is early November and out oops the baby... shameless baby and dad pic.



Then thanksgiving, Christmas and my contractor isn't available until first week of January. So over holidays I get to work on demo:





Now the mortar base: this was actually very cathartic



You can see the extent of wood damage. I'm oretty sure our inspector should have caught this issue... but oh well...

And this is where I have to take a break. Bed time for 3 toddlers and infant.... I'll start on the next part of the adventure soon.

All right. Kids are asleep. I can continue the thread.

So first of January comes and contractor gets to work. Simple job, replace valve to fit new handle/trim package. Repair walls, sand, texture prime and paint walls and ceiling. Then re frame the mirror (remove glass frame from the 80's and update). Also update lights to LEDS and prep the shower drain for the marble company to install a new cultured marble shower.

Walls post textureing




Shower rebuild


Drain prep


All in all. It only took the guy about a week to do the work. Main delay was dry time of wall texture as it was really humid that week.

Here is where the fun really begins. Shower company wouldn't come out and do final measure until other guy was completely done. Then it was a 2 week build for the solid surface shower panels. No big deal.

Our instructions form the shower install was to just give them 6-12 inches of pvc above slab. So we put a transition piece on the cast iron and then a 8 inch pvc pipe.

The day of install, their installer said nope. Won't work. We need it flush and no wiggle.

So I call my contractor. We jack hammer, dig out the hole and then cut the pipe, and move transition down and back fill with concrete.



Next day they come back out to install shower. Oh no. That's still not gonna work, we needed it to be 2 inches pvc below grade for drain to attach. So I show them my email with the directions their team gave and they admit the oops and dig it out and get the drain how they want it at their expense. I'm happy.

We are gonna have our shower again in 48 hrs. They start the install. And my wife send this pic



Asking.. is this a base panel and then the attach the subway tile looking panels on top.... I call her immediately and tell her to tel them to stop working. They are installing the wrong shower.

Sure enough, their order was crossed in the production area. This is supposed to be the textured marble like subway tile. It's the correct color though.
Something like this:



And I'll have to finish more later... baby just woke up.

Looks good.

Question: Why not move the shower ceiling up to the rest of the bathroom's height? Why keep the roof down? Just wondering.

~egon

Dr. Doctor said:

---

Looks good.

Question: Why not move the shower ceiling up to the rest of the bathroom's height? Why keep the roof down? Just wondering.

~egon

---

We did. If you notice in the demo pics, there is a 2x6 header on the old shower. We pulled that all out and then raised the shower ceiling to that of the rest of the room. It is still trimmed out with mounding and then marble trim, to frame out the entry but the ceiling is the same. Made a big difference

Great job!

what kind of waterproofing did they do on the new shower, to make sure your problem doesn't return again

sts7049 said:

---

what kind of waterproofing did they do on the new shower, to make sure your problem doesn't return again

---

That was my first question. And thankfully they have a system. They used to put down a vinyl pan and mortar base. (That's what I had that failed)

Now they put in a layered system of plastic/vinyl and caulk in the seams behind/between and on the final exterior.

Could it fail, I am sure it could, but they do warranty years

Bravo! I have no idea how you & your wife get anything done.

schwack schwack said:

---

Bravo! I have no idea how you & your wife get anything done.

---

Ya. We amaze ourselves sometimes. In all honest, I get a lot of work done when kids are down for bed. We are pretty strict on bed time and have them in bed before 8:15pm each night. From 5-8:15. Life is pure chaos. After that, I usually have a couple hours left in my gas tank to get something done. And if it is a weekend, I'll usually press and work until midnight.

Other than that, we just take our time and do a little bit when we hve spare minutes. Which are few and far between.

Keep pushing forward!

Amazing update. Keep up the efforts!

A week away from finishing up this projects. Wrote out my punch list and stuff to buy list tonight. Will try and do some pre work all week this week. But 3/7-3/15 it is go time. Fingers crossed, toddlers willing.

My 2 yr old helped with some prework today.

Trying to save some $$, so we are taking the old brass towel rods and TP holder, knobs and painting them.



Used my oscillating tool with some sandpaper to scuff up the surface a bit.



Washed/dried them off and then hitting them with a coat of spray paint with the hammered texture.



Will do a wet sand with super fine grit to polish before next coat.
I've done a couple test pieces and they come out looking great.


eta: second coat after polish sanding



Put up the hand towel ring to show wife how it will look. Not too shabby

Day 1:

Taped and tented everything


Made a phone call to Maddiedou (thanks!) for some texture tips and tricks and then went to town.








Practiced a bit on some scrap wood first, but still made a lot of errors. Overall though, wife is happy and I think it looks good enough. Definitely learned a lesson or two. And new respect for those that do this daily.

Next is to let this dry, then 2 year olds bday tomorrow. No work. Yay

Monday I start priming doors, walls and cabinets.
Tuesday I want to paint all trim, cabinets and doors
Wednesday I am trying to get ceiling and walls painted and the accent wall made of vinyl flooring up.
Thursday will be more trim work and installing door knobs/ceiling light
Friday is plumbing day for the shower and I should be done.

Caught a break. In laws came in for the bday. Unexpected but was able to put their presence to good use.

They took the kids out into town after the party, so I got to work and sanded all the trim with a sanding sponge, wiped down and got to work priming the walls.






Next step is to get the doors off, and set up to prime and then paint.

While they dry, I'll start on the crown mounding and interior walls and cabinets.

Made some progress.

Paint is all done: towel bars back up.





Worked on the doors today. Sanded and cleaned both sides. Then got my $10 harbor freight paint gun and started priming.




Also found this handy little door hinge holder. Let's you paint 2 doors at a time and holds them at a 90* angle.






Tomorrow I will paint the doors their final color and reinstall. Then put the flooring vinyl on the wall. In the bath area and trim it out.

Got the decorative wall up. All that's left is touch up paint/caulk for this section.
And installing tp holder



Re hanging the doors, and installing hardware. Yay no more dingy yellow doors.



Still to do.
Frame mirror
Install led light
Put cabinet doors on
Finish painting two other doors

ANNNNNNNNDDDDD DONE!

Before:






After: