New to forum, but I've browsing this site for some time for proper instructions, but it's time to get down. Very good information on this site. Things make a lot more sense after reading some of these threads.
I have never build a shower pan before, so I need help. Now the question? The bathroom basement has concrete floor, can I start with building the slope right from there or do I need something in between concrete. Also I built a knee wall, will that affect mudding the curb? Anything will help. Thank you in advance. Gracie

The dry-pack for the shower floor (the pre-slope, if you need one) needs to be bonded to the concrete with thinset. A thin coat will be fine.

As far as the knee wall, I'm not sure I understand the question. Do you see some potential problem with this?

will you be using a schluter drain and Kerdi pan or the conventional pre-slope/liner/mortarbed?

The knee wall will be covered with durock, so I guess that will be ok. Looks like the plumber installed a regular pvc pipe with a 2" drain. I have been looking at he Kerdi drains, but the drain was already there when we moved in.

I am trying the conventional pre-slope/liner/mortarbed..keeping fingers crossed!

OK, good luck. The is no reason you couldn't switch to a Kerdi shower. Just break the floor, a 5-6" hole is plenty. cut the pipe and go Kerdi.

What are you using as a substrate on the walls? Will they be Durock too? Using a surface waterproofing or not? You got the curb figured out? Lots of nice articles on this site, Harry spent lots of time getting you the info.

Jaz

All interior will be durock. Not sure on waterproof, saw the article on Lacrete, but the Kerdi membranes looks like a winner.

Kerdi is the only way to go for showers. http://picasaweb.google.com/tile4youinc

Jaz

Wow nice work!...Again i'm new at this, but the space i have is 36"Wx64"L. How much material will cover the base for pre slope and bed.

Hi Gracie, go to Home Depot and get 5 bags of sand mix and follow Harrys' instructions to the tee . Whatever unopened bags are left HD will take them back. Hope you have a truck - good luck.

Thank you Shakkari...again new at this. Says 5 parts to 1...so 5 bags of sand to 1 bag of cement?? should I mix a small amount first and work from there, I don't want to keep mixing over and over. HD only had a 94lbs bag of the cement, seems like a lot to me. will that cover both the pre-slope and bed after I put the line in.

Also, I was wondering about the Durock.
1.Apply Poly on 2x4's and no waterproof
2.No Poly and Durock and then waterproof
3.Poly,Durock and waterproof

If you've not mixed deck mud before, a helper can be a great asset. Someone to keep the mud going while you put it down and screed it, particularly in larger shower. This may have been in an earlier post, but sand topping mix works well. Some think it has too much portland in it, in which case you can throw a shovel of sand in with each bag. Go easy with the water. You can always add more water, but you can't take any out. If you're by yourself, mix just enough that you feel comfortable handling it by yourself. I usually do an 80lb. bag at a time, sometimes a little more if I ate my Wheaties that day.

You can do #1, or #2, but not #3.

Yeah Kman, I'm on my own, unless a pregnant wife and 2yr old counts. Nope Never mixed deck mud b4, so I will use a little bit at a time. I did look for the sand mix, but HD only had sand and Portland bags, not a mix. I will look else where before I get started...Just to make sure I get what you're saying. The sand is what makes up most of the mix, so 5 bags of sand or the mix and 1 bag of the cement I have. I'll have to figure out how to do it in smaller quantity.
Also about he durock, I forgot to mention one wall is basement level with concrete blocks, 1 against a bedroom and one against a laudry room, so I guess #1 will have to do.

I bet the 2yr old would have a good time mixing up mud. They love that stuff.

Try mixing it in shovelfulls. Four sand, one portland. Keep doing that until you think you have enough to work with.

To clarify, the sand topping mix would be all you need, unless you wanted to throw in an extra shovel or two of sand to dilute the mix a little more. I never do, but some like it better that way. So if you get the mix, you can just get a little sharp sand to mix with it if you want. If you get the portland and sand in separate bags, get 1 bag of portland to 5 bags of sand.

Why could you not put up the durock with waterproofing over it? That's really the best option, in my opinion. Your shower will dry out quicker.

Oh man, I will go look for the mix tomorrow, that may be the easier route for a novice.

"Why could you not put up the durock with waterproofing over it? That's really the best option, in my opinion. Your shower will dry out quicker." - When we moved in the house, basement had some condensation issues with insulation and poly. I wondered about if it would work better without them, but I always thought insulation kept moisture out. I'll have check on your option when the inspector comes in.

The idea is: with the poly up, any moisture that gets through the Durock is stopped by the poly. With Redgard, or some equivalent, the moisture is stopped at the waterproofing, right behind the tile, before it can get to the Durock. With both, you would have moisture trapped between the two, something you don't want.

If you have moisture issues, I would think you'd have that problem no matter which method you use. I don't know, maybe if you put some type of moisture block (like Aqualock) on the block wall before you start?

I've not done a shower in a basement with an unprotected wall like that, so you might wait for one of the other guys to give you better advice on that.

Kman..thank you very much for the info. I added some photos, so that may help in a better answer perhaps. I did apply some white moisture block on the cement blocks, so we will see.

I see you're installing a Kerdi drain, and I assume using Kerdi on the walls and floor? That negates the need for any other waterproofing or poly on the walls.

Well i bought the Kerdi drain, but now I need to know if I should put it in with the pre slope or with the second mud pan...Reason- the pipe coming out of the floor drain was cut really short, so not very much room to work with.

Hi folks
Don't mean to butt in as I new here, but I want to be clear what you're doing.
You don't need any portland cement. You should only be using the bags of Sand Mix from your building supply store which is the sand and portland already mixed.
You only need 1 layer to build a complete showerpan when using the kerdi drain and membrane. The pre-slope is only used when using the conventional liner.

PS... a short drain pipe is good with the Kerdi drain. Ideally the pipe should be cut 1" or 2" below the surface of the existing slab.

Yeah right ... like an inspector will have a clue how to properly build a shower. They have passed inspections on most of the failures I've seen.
Sorry Gracie, I have little faith in their abilities considering they allow the minimum requirements to pass. Basically they tell the contractors what what they can get away with regarding health and safety.
It's a BS section of government I have little respect for.

Ok, i guess i was confused on this..w. Kerdi drain, just build the mud pan and placed drain in then waterproof. I'm going with the Redgard, will i still need the kerdi membrane for the floor for a few inches?

I do have the mix for sand, so no I'm not mixing the cement with it.

Hi Gracie
The Kerdi should cover the Kerdi drain and continue over entire floor and then up the walls a few inches.
There are some photos in the shower gallery section of this site which should help.

The mix you should have is called sand-mix which as Bob mentioned has the portland already mixed with the sand .... all you need is water and like Kman said ... use a skim coat of mortar to act as a bond coat to the basement slab.

Ok, I do have the correct sand-mix. Working on that pan today and I'll post some more photos later. Pray for me folks.

Great!
Mix only a little water at a time with the bags of sandmix. You only want enough water to create a clumpy pile of deck mud which can be packed and scraped flat.
Good luck .... and we look forward to seeing your photos posted.

I can't seem to find Kerdi membrane locally unless i order from web. Has anyone heard of AQUA Shield.

I have been using aqua defense from Mapei and am quite impressed with it. It runs about $100/gallon though. 3 coats for the shower pan and 2 for the rest of the shower. Takes about 2 gallons for what you are building. it goes on like thick paint and dries within an hour.

Pete are you really paying $500 a pail?
I switched from HydroBan to AquaDefense about a month ago. Nice stuff to work with. I just wish they hadn't made it so dark. It's much easier to see layout lines on the HydroBan. The new HydroBan dries really quick also.

I don't really know exact retail. Cost for the United carpet I work with if $70 for the 1 gallon pail

Well, it's been more than a year since I started this basement. Finished main living area and bedrooms. Got the bathroom started with mud pan and curb last year. I just now was able to get the kerdi done on walls and floor of shower.

Now, wondering if the Ditra is needed for the bathroom floor or can I just lay tile down?

Floor was level with a self leveling concrete mix. Thx