hi everyone,

just thought i'd post my shower install maybe someone will find useful in the future. if you have any questions or comments just post here and i'll get back to you.

thanks to everyone on this board who has given great advice, your help is immensely appreciated!

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ok, for this shower it is my first attempt. my wife wanted a frameless glass and tiled walls. when i started this shower i did not know the pros/cons of denshield or i would have gone full kerdi (which i also had no idea existed until AFTER i started the shower).

i bought a MAAX shower from HD, one that was frameless, the plastic walls were optional (in this case i didn't want them) and comes with a prefabbed reinforced plastic base. this was perfect for me because i didn't trust myself with the custom tiled base, i wanted something fool proof.

ps. the instructions for the base that came with shower said that the drain pipe rubber seal should go on TOP of the base, but that is wrong. there should be silicon on top and the rubber goes under.

Knucklez

first i decided to build a false wall. due to old house i figured it was the only way i was going to get a good flat surface. also, the walls are drywall over lath & plaster so it is a good 1.5 inches before you find the studs.. which themselves are rough cut and are not flat. i used 4" screws to reach the studs and dropped in the framing.

second i placed the base and leveled it meticulously. due to floors having a slope and corners i had to put some 1" board under the feet to raise it up in two of the corners!

i also poured some mortar under the base (after satisfied with dry fit) to add to stability. the mortar was poured in a circle around the draing (i left a 4" gap) and the mortar was about 6" high. the base will push down on the mortar giving good contact.

then it dried and i am much pleased.

i did not screw the base into the studs as instructions did not say. also, advice from different message board said the mortar, glass doors and drain pipe will hold it all stable.

then i put up the denshield backerboard. there is much discussion on if this is a good idea or not. well, what can i say, i was ignorant and just bought what looked reasonable and easy for me.

at this point i found out that denshield is .. OK .. if it is installed properly.

i had screws that went in too far, some exposed gypsum (hard to see in the picture). i got scared..

but the advice i received was to use 2" 10x10 meshtape with mortar over anything that looked questionable and then redgard waterproof it.

the meshtape i found in the drywall section at HD. they didn't have any in the cement board section, so i just bought it. was $5

the redgard i found in the tile section where they cell sealant. some say it can be found in the roofing section. also from HD.

i had to put an extra strip of denshield down the center because my temperature valve stuck out too far! now i have a 3D effect.. good spot to put nice trip i guess.

also, this exposes MORE gypsum, on the top & bottom of this 3D strip. will definitely need meshtape, mortar & redgard here!

you can see the mortar is drying. it changed to a white colour when it finally dried.

by the way, i used a LOT of silicon between the shower base and the bottom edge of the denshield. i filled the gap here with silicon. i also filled around the shower head where it leaves the wall, and around the temperature valve. i'll seal it again when i put on the chrome plates.

now it is time to break out the big guns...

$72 for 1 gallon, worth every penny.

with a 2" slighly fuzzy roller it goes on farily easy. my wife took over this task while i posted our progress to the web. unfortunately the corner was difficult to get redgard into with the roller. instead we put on rubber gloves and just rubbed it in there.

the redgard when on AFTER the mortar was completely dry. it goes on pink, when the redgard dries it turns deep red, takes about 3 hours.

here i show the tiles we plan on using. it is tumbled traveltine, each square is 2"x2". we used tilelab tile sealant, 2 coats, and presaled them.

we will seal them again when on the wall with mortar.

the mortar i plan on using to put the tiles on is something i found from HD. it says on the bag it is for stone tiles and is a polymer modified.

so far, what do you think?

what have i done right?

what have i done wrong?