How to Install the Tile Shower Drain

The tile shower drain is tricky and much of the tricky part is buried in the shower pan. You see the whole shower pan is designed to route all the water to the drain. All the water includes the part that leaks right through the floor. That happens because tile floors are never waterproof. Some water ends up passing right through the floor.

How to Install the Tile Shower Drain

How to Install the Tile Shower Drain

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How to Install the Tile Shower Drain

How to Install the Tile Shower Drain

Includes The drain holes that are on two layers. The top layer you can easily see. The lower layer is down on the floor.

Here's how it works.

Usually the drain is attached to the drain pipe so the drain base sits right on the subfloor. Then you build a very important layer. It's a sloped mortar layer that slopes at about 1/4 inch per foot from the base of the drain up on the shower walls.

Then over that sloped layer is installed the real trick to a shower floor. A waterproof sheet membranes is set over the sloped mortar and then attached right on top of the drain base. That liner is sealed to the base so the water that makes it to the liner is routed right to the lower drain holes.

After the liner is fitted in all the corners, which is tricky, the next layer is installed.

The next layer is another mortar layer that is the basis for actually laying the floor tiles.

But wait ...

Wouldn't the mortar stop up the drain holes? How could you have drain holes that are down inside a "solid" masonry floor?

How to Install the Tile Shower Drain

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Tiling a Shower-Floor, Ceiling, Walls

Tiling a shower is no doubt an ambitious undertaking. It is a challenge that many homeowners take on though. The most mysterious part of building a shower is the constructing of a shower pan. How do you keep it from leaking? Well, you can use a "prefabricated" shower pan and avoid the conventional masonry construction. But many folks tackle building a shower pan. So where do you start when building a shower?

Tiling a Shower-Floor, Ceiling, Walls

Tiling a Shower-Floor, Ceiling, Walls

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Tiling a Shower-Floor, Ceiling, Walls

Tiling a Shower-Floor, Ceiling, Walls

The Shower Floor

Build the shower floor first. The shower floor you see as ceramic tile and grout is not waterproof. The tile and especially grout are porous and the so a liner under the surface of the floor is needed to keep the water from damaging the area around the shower.When a shower pan leaks, some part of the waterproofing plan has failed.

A shower floor is constructed on top of a solid base. It could be subfloor or it could be real. A special shower drain is set in place first. This drain has two sets of drain holes, one above the other. A layer of masonry is poured into place sloped to the bottom set of holes. Place on top of the sloped mortar a special vinyl membranes. This vinyl sheet is actually the waterproof layer of the floor.

The diaphragm is glued to the base of the drain so you then have a waterproof liner which is run up the wall several inches too.

Now above the liner to second layer of mortar is poured that is sloped toward the drain to serve as the basis for the tile. After the mortar dries for acouple of days the tile is set using thinset adhesive. Then the tile is grouted and the floor is ready.

Ceiling

If you will tile the ceiling, this step comes next. You can support the ceiling tiles with strips of plywood over each course. Hold the strips with lengths of 2 x 4 wedged between the shower pan and the ceiling.

Walls

Mark lines on the back wall and then on the sides. You'll need horizontal and vertical lines. If the shower walls partially enclose the front of the shower, you can use the back corners as the vertical working lines as long as the walls are plumb.

Spread adhesive on the back wall and set the tiles until complete. Then complete the sides and then the front. Put in place any fixtures like soap dishes as you movearound. Finally, complete the trim around the door or threshold.

A ceramic tile shower is a challenging project but one that many homeowners successfully tackle.

Tiling a Shower-Floor, Ceiling, Walls

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