Hi everyone.

We recently purchased a home built in 1963. The downstairs bathroom appears to be original. In the shower, there was a 1-2 inch length of grout missing on the floor. Since we are not using the shower and are planning on remodeling the bathroom, I popped off a couple of the floor tiles. It appears there is only a very old liner and below that, the concrete basement floor. Effectively, that is the 'shower pan'. I suspect that we will need to create (or purchase) an up-to-date shower pan as part of the renovation. Is that correct? Based on what I've been reading and watching on YouTube, just putting a liner and tile down isn't the right way to do this.

Thanks!

Jason

 

As long as you are redoing the bathroom it's a good time to nuke the shower and do it right. You didn't say what type of liner you have but if it is just a flexible membrane sitting on the concrete basement floor it's probably not sloped properly to the drain. If it's a plastic tray it may have slope but might not be the right thing to accept tile.

 

You will need a preslope of packed, not poured mortar sand mix, a PVC shower liner installed on the preslope and up on the 2x12's you install around the perimeter of the shower, and your drain. THEN you will install your final slope of the packed mix (fairly dry). Once it is set, you can install your floor tile.

As Dane suggests, a clean slate is the only way to do a shower.