Cemet shower pan?

Today I discovered that the shower in my nearly 100 year old house has apparenly been leaking for a long time! The subflooring and at least two joists directly under the shower stall are going to need some major repairs. Looking at the parts of the shower pan that I can see from the basement, it looks as though it is made of poured cement. Is this possible or am I seeing things? The shower is completely ceramic tile and I have no idea how old it is. My problem is this; it appears that the whole section of floor has sunk, including the shower, so I'm trying to figure out if the shower pan would have been level with or below the level of the rest of the bathroom floor before the joists failed. Is it standard for the shower pan to extend below the level of the subfloor?

I plan of jacking up the entire section of floor and sistering new lumber to the floor joists before replacing the subflooring. Heck, this will probably lead to a complete "gutting" of the bathroom but I really hated that ucky blue tile anyway........lol
Any info or suggestions on how best to tackle this project would be GREATLY appreciated!

Pegdot

 

Hello Pegdot,
Welcome to the love of an old house. They don't build them like to they used to and this is a good thing, you have good quality construction the old fashioned way and thats a good thing. Your shower base is more than likely a mortar bed shaped to the current config. If you are going to sister in or replace exsisting floor joists you are into the project the right way. By gutting the bath you will truly see what needs done. It's hard work but a labor of love and you have a clean slate to do what you want. Let me know if you run into any problems or have any ?'s.
Best of luck
The Carpenter's Son

 

Thanks for the reply!
The "joys" just got bigger!! lol Upon closer inspection I discovered that the entire bathroom floor is cement. I'd like to meet the #@^**% that did this! Talk about poor workmanship! It appears as though someone cut out the subflooring under the entire bath, built a dropped "box" out of, believe it or not, bead board, covered the interior of the box with tarpaper, and then poured a cement slab on which to lay the tile floor!! I can't tell without removing more of the "boxing" whether or not they cut into the joists to accomplish this feat of wonder and since I'm scared to remove anymore supporting lumber for fear the whole thing will go crashing down into the basement I guess I won't find out until after I've made the repairs I'm certain need to be done. Geez..........does it get any better than this?!?

WAIT! Don't answer that!! lol

Oh well, I guess I'm in for some serious sledge hammer work unless anyone has a better idea of how to fix this problem. Think it would be possible to just jack up the slab, sister the bad joists, replace the tiles that will no doubt get cracked or broken in the process and then find a way to make the shower waterproof again? That's assuming that the slab doesn't crack during the jacking..........big "if", huh? Suggestions anyone?
Pegdot

 

Hello again Pegdot,
Sounds like you are well under way. Gut the bath down to the floor joists, I would dought they took the time to cut those out. The beadboard you talk about should be the subflooring or siting on top of it. Once you get done with the sledge you can put down 1/2" durock on top of the subfloor and lay your new tile. Look on the bright side you will have a clean slate to work with on your bath remodle.
Get your muscles out, remember it's a labor of love.
best of luck
The Carpenter's Son