Hello, I am in the process of installing a bootz alhoa bathtub and was wondering where I might be able to order more of those metal shims that come with the tub. The shims that I am talking about are soft and squishy. They have a sticky black substance on one side and the other side is metal. By the way, I know that the manufacturer does not recommend using a wet mortar bed under the foam base but I'd be interested in your opinion. The floor is almost perfectly level and when I set the tub in place (on the stringer) the tub is perfectly level but when I look under the tub I can see areas where the foam base is about an 1/8th of an inch or a little more off of the floor. Thanks

Hello! I've done a ton of searching and thought I had this figured out, but... BACKGROUND: I bought a flipped house that I've lived in for nearly 5 years. It's my first home, and while I'm not yet looking to sell, I know that I'm not very far from being ready to put up the For Sale sign. The contractor work done in this house was very unprofessional, as has become extremely apparent with the passage of time. One of the very first things I did after moving in was replace the shower heads - it was here I noticed that the threads were not wrapped in tape. This has proven to be true on every threaded fixture I've examined since then (I've corrected each as needed when leaking was present if not replacing the attached fixture). I also noticed that caulk wasn't used almost anywhere plumbing was involved (including the kitchen sink and downstairs tub). I noticed water damage in our downstairs hallway ceiling a couple of weeks after moving in. It didn't take long at all to narrow it down to being the fault of the shower above, and it got worse every time it was used. TODAY (not used in 4 years): [ATTACH]47330[/ATTACH] We use the toilet and sink in this BR regularly with no change in the spread of obvious damage. The upstairs shower is tiled - back then, I thought that perhaps the corners needed to be caulked. When that failed, I tried using a sealant on the grout. That didn't help either. Given the half-assed work done on everything else I'd seen, I concluded that the shower was totally unusable, and without the budget to have it fixed professionally, gave up. The stall itself became a sort of storage area since the bathroom it's in is not quickly accessible and wouldn't be a place we'd ever have guests. Fast-forward to this month: I've performed a number of small repairs and upgrades since moving in (most recently replacing the wax seal under the downstairs toilet and upgrading the sink/faucet in the kitchen for my wife) and felt I might be ready to investigate and attempt to correct this issue again. The backside of the shower is accessible from the attic, and while I can't see under the floor directly, I can reach it with my phone easily enough to take a picture. I discovered this: [ATTACH]47329[/ATTACH] The issue seemed obvious and I researched how to replace the drain assembly. After I began working to replace it when I realized that everything I'd looked at in regards to the replacement was assuming a preformed shower base. This is where I'm stuck: I know nothing about the actual construction of this shower. When I removed the drain body from the shower earlier today, I found things that seemed wrong, but now I know I don't know enough about what I'm doing to have any confidence in repairing it in a half-assed manner, let alone correctly. [ATTACH]47333[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]47328[/ATTACH] After I got the drain body removed, I noticed a good-sized single chunk of mortar had been trapped between the flange and the body. I removed this (see on the left side of above picture - PVC not discolored), but now I'm not sure if this is something I can correct with a bunch of silicon caulk in the space between the body and flange. It seems like the chunk I found could allow a leak, but knowing that these are designed to allow water from the pan escape into the drain, it doesn't seem like that's the the end of the story. I expected to see some kind of evidence of a shower pan, but I don't know what I'm looking at, quite frankly, and I can't find guidance online to provide me a clue. What do I need to do to fix the leak? I do intend to replace the damaged ceiling below myself, but I'd rather not do that yet... or remove tiles IF I can avoid it, so I want to be sure it's necessary to diagnose the cause before doing it or if it's already obvious to someone else. I've got to admit: I'm a little worred about having to do a major overhaul of this shower to fix the leak. I don't consider many DIY things above my paygrade, but not having enough of the tools or time available make it hard to justify for me. On the other hand, if I could afford a pro to fix it, I would have done that by now! :wall: Ready to have it usable, though! Is there anything anyone can tell me with the pics provided? Will dig deeper if needed...