Shower Floor

Every piece of this project is its own project! I selected a custom tile shower floor because the size that worked best in the room was very non-standard. The sloped mortar base for the tile needs to not only be able to shed water into the central drain, but also to allow for water that seeps through tiny cracks in the mortar. Although there are several techniques for this, every one of them uses some sort of waterproof membrane under the thick bed mortar that runs water to a sub-drain. This is called a "mud job".

	Here's the before picture of the shower. The floor shown is the basement slab after the rough drain work has been done.
	To create a better surface for the mortar sub base, I chipped the concrete slab floor, and then nailed metal mesh to the floor using a gunpowder actuated nailer. Note also the plywood blocking surrounding the floor to provide a stapling surface for the "CPE" (plastic - I think it stands for Chlorinated Poly Ethylene or something like that) membrane that will channel water to the sub-drain seen in the middle.
	Note the really stupid way that I boxed myself into the shower with the freshly spread mortar...
	Here's the newly spread mortar base for the CPE membrane.
	...Cured... the drain has four bolts that receive the upper half of the drain and sandwich the membrane (below).
	The first step in installing the CPE membrane is a thorough inspection by trained inspectors.
	Next, asphalt roofing cement is spread around the base and plywood blocking.
	This allows the membrane to be rolled out and up the walls before stapling (only around the top). The corners are folded in such a way that they are waterproof - no seams. Seeming is allowed for certain places using a solvent welding technique similar to joining PVC pipe.
	The final step in the membrane installation is a test. The drain is plugged and then the sub-base filled with water and left overnight. Any variation in the water line is indicative of a leak. The install passed on the first try, and now we can move on to the thick bed mortar layer.
(Your ad here)	More missing pictures... To be continued...