Starting my Kerdi Shower

[ewehr]

Hello All,
Ive been an avid reader of these forums for a while and now I'm ready to post with my project under way. I am putting in a new bathroom where there was previously an empty corner in my basement. I've decided to go the kerdi way after hanging around here a while and purchasing John's books. I am in the early early stages of the shower right now and already come to a few questions. The basement was roughed in for a bathroom when the house was built approx. 12 years ago so I am going with what they left me. I already had an issue with the drain for the shower that I think I remedied but lead to a couple questions. Check out the drain picture to see what I am refering to. Also throwing in a picture of the entire shower to-be area. I replaced a cast iron trap under the slab with a new pvc trap that ties into cast iron pipe. Let me start the ?s....

1. Does the pvc and cast iron connection really only consist of a neoprene fitting that ties them together with no glue or anyting between them? Thats how I have it now but I'm not sure if it's right (it is tight though).

2. None of the pvc is glued together yet so I'm wondering if it's ok to have the trap turned the way it is in the picture? I did that to get it as far towards the middle of the shower as I could without breaking into the slab.

3. I read in a thread around here that the rough-in hole should be filled with sand or gravel to about 4 inches from the top and then cemented, is this correct? Will any ole sand work? Also, when dumping that cement in to fill the hole any suggestions on how I keep enough concrete away from the riser to allow room for the kerdi drain?

I am sure I will have more questions to come but not nearly as many as I had before finding this site and reading the books.

Thanks in advance...
Eric W.

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[lou432]

Welcome Eric ! I`ve done alot of Kerdi Showers + drains but up here in the nawth east ,never over concrete so I can`t help ya with these ?`s :uhh:
Stick around helps on the way !

[howgil]

I used a plastic flower pot to keep the concrete away from the drain pipe. I chose one large enough to hold the drain and cut a 2" hole in the bottom. I slipped it over the drain pipe which I had sealed with blue tape. I filled the flower pot with sand to keep the concrete from pushing it out of shape. It worked fine.

[JTG]

Howie
What a great idea. Very clever. What did you cut the bottom of the pot out with? Grinder. I'm going to PM Mike to get thin into Liberry.
:goodpost:
JTG

[MarcusEngley]

Hi there Eric, welcome! Here we go -- a pro will probably pop in while I'm typing this, but I'll take a crack at it.

1. Does the pvc and cast iron connection really only consist of a neoprene fitting that ties them together with no glue or anyting between them? Thats how I have it now but I'm not sure if it's right (it is tight though).It shouldn't be a neoprene fitting, but a rubber one -- FernCo is one product line. Do you have a close-up picture of that connection?

2. None of the pvc is glued together yet so I'm wondering if it's ok to have the trap turned the way it is in the picture? I did that to get it as far towards the middle of the shower as I could without breaking into the slab.I think you're okay with the trap like that, but if you're going to be filling a hole that big already, you could easily break out a little bit of the slab and center your drain just where you want it.

3. I read in a thread around here that the rough-in hole should be filled with sand or gravel to about 4 inches from the top and then cemented, is this correct? Will any ole sand work? Also, when dumping that cement in to fill the hole any suggestions on how I keep enough concrete away from the riser to allow room for the kerdi drain?I believe any ole sand will work and I like the suggestion upthread for keeping the concrete away.

Keep all your project posts on this thread and the gang will answer anything that comes up...

[howgil]

I used one of those cheap thin black plastic flower pots that you get when you buy plants at Lowes. I cut it with a utility knife. Cut your drain pipe down to the proper length for your kerdi drain before you concrete the hole in the floor. It'll be alot easier that way.

[howgil]

Here are better photos of the drain

[lou432]

Hey Howie, Is that a 4x4 Kerdi shower tray cut down width wise + a portion of the waste used to fill the length??? Just curious, never thought bout doin it thata way. Hows the perimeter level(at the wall) again just curious.
:)

[howgil]

It's a 48x48 tray with 4" cut off each side and glued to the ends. That makes an 8" difference in length vrs width, which at 1/4" per foot means a 1/6" difference in the height of the tray between the side and the end. I don't think that's going to be a problem. I have pictures in my thread "Can I tile shower floor on diagonal?"

[John Bridge]

Welcome aboard, Eric. :)

All good advice.

I set the drain before I back fill the hole. I end up pushing mud in from the drain edge with my fingers. Wear rubber gloves if you're concerned about your manicure. ;)

[ewehr]

Awesome, thanks for the help. I am still pondering the idea of moving the drain to the middle. Whats the easiest way to break it up cleanly? I think it really only needs to go about another 12-15 inches to be centered. I think I might wait until I get the drain and set it before I fill it in like John suggested. I like the idea of the flower pot though, I actually was thinking of using one of those "Super Size" plastic McDonalds cups in the same way. MarcusEngley: I guess that fitting I described is rubber and it is a FernCo I will post a close up picture of the connection. When I tore out the old cast iron trap "which basically fell right out" the rubber fitting that was in there came right out with it so I purchased this new one and just pushed it into the cast pipe hub and pushed a piece of pvc into that. The directions on the FernCo fitting did not mention anything about adhesive of any kind so thats the way I went with it. Anyone ever had to deal with a window that falls half in and half out of the shower and near the ceiling? It's going to make for an interesting wall I think.