Kent's basement bath redo

[kdev]

Thanks, Paul! I thought additional moisture would be a good idea, but I wanted to be sure.

For the picher lovers , here are a couple of before shots of the patched area. These were taken before I put down a layer of poly over the fill and before I wrapped the pipes in cardboard.

[kdev]

I'll try to keep this brief.

In the attached pic, you can see the layout of the 3 stud walls that will make up the 3 walls of my 32"x60" shower.

There are obstructions below the joists (HVAC ducts plus the vent pipe for the bathroom) that make building and securing the North wall to the joists problematic. The North wall will be the wet wall of the shower.

My idea is to use pressure treated lumber cleats every 24" along the North wall to secure the 2x4 framing to the concrete foundation wall.

The end of the East wall will also get secured to the concrete foundation wall with such a cleat.

I will be finishing the walls with drywall and Kerdi for waterproofing.

Any problems with framing and securing the walls of my shower this way?

[dhagin]

That looks fine Kent. Make sure the nailing is good at the top of the walls & where the 2 in-line walls are tied together.

I didn't read back in your thread. Any moisture issues on the north concrete foundation wall?

[kdev]

Thanks for the reply Dana.

No moisture issues on that particular wall, but, then again, I'm not done with this remodel yet.

[Pete1972]

Hi Kent,

Instead of using PT lumber as a cleat would non-PT lumber work along with using a type of sill gasket between the lumber and wall instead? That should keep the cleat free of moisture while reducing the risk of movement the PT might incur. Just a thought.

[kdev]

Will get back to the framing questions/progress shortly, but in the meantime:

I've got a 2" ABS riser pipe and a 5.5" diameter hole in my [freshly poured ] concrete slab.

Question: What is the minimum deck mud thickness at the Kerdi drain?

[cx]

I say 3/4 of an inch.

You'll need that much space to comfortably pack deck mud under that flange.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[kdev]

Thanks cx.

So I am thinking that the sequence of building my mud pan will be:

1) Cut riser pipe to correct height and dry fit kerdi drain.
2) Pack deck mud in the bottom couple of inches of the slab cutout.
3) Burn in thinset to slab around drain.
4) Glue kerdi drain to riser pipe.
5) Pack deck mud under drain flange and around riser pipe.

6) Thinset edges of shower pan slab.
7) Build perimeter screeds.
8) Continue to thinset remainder of slab and pack in deck mud.
9) Screed off to final pan slope.

Sound about right?

Do I have steps 2-5 correct?

And... do you [cx] ever smear thinset on the bottom of the drain flange before gluing it to the riser pipe? Some John Bridge guy wrote something about that in some book.

Kent

[cx]

I glue in my drain before slatherin' any slurry under there for my deck mud. I'm sure I get some onna drain bottom, too, but I don't strive for that. Ain't gonna stick to that plastic anyway.

If you want to stick your bonding flange drain to the deck mud you'll wanna get the new USG bonding flange drain. That one has fleece top and bottom.

Rest of your plan looks generally OK. I wouldn't bother packing any mud in the hole around the drain riser. It'll get as full as it wants to be as you pack mud under the drain flange. My favorite tools for that are my hands and a wood float. You can whack mud under there with the edge of the float quite nicely.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[kdev]

Framing question for when you double up studs where the curb meets the wall [in order to provide solid backing for a glass shower door]:

Do you orient the studs in the normal manner or would you turn them 90 deg such that the wide dimension is up against the drywall?

ie looking down from the top of the wall:

a)
------- <- drywall
|| <- 2 studs w/ 1.5" side facing drywall
|| <-

or

b)
------- <- drywall
-- <- 2 studs w/ 3.5" side facing drywall
-- <-

Seems like with a) you risk having your shower door mounting screws landing in between the 2 studs?

Kent

[kdev]

bump for my question in the previous post

[cx]

Kent, do it whichever way works best for your particular application. It'll work either way so long as you've got good, solid blocking for your hinges.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[kdev]

I'm having to reconsider the north stud wall config that I posted about back in #77 due to HVAC obstructions I didn't notice before.

My new plan is to use a section of unistrut (well, several sections along the length of the wall) to tie the north stud wall to a floor joist. I think 2 bolts through a joist and 2 bolts through the stud immediately beneath will keep the wall securely plumb, and the drywall will keep the wall from racking (I think I'm using that word properly).

This idea might be half baked, but it seems reasonable to me.

Thoughts?

[cx]

I favor the method in #77 over the new drawing. Drilling even the minimum size hole (2") in a 3 1/2" stud makes for a pretty weak framing member. I can't tell anything else about your application, but keeping that plumbing vent above the top plate would be worth some effort.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[kdev]

Thanks for the reply CX, and I'll think it through again to see if I'm missing anything.

If I do end up drilling through the 2x4's, I'll likely use these stud shoes for reinforcement.