Standing Water on Shower Curb Between Bench and Glass

[chip77]

Hey guys. I am questioning the best course of action as I continue my build to limit standing water between where the glass will be and the bench. Of course the glass will run down the middle of the curb. I will be installing a marble curb and have considered putting a slight slope on it to let the water run back into the pan but I wasn't sure if that will cause big problems with the glass. Or maybe I just need to silicone the heck out of the joints? Any suggestions appreciated in advance.

[cx]

Welcome, Chip.

Not only is it a good idea to have the top of your curb, as well as the top of your seat and any other horizontal surface in a wet area, sloped to drain, it's a requirement. First to have the waterproof surface sloped, and then to have the decorative tile surface similarly sloped. The minimum slope requirement is 1/4" vertical for every foot horizontal.

On most curbs that amounts to less than 1/8th of an inch, but I would never use less than that and would usually use more.

A large concern I see with your proposed design is the relationship of your bench to your glass enclosure. I can see how you could tile before the glass is installed, but how do you propose to clean that area after the glass goes in?

My opinion; worth price charged.

[chip77]

CX thank you for your reply. You do bring up a good point about cleaning the glass I had not considered.

As far as the slope I do intend to have the curb and bench top sloped towards drain. My questions about water potentially resting between the bench and the glass, should I consider a slight slope from left to right as well as the standard slope towards the drain in hope of diverting any water that may rest in between the bench and glass towards the drain?

[Davy]

When building a shower like that, I usually make the bench come out even with the outside of the curb and have them install the glass on top of the bench.

Cx mentioned that the waterproofed surface needs to have slope too, not just the tile surface.

[Mathman]

I built my shower with a similar bench and decided to go a different route. Added a space to place some things that always gets placed in showers anyway.
I am just a home DIY guy but it turned out well. I did increase the slope a bit in that area out of extra caution.
Some pictures to compare.

[HilltopRehab]

Are you having custom glass made for the shower? Davy's alluding to this type of solution:



Partially tearing apart what you've built isn't very fun, but it beats living with a sub-optimal result for however long you plan on using the shower.

[jeffnc]

Why would you need more than one slope on your bench? Linear drain showers work just fine and they are flat with a single slope. If sloped correctly, it only needs to slope on one direction and there shouldn't be any standing water.

In your original post you said you were "considering" putting a slope in the curb. If there is no slope in the curb, the glass installers might well reject the job. It's basically mandatory.

[ss3964spd]

I've got to agree with Steve, Chip, that tiny space between the end of the bench and the inside face of the glass is going to collect water and everything else, and be slow to dry no matter how much slope you can manage to build into that small sliver of floor. As well, it'll make it impossible for the glass installer to caulk the inside of the glass, and make that area of glass next to impossible to squeegee clean.

Either shorten the bench as Mathman showed, or lengthen it as Steve showed. It will be a painful exercise now, but worth it later.

[jeffnc]

Mathman's shower bench looks good as well. (Nice touch - rounding the cut on the wall tile to go around the quarter round trim profile.)