Charlie's basement project

[CharlieM]

Hello All,

I'm installing a Sterling vikrell shower base in a utility area and seeking the wisdom of you folks on installing the base and prepping for tile on the surrounding floor.

Pic-1 shows the levelled base (currently shimmed). The left edge of the base is on the floor. The front middle and right edge are about 5/8" off the floor. I need to level the base and I am planning on tiling the floor in this area. I am using 12" ceramic tiles for this utility room floor (about 150 sq ft). My questions:

1. Can I use a wet mud mix underneath the base to level this up? I once read somewhere a suggestion to put a piece of 4 mil plastic between the base and the mud to make possible future removal easier. Is that advisable?

2. As you can see, I currently have the shower drain stubbed high. What is the best way to determine where to cut this off and how ? I'm using one of those shower drains with the rubber gizmo that seats around the PVC pipe. I'm a little concerned about this cutting operation since it is basically a one-shot deal.

3. I'm wondering whether I can manage to use full 12" tiles to tile the floor in front of the shower. There are no smaller sizes in the tile I'm using so if I can't use full tiles, can anyone offer suggestions? The distance from the edge of the floor drain to the front of the shower base is 1 12" tile width. Can I screed thinset from the bottom edge of the floor drain to the bottom edge of the shower to even this area out (maintaing a slight slope to the floor drain) ? I'm really looking for suggestions here.

4. From what I've read here, I should use an isolation membrane in these areas. I'd like to ditra the whole floor but that's too expensive for my budget. I thought I saw a post on this forum somewhere with a stick-down membrane that I might be able to use. What/where is that stuff ? Would it work here ?

The rest of the floor in this room has cut-back residue that I've scraped off to a shadow and I'm planning on using something like Ultraflex-II for thinset.

Thanks a ton for your advice

Charlie

[chukar8]

How much of a slope is there between the pans face and youre floor drain?

Ive never seen any plastic used under the mud, it seems to me it might trap moisture, but im sure youll get youre answers here just hang on for some others to get to ya too...

http://www.noblecompany.com/applications.html " heres a site for some membranes"

[Arn]

Charlie:

I'm afraid I can't give you much help on that fiberglass pan. Is your floor flat or sloped to that drain in the floor? If it were me, I'd preslope the whole bathroom to that spot, solving any problems with the raised pan.
~ central floor drains are really nice in bathrooms

Your floor looks great, amd ready for tile with a good modified thinset mortar!
you don't need DITRA.

good luck!

[muskymike]

Hi Charlie, I wouldn't worry about removing the pan unless you are going to remodel in the next 5 years which is very unlikely. Just use the mud under it to level it up. You can level it like you are now and cut the drain so your assembly will fit once you mud under it. If there's cracks on the floor then you will need the membrane. You can get the peel and stick from most tile shops. I don't think you need to worry about the floor drain either. Just tile around it.

[CharlieM]

Thanks for the advice fellas.

The slope from the front edge of the pan to the drain is about 1/4" and
distance is about 1 foot so kind of an easy slope. It could be a slippery step out of the shower, but figured it's best to toss a rubber-back rug down there when taking a shower anyway - keeps the feet warmer too.

I thought about using deck mud as you suggested Arn to go around the whole thing, but I don't want more height than what the highest spot is now and normal deck mud doesn't feather.

Maybe a wetter sand topping mix (what I was planning on using to level the pan) can be screed around to even things out enough and feather better.

Or, I had been thinking to use wet deck mud to set the pan, then use not so wet thinset to shape the area in front of the pan and around the floor drain.

The concrete floor has a few light drying cracks at the seams where I patched after doing the floor drain. The rest of the floor is in pretty good shape - again only a couple of short light drying cracks. I figured I'd use the stick-on membrane over those areas.

Charlie

[CharlieM]

Ok, so it's been a while since I started this project, but I think I'm still far short of the JBF record.

This is a utility/laundry room.

I have some floating/feathering to do on this floor as you can see (pics hopefully attached) in order to line things up for tiling. The largest depth is 3/4" next to the shower base which is too much to float with thinset. I've read some posts that suggest a medium set mortar can go up to 3/4.

The floor is flat until just before the long level in the pics, where there is a slight dip then begins the slope toward the floor drain. I want to bring the already tiled part of the floor on the right out flat with the level, then blend it in with the area in front of the shower pan sloping toward the drain. (if any of that makes sense).

Is a medium set mortar the right way to go?

I looked around Lowe's and Menards and didn't see anything that advertised itself as "medium set" anything. Can someone point me in the right direction ?

Any advice on how to attack this phase is also appreciated.

Thanks.
Charlie

[muskymike]

Hi Charlie, you can use a scl to flatten out the floor and if you need to slope an area that's 3/4" use some deck mud thinsetted to the concrete.

[CharlieM]

Thanks Mike,

I thought deck mud crumbled when applied that thin, and that it didn't feather.


Charlie

[Hamilton]

Hi Charlie. Mike is correct, you can use deck mud to feather out floors.
Bond it to the slab with thinset, better to overkill with a modified thinset
and skim the surface of the mud as well to lock everything together. wait
until the mud has cured overnight and skim a flat layer of thinset over the
surface of the mud. It will all hold together nicely.

[CharlieM]

Thanks Mike, Jack !

Deck mud/thinset it is. I'll give it a shot.

Charlie

[Mike2]

Just a heads up Charlie. Given the angles I'm seeing you won't be able to use those 12" tiles over that sloped floor around the drain. They simply won't lay flat with respect to one another. Without being there I'd say 4" tile max.

You can design in a pattern change over that area using smaller tiles. So if there is a Misses in the picher supervising all that you do, better get her busy wurking on your marching orders.

[CharlieM]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the heads up ! There probably should be a misses in the mix cause then I wouldn't be so challenged when it comes to ideas

I figured I would wait to see what kind of angles/slopes I ended up with in that area before making a final decision on tile size/layout. The most iffy part is right around the drain. You're right though, I may have to come something creative - oh no

My initial thinking was to center the corners of (4) 12" tiles on the center of the drain. So, one corner of each tile would be radiused to cover 1/4 of the drain. From there I thought I might cut each of those 4 12" tiles outward to the opposite corner which would effectively create pie slices with 8 grout joints radiating out from the center of the drain. I thought I saw something like that done in one post on this forum a long time ago.

Since I have my grid layout done and some of the tiles layed in another area as a reference, I'm was going to try to make sure I float the plane transition leading into that area on the grout seams of the grid.

Being a complete novice, I may be an idiot if none of that is realistic or end up looking halfway decent.

Your thoughts ?

Charlie

[John Bridge]

Hi Charlie. It's a laundry room. Use 2x2 porcelain mosaics.

[CharlieM]

Thanks John,

Gotta picher of those thingamajigs ?

Charlie

[CharlieM]

I found the 2x2 stuff - expensive ! I may try cutting the smaller squares out of my field tile.

I have questions about the thinset/deck mud screeding I need to do.

I figured I would use ultraflex II for the thinset.

The deck mud will not be very thick (3/4 at most in a few spots) and will be feathered.

Do I mix the thinset as normal ?

Would it make any sense (ie, help the deck mud feathering) to use a small v-notch trowel on the thinset before plopping the deck mud on top of it ?

Thanks.
Charlie