New home, another bathroom project.

[gerry_foster]

Good morning and Happy Holidays everyone!!

It's been a while, and thanks to all the folks who helped out with my last never ending but rewarding bathroom.

We have since sold that home and moved into a larger house for my better halfs business to grow.

So, we now live in a 15 year old 2 story fully finished on each level. Bathrooms are all the original builds. We did have to have all the copper supply pipes replaced before we bought as the original plumber did not properly ground the copper, and I kid you not, the pipes were black and could be crushed by hand they were so thin!. So luckily my friend/contractor caught this and we negotiated $10k onto the house deal and PEX piped the entire home.

On to the question

Master bathroom shower has tile popping all over, it's just tile over white drywall. No surprise! The pan is a MAXX brand Manhattan series fiberglass unit. What is the life expectancy of said pan? My wife and I are on the fence about the possibility of reusing the pan and 3/8 glass (semi custom back in the day) as they both look to be okay. I'm sceptical on the pan, as I'm an overboard kinda person, but my dear wife hates his long my projects take and insists I research about this possiblity.

Thanks in advance, I'll pop up some pics. Gerry.
PS. The last bathroom sold our house!

[ss3964spd]

Welcome back Gerry.

I'd guess that a good quality fiberglass pan will last decades. I used one when I did my basement shower, well over 10 years ago, and tore one out of my master bathroom that had been there for probably 30 years. Couldn't get it spotlessly clean anymore, and it was ugly, but the pan itself didn't leak.

[gerry_foster]

Thank you Dan!

[gerry_foster]

Here are some shots of what I am working with

[Houston Remodeler]

Gerry,

To properly waterproof the wall / tub area that's inside the shower, you're looking at demoing the tub deck area as well as the shower area. This leaves you a few baby steps away from a complete bath remodel where you can make the tub area smaller and the shower larger, or install a free standing tub to max out the shower area.....


Just some thoughts.

[gerry_foster]

Yes Paul, this is my exact reason to start fresh, but I have to put the effort in to prove this to the miss's there is a good 9" in length and 6" in width to gain for sure. I have no issue tackling this and it would be my preference for sure. Thanks for the input

[makethatkerdistick]

I have a fiberglass (acrylic coated) tub. In hindsight, I regret not having gotten the cast iron version. There is flex in the fiberglass despite the mortar bed underneath (which slightly shrinks over time). Your fiberglass base might last a long time or it might crack sometime down the road. Probably fine if properly supported. If I were to use a shower base, I'd go with a high quality cast iron version instead. It will last a very long time (like decades). If you consider fiberglass, I'd go with the strongest wall thickness available. My personal preference would be a tiled shower floor, though. I like that in this application the wear surface and the waterproofing are separate. If you accidentally damage the tile, you will not damage the waterproofing at the same time. Also, to me it just looks better.

[ss3964spd]

IMO, the opportunity to pick up that amount of shower space completely justifies tearing it all out, especially if you plan on staying in the home for a while. If you build your own mud pan the biggest hit to the budget (if there is one) is replacing the glass.

[gerry_foster]

Well, pulled the glass today and it's all in one piece still

So the pan is going, just doesn't make sense at this point, and I just can deal with the flex and sounds it makes while standing in it!

My plan is to make an 8" wall on either side of the shower to utilize the old glass and take advantage of the wasted space between the tub and shower.

So far so good.

Even have room in the joists to move the drain over to center

Now to pull all the old white board and tile off to start fresh.

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[ss3964spd]

Good idea Garry.

And we won't tell Mrs. Garry how that 16" pipe wrench accidently fell on that perfectly good fiberglass pan....

[gerry_foster]

End of a slow day 1, lucky no mold or water damage. Signs of seeping and some musty smelling drywall.

Cut back the drywall to the window next, and cut up to the bottom of the windows around the deck to prep it all for proper backer.

I've used both cement board and kerdi board in the past. The ease of kerdi board is nice and the very few steps to waterproof stage are nice, but I still love cement board? Am I crazy, or do you guys have a favorite? See lots of Wedi board now in the stores?

Happy new year!

Gerry

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[makethatkerdistick]

How hot does that exhaust pipe inside the service wall get? Or is it part of your HVAC air delivery system? Foam boards like Kerdiboard are not very heat resistant.

[gerry_foster]

Its just the HRV pipe for the bathroom luckily

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[Houston Remodeler]

Foam is the way to go. Aside from being much lighter and easier to cut, its already waterproofed so you save that step.

Biggest plus for me - we can cut in the niche after tiling as started so we can align the niche with whole tiles getting the grout lines perfect every time.

[gerry_foster]

Originally Posted by Houston Remodeler

Foam is the way to go. Aside from being much lighter and easier to cut, its already waterproofed so you save that step.



Biggest plus for me - we can cut in the niche after tiling as started so we can align the niche with whole tiles getting the grout lines perfect every time.

Smart!

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