Tile Shower Pan Mortar Bed

The mortar is great for use on floors walls countertops or for overhead work.

Tile shower pan mortar bed. A shower pan rests on a base of concrete that both supports the pan and provides a waterproof barrier for the subfloor and floor framing. Reinforce the shower pan. At this point your shower pan is finished waterproof and ready for thinset mortar and tile. By william machin many professionals consider a mortar bed superior to other systems for tile showers.

This custom building products customfloat 50 lb. Chicken wire is not needed at this point just mortar. Set shower pan onto the mortar bed and use a rubber mallet or hammer board to press the pan firmly into the mortar bed providing even coverage and leveling all sides of the shower pan. A mortared shower pan allows you to custom fit a shower enclosure.

Mortar beds consist of a layer of building paper extruded metal lath and cement mortar. You want to end up with at least an 1 1 4 thick mortar bed at the drain assembly. Bedding mortar is a lightweight mud bed for tile installations and is formulated to resist shrinking and provide high bond strength. Install the liner over a pre sloped bed as i explain here.

Mortar bed shower pan a heavy duty membrane liner is critical to long lasting performance. If you are using a preformed shower pan the manufacturer of the pan should provide instructions as to how thick the mortar bed needs to be. Over the membrane a mortar bed floor supports the tile. No matter what the building inspector says it s not a good idea to install a pan liner and then a single sloped mortar bed over it.

On sides that are against a wall place redi flash on top of the splash edges and fasten to the studs. Ideal to use on floors walls countertop or for overhead work. The key to a successful installation lies in the use of a chlorinated polyethylene cpe or pvc membrane tough but flexible plastics that form the pan of the enclosure and make the floor waterproof. Use deck mud which only requires water to be added and is easy to work with.

If you are installing tile the mortar bed should be 2 3 inches thick on the outer edge and slightly less at the drain. For a tile shower built on a mortar bed floor use a heavy 40 mil plastic pan liner. When mixing the mortar use only enough water to obtain a dry pack consistency. Mortar is the type of concrete product that works best for shower pan applications since it contains no gravel allowing it to work easily and dry with a gentle slope.

Wrap it over the curb and seal it in place at the drain with a two part subdrain assembly as shown below.