Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Non Draining Shower Pan

I took on the my first tiling project by deciding to remodel my shower. I decided to have a contractor come out and float a shower pan for me because I thought I might really mess that up. Big mistake. There were several areas where the shower floor would pool water and not drain. It really was not noticable until after tiling. I had to bust up the tile and I am now looking at fixing the shower pan. The bed was pitted after pulling up the tiles. My question is: Can I float a layer on top of the existing bed to even it out and correct the pitch of the pan or should I bust up the rest of the bed and start over?

Randy

If the mud bed is not busted up and cracked you can repair it. Fill the "pitted" areas as well as the "bird baths" with thinset. The finished slope should be 1/4" per foot toward the drain. I am assuming you basically have this slope and the few low spots were the only issue.:)

Did you call the contractor? His work probably wouldn't have passed code and inspection.

No, I probably should have, but I also wondered if I really wanted him repairing this. I did not know if I would be better off fixing it myself.

As far as the repair, should I chip off all the tile adhesive that did not come off with the tile?

Randy

I'll assume you are using relatively small tile like 1" x 1" or 2" x 2" mosaics in the pan to follow the contour of the slope. With that in mind, you want the mud bed to be as flat as possible so yes remove whatever is there. You are making me nervous with your terminology using the word adhesive. Adhesive makes me think of mastic. You are planning to use thinset to set this tile right. The kind you buy in a bag and mix with water right. Do not use mastic here.:)

Sorry about my incorrect use of terminology. The stuff I bought was the kind you buy in the bag and mix with water. It was a 20 or 25# bag and I believe latex fortified?