Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Shower remodel help?!?

We recently moved into a house that was built in 1998 and we have been remodeling here and there. We have now started in on one of the bathrooms and my amateur do it yourselfer status is starting to show. I have done most of the demolition including removing the existing vanity and sinks, doors, hardware, toilet, mirror and shower door. I have also used a demolition hammer to break up and remove all of the ceramic tile from the floors in the bathroom and shower and a sledge hammer to break up and remove the tile from the shower walls. I am basically down to the studs in the shower area and the concrete slab foundation for the floors. The shower floor has what appears to be a mortar bed on top of a rubber shower liner that was draped over the curb as well as up onto the walls at least 7-8 inches.

Here is my problem. One reason why we wanted to do the bathroom remodel was that there was a moldy/mildew/sewer smell coming from somewhere in the bathroom that we could not get rid of. I suspected it was coming from the shower and that there was a leak somewhere. After removing the tile, it looked like the backer board on the walls around the entire base of the shower was moist and had the consistency of moist cardboard. I have been reading a lot about shower pans and how tedious they can be to put in. My question is this: Would it be better for me to break up and rip out the entire shower pan and start from scratch or is there any way I can save myself a lot of work and salvage the existing shower floor and tile over the top of it? The more I read, the more I think I may need to hire someone to come in and do the shower pan so it will be done right.

Any thougths?

Hi! Welcome to the Forums!

Yes, I would remove the whole shower pan. Replacing it is not a difficult task if you do some reading first:

Building a shower pan with pre-sloped mortar bed, liner and curb. (http://www.ontariotile.com/preslope.html)

I'm betting the plumber did not install a preslope under neith that pan liner, causing water to just stagnate there instead of draining to the weep holes in the drain.

The materials are fairly cheap to rebuilt, except for the pan liner (about $5lf). If your budget permits, look into a Schluter Kerdi shower system, it's waterproof if installed per instructions.

Let us know what you want to do, and provide us some pictures? You can upload them to a photosharing site, like photobucket.com, then post the IMG url back here.

For the most part,starting over is the only way. The plumber never builds a"mud" showerpan which must consist of at least two parts but you may or may not need a plumber to help wht the drain, but CPVC is easy to install. You must start with the proper drain that must have weep holes as well as a central drain. Place a sheet of plastic over the plywood floor and cover it with a "mud" bed 1 inch thick with a sloop up from the drain at one quater inch per foot to the outside walls. This mud bed should come flush with the drains lower ring. After this has set for 24 hours, a rubbet liner is placed over the cement bed, clamped into the drain collor and wraped up the walls at least six inches. You then cover this liner with another 1 inch of mortor ,in the same manner as the first layer. Your floor is now ready to tile. I would recomend doing the board on the wall first ,remembering that all seams and joints and corners must be taped and thinsetted,followed by a painting of waterproofing,,you will then meet all of the standards recomended by the American standard of instulation. Have fun.

Not sure I agree with this last post exactly.

See this link

Building a shower pan with pre-sloped mortar bed, liner and curb. (http://www.ontariotile.com/preslope.html)

Ahh, same link as above. Never mind.:eek: