Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Concrete shower floor

Howdy,
New to this site, first post, so im not sure if im putting this in the right spot.I read the sticky but wasnt clear what other topic this would go under so please move or advise new topic if needed.. . I have searched and found similar but not exactly the answer im looking for. If it has been answered please provide link.

We recently bought an older house, 1970, and amongst the many projects i have, one is the basement shower. It is a fully functional finished basement with bathroom and 2 bdrms. The previous owners had put in a really nice surround. Problem is the concrete floor in the shower has some sort of sealer or something on it and it is flaking up and the concrete has turned brownish color (unless it is more paint or sealer). What would be the best way to refinish it? Is it as simple as scraping off the old sealer and caulking then resealing and recaulking it or is it more involved than that? Eventually i may do more to remodel the bathroom, but not high on the list yet, lol.

Thanks,
Ron

Also as an addon to the info already posted, i noticed that where the sealer was coming up there was a slight dip in the concrete where water is pooling, possibly had settled. Is there something that i could use to float that over?

Can you take some pictures?

It sounds like your saying your shower floor is just concrete with a drain? No mud bed, curb, liner, and tile?

I agree that is what it sounds like. If so, all wrong.:thumbdn:

That brownish might a mold.
Jaz

Thanks for the replies. Sorry if i didnt include enought information, this is kinda new to me. I believe that is correct, just cement floor with a drain, but i may be wrong, this is very unfamiliar to me. I dont have a digital camera but it just so happens that during our home inspection i borrowed one and have one pic on my pc, lol. Not sure if this is enough to go on, but i will try and borrow a camera again just in case. Here is the pic.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee268/FusionCloggin/IMG_0309.jpg

Oh my.

That sure does look like slab with a floor drain which would need to be torn up and done correctly. I'm also willing to bet there prolly is not a P-trap for that drain.

Here's how it should be constructed if you want a tiled floor:

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

If you don't want a tiled floor and walls, then I would get a fiberglass type insert, but you will still need to bust up that concrete to get to install a new drain.

Wow, thanks for the response. Thats quite a bit more than i wanted to tackle right now. I was hoping to just seal it or do something to get me by for 3-4 months till i could redo it (we do plan on doing some remodeling after a while). Guess ill see what happens. Thanks again.

It depends on your cost constraints and the colors you want. If you're wanting a slab type concrete shower floor there is architectural concrete out there but it can get very expensive very quickly.Also there are stains that can be used to achieve desired colors, it's all a matter of what your tastes are and what contractors are available in your area to do the work.

Swing by your favorite home improvement center and get a stripper for the paint, then get the stuff you need to either repaint it, or lay down some ceramic tile. That shower has been in place for almost 40 years. I wouldn't go ripping up a concrete floor to install a different trap. No need to rip up your floor for a functional drain. If your not getting sewer gases thup through that drain it has a trap.

Hanr,

The poster never said anything about this shower being 40 years old. You can obviously see that the current setup is not correct, by the mold and everything else. His current setup is against plumbing code because the shower is required to have a liner membrane.

What I see in the pic is a painted concrete floor where the shower head leaked and the dripping water has eaten through the painted floor. The brown stuff could be mold, rust from hard water, galvanized pipes, rusted minerals in the concrete, or previous paint. The low spot is another indicator that the shower head was dripping water. The water has worn away the concrete in that spot. Mold in a bathroom, especially a basement bathroom is typically black. The rest of the shower unit shows very little if any mold. It looks clean. If there was mold the chaulking/grout would also be discolored more than a few spots.

I also see what appears to be the top edge of a vertical piece of 1/2" thick tile up tight to the multicolored piece of tile. Noticeable where the floor meets the wall and tile, bottom left of pic. Looks like its a cement shower basin tiled. Hard to tell for sure by the pic and I could be wrong, however that is what it looks like to me.

Regardless of what todays code is, no doubt that shower drain was installed in accordance with the code of the time. Not too many DIY will tackle a basement shower drain.
He doesnt need to upgrade that shower base unless he replaces that drain pipe. Besides, drainage isnt the problem here.

The problem is the damage done to the floor by a leaking shower head. All he wants is a the best way to fix the damage caused by the water. What you offered is a $5000+ remodel project for a paint job and a couple of washers. Is it any wonder why people hate to call in "professionals". Fix the leaky faucet valves, strip the paint and repaint or lay down some ceramic tile.

Edited to add a couple of pics.
Does your shower base look similar to this concrete base?
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Hanr3/DVC00963.jpg


This is my basement shower after I remodeled it.
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Hanr3/DVC01007.jpg

Sorry, I don't give advice that is against code and industry standard.

My advice on installing a proper tile shower would not cost $5k. The mud itself is literally dirt cheap. If you pay to have someone else redue the whole thing, that is where it gets expensive.

Show me in the code where you have to replace the shower unit when painting the floor?

Looking at the pic, that may or may not be a clamping drain with a liner. You need to find out how the shower was constructed. If it has a liner with a preslope (slope under the liner), it's probably ok. If not, you might as well fix it now. Hot's link above can help you with that.

A painted shower floor really isn't the best choice of materials. You could mechanically scrap/remove all the paint and clean up that brown mucky moldy looking stuff and install ceramic tile on the floor. Fill in any birdbaths/dips in the floor with thinset before you tile, and make sure you have 1/4" per foot slope to the drain. They make drain extensions to raise the height of the drain to the finished height of the tile. Seen em, but never used one.

I'd make sure the shower was built properly first though.:)

Show me in the code where you have to replace the shower unit when painting the floor?

Who said they had to replace it? :rolleyes:

Oh my.

That sure does look like slab with a floor drain which would need to be torn up and done correctly. I'm also willing to bet there prolly is not a P-trap for that drain.

..., but you will still need to bust up that concrete to get to install a new drain.

You said it must be replaced. :rolleyes:

Hanr3,

From the picture provided from the poster, and the information he has provided, this shower needs some major work, not just a coat of paint

As the technical issue was answered but some users seem angry with the answers :rolleyes: I am closing this thread. Rude comments are not allowed

To the original poster--> if you have additional questions, please, start a new thread and I will be glad to link both

Sorry for the inconvenience