Shower Pan Liner Installation Help

How to install shower pan liners is the critical skill for building a trouble-free shower. You do have several options for installing a shower pan. Read on to learn the basics of shower liner installation and some of the different options for building a long-lasting shower.

The Traditional Way

If you want a ceramic shower, the traditional way is still the most common way to build a shower pan. The traditional way is masonry construction. A masonry base is built and the ceramic tile is set in place over the masonry base. This method requires some skill and even art. But if you understand the basics, a handy person can install a shower that works right on the first try.

Over a sold sub-floor you build two layers of mortar and then set the tile over the top layer. The drain is a special drain with two layers of drain holes. The first mortar layer is poured and sloped to the bottom drain holes. After that first layer dries, a waterproof vinyl sheet is installed on top of the first layer. This sheet is the real key to waterproofing the floor. The sheet is run up the shower walls and glued to the shower drain base. Over the waterproof membrane goes the top mortar layer. The tile is installed over this layer and grouted in place.

The vinyl membrane is necessary because ceramic tile and grout are not waterproof. The grout especially soaks up water and doesn’t stop water at all.

One big plus of traditional construction is that any size or custom layout for your shower is possible.

Fiberglass or Acrylic Liners

Your local building supply store stocks shower liners ready to install. These pans are easy to install and can be used with matching walls or with tile walls. Choose fiberglass or acrylic materials for different looks and quality. The advantage of these shower floors is ease of installation and ease of cleaning. But custom sizes are much more expensive and may not be available in the layout you need. Fiberglass shower floors also are easy to scratch and damage and do wear over time. Ceramic tile cannot be installed over standard fiberglass or acrylic shower pans.

Tile Ready Shower Pans

If you want a traditional looking ceramic tile shower without the construction of the traditional shower pan, choose one of the tile ready shower systems. And these are systems. Most include wall and ceiling component liners as well as floor liners. Most tile ready shower pans include a vinyl pan with a built in drain. The pans are built over a masonry base or over foam support.

The advantage of these systems is the ease of installing. The skill level is less than the traditional construction. Plus installation is faster since no waiting is required between layers. The downside is cost. The kit often costs as much as a completed traditional installation. Manufacturers of tile ready systems are Tile Redi, Schluter and Wedi. Check your area for installers.

I had a new addition built and when the concrete slab foundation was poured, I specifically ask for a step down onto the shower stall, this way when I tile I make it somewhat flush to make it more accessible. Actually, I plumbed the bathroom so I could take a long corded showered head and wash all that walls down and be able to wash it onto the step down shower. (easy cleaning).

I placed a normal vinyl membrane liner on the step down shower floor along with the drain assembly and inspectors told me the vinyl membrane was not required by code, and that I could just do my pan and tile without the membrane. I do remember seeing how water collected on the step down for about 2 weeks (from heavy rains) and it never leaked and kept it in.

My question is, do I take the advice of the inspector and not do the vinyl membrane, or should I just go right ahead and do the mortar bed for the shower floor? The reason I ask is because when doing the liner/membrane you always have the corners to deal with, and when tiling, you will always have that 1/8th irregular run on the tile running up the wall to make up for the membrane tucked under the cement board on the wall.

Also, since it’s a step down, the liner steps over the edge of the area where you step down into it, how will the membrane stick onto the cement slab? I would have to "hope" that the tile that goes down before the step down, be large enough so that it ’sticks" to the slab because the portion that will go over the membrane wont be really sticking to anything substantial.

Any help would be greatly appreciated…Thanks

Ok girls, got this really important question. First off just to get this straight so that no one brings it up, i have NO infection or nothing even close to it. I also don’t have a UTI just incase someone brings that up too. Though it really has nothing to do with urine, but heck you never know what ppl with answer with. Anywho’s, i’m 6 weeks pregnant, and of course the discharge is starting like crazy now, but i have this odor. Its not a really fowl odor or anything, just really strong. I swear i can smell my self all day. I can shower and by noon, its there. I have to wear a panty liner, but what in the world is up with the smell? Anyone else dealt with such a thing? I don’t remember this with my first 2. But then again that was 7 and 8 yrs ago….lol
Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? I know that I probably smell it 10x worse then it is cuz of my sniffer being on overtime right now, but yuck!!!
Thanks so far everyone. I’m so glad to see that i’m not the only one with this problem. Hubby doesn’t think i smell bad. Which is a great plus, but still….
Ok lady’s, i got all you moms out there saying "yeah its normal" and i got two nurses saying its not. I googled and found that a lot of 6 week pregnant women have these issues. Panty liners and all. Thanks so much to you who read the whole question. Knowing from the get go that i DO NOT have an infection or bacteria or nothing.

i am 32 weeks along and had some bleeding last night. it was kinda a lot. it wasntg a gush or anything but enough to where when i wiped 2 X the toilet paper was coverd in blood. i took a shower and put a pad on so i could monitor the bleeding. i called the nurse practiotner she said wait an hour if its enough blood to soak a panty liner then go to the ER. .well it wound up stopping altogheter. no more blood. now its the next day and im having some cramping. the lady said dont worry if it doesnt bleed a lot more. shoudl i go to the ER anyway and get this checked out. do u think im starting to go into labor or something? I have not had any bleeding or blood at all this whole pregnancy until last night. thanks
Forgot to metnion it was BRIGHT RED BLOOD, not the brown dreid up kind.

Hello Everyone,

I am throwing my friend her baby shower but also doubling up as her birthday celebration. Her due date and her own birthday are only a few weeks apart. It’ll also be a coed baby shower.

I’m looking for a corky, short and sweet, one liner kind of wording…I had originally thought of, "All about Her" (inserting her name for "Her"), but it sounded to me too vague and boring. Any ideas?

Thanks…
P.S.

Her husband suggested it and she has actually agreed to the double celebration. She’s really just grateful to do it all at the same time…As an expectant mother who is ready to give birth very soon she is not too eager to go out on two separate occasions to celebrate the shower AND her birthday. In short…she wants it this way. I agree that it should be separate, however, it is all about the mom and the baby and this is how mommy to be wants it.

And, to be more specific, it’ll be a "couples shower"

If I were to put my motorcycle in the wash with say 3 shower towels, put it on mild heat and a gentle or low spin cycle, will this be ok for it? After all helmets are only made of foam and cloth liner anyway. Let me know if this is ok. Also I have a helmet I can test this on first as to not ruin my good one.

So today I had an upset stomach; it felt like I was going to have some diarrhea, but I never did. When I went to the bathroom to go check what was going on, I saw some light brown discharge. My period is supposed to start in 5 days, at the least, maybe later. This is why I’m freaking out.

On the 10th, my boyfriend and I were in a bathroom, by outselves. He took out his penis and I had a bikini, and underwear with a panty liner (the ones that stick to your underwear, and aren’t as big as a pad) which were soaked with pool water. At that moment, I was having some brown discharge from my previous period. So I had my hand on his penis (I guess you could say I gave him a hand job), and made him have an erection. He didn’t full on ejaculate shots of cum, but I felt the head of his penis, and there was some pre-cum, (or whatever it was, it was sticky and clear), not a lot. There was probably about a quarter-sized amount of pre-cum that actually came out, maybe even smaller. He took his penis and started rubbing it on my vagina, (my legs were open) and I still had the bikini, underwear, and stick-panty liner on. I got the pre-cum on my hand and reminded myself not to touch my vagina at all. I’m pretty sure some pre-cum got on my layers of clothes. So when we were finished, I tried to take my clothes of carefully. I washed my hands for a second, without soap. I take of the liner, and put on my new dry clothes, with a new liner. I got scared that I touched the part of the liner where my vaginal lips are to go, so i take that liner off, and wash my hands again, but with soap. I again, carefully put a another liner on and slipped my clothes on. After that whole week, I still didn’t wanna touch my vagina because I was scared that sperm was still somewhere on my hand, and it had survived. I still washed it though, like with the shower head.

So 12 days later, I have this light brown discharge. Is this like implantation bleeding? Or is my period coming early? I’m really scared right now. Did the sperm from the pre-cum get on my leg from when I was taking it off, and swim towards my vagina and get me pregnant? My lower back has been hurting a bit, no vomitting, my breasts feel squishy? And I don’t feel bloated. My urine is dark yellow, it is not neon, or light; and I hardly take trips to the bathroom. And when I do take trips, I pee for like 3 seconds. It’s not long. I don’t eat regularly though, (I never have breakfast, I have lunch sometimes, and dinner I usually eat) and my metabolism is somewhat messed up, you could say. In the summer I was 117, and now I’m about 105. I guess you could say that I’ve been stressing out. I’m sorry this is long, I’m just very :\.
i’m sorry it’s long. D:

I got my period on the 20th last month.. so I thought i’d get it on the 20th again.. its the 25th today and i woke up with AF type cramping and lighttt brown spotting.. So, I pee/take a shower/put on a pantyliner… well, after 4 hours the panty liner had like 2 tiny spots of brown so i just took it off.. I’ve been peeing throughout the day and the only time i see the brown spotting is when i wipe myself.. its a very light color brown too.. (like tan.. like a rust color almost) a lot of CM is mixed in with it as its very thin (like water)..

If it was the begining of my period, I would have already gotten the red heavy flow of blood already….

I also have a headache and i feel feverish right now.. (i never get headaches) I also of course have the lower tummy cramping, but it is no were near as severe as my normal AF cramping.. the last time I had sex was the 10th and 11th of this month, so that would make it 14-15 days since having sex.

I took a FRER earlier and it was BFN.
I have checked my cervix twice today and both times its very high (almost can’t reach it) and mushy.. Right before my period and during my cervix is very low and firm!

any ideas of what is going on? should i even bother retesting at a later date? was the BFN probably accurate? how long after "implantation bleeding" can a positive result appear? is there such thing as late implantation bleeding? plz help! thanks!

I’ve a friend I met online a few months ago. We e-mailed and spoke on the phone a few times and got on quite well, and I invited him to stay a couple of months ago. So he came for a few days. Now, I’d known he had a colostomy and that’s no problem. I’d never had a friend with one before but read up about it before he came so I’d understand a little better.

Anyway, he lives at the other end of the country so I met him at the station, and within a few minutes, what was obvious was the smell. I knew this wasn’t normal from what I’d read. Colostomy bags are really well designed so that they’re discreet and contain all odours, but over the next few days, I realised why there was a smell. Bags inflate when wind is passed into them, and what I noticed is that, when he passes wind, a minute or so later when he thinks you won’t notice, he fiddles with it. It’s later I read that some people undo the seal ("burp" the bag) to release the air, but that means that you can smell the rest of the contents of the bag.

When he first came, I asked him if there was anything he needed, and he said just a bin liner to put the used bags into, and then he could put the whole lot in the wheelie-bin before he left. So that’s what we did, and it was fine for the first day or so. Anyway, a couple of days later, I went into the bathroom to have a shower. It’s a small bathroom, with one window and an extractor fan that comes on when you turn the light on. Only, the window was closed and he had switched off the extractor fan from the separate switch, so it didn’t come on when you turned the light on. I walked into the room and it was really overpowering. I switched the fan back on and opened the window. I didn’t say anything to him straight away cos I didn’t want to embarrass him, but later on, I said, casually, ‘Shall I get you a new bin liner now and you can just put that old one straight into the wheelie-bin outside?’ He said no, and that it makes more sense to just wait until his last day and he could put the whole lot outside. I didn’t want to push the point so just endured it for the next few days.

Anyway, in spite of all that, we really got on and I like him. We have shared interests and shared beliefs and we’ve kept in touch. I began to worry that I was maybe being intolerant and needed to get over my squeamishness, so I joined a colostomy support forum to ask people who live with this what they thought, and basically they agreed that he should’t "burp" his bag in company, and that he was being inconsiderate.

I invited him to come and stay for a couple of days again last week, but this time, the smell was hardly noticeable, so maybe he’s got better about being discreet with releasing air from his bag. When we were coming home, he said he’d need to change his bag as soon as we got in. I took the opportunity to make sure I said that I’d give him a bin liner and carrier bag and he could put his bag in whichever he preferred and take it straight out into the wheelie-bin once he’d changed it. He said ok, which was great. So we got in, I started putting food in the oven and doing some dishes, and he went upstairs to do what he needed to do. Five minutes later he came downstairs without the bag. AGAIN, I asked him if he could just put it out into the wheelie-bin, and he said that it’s easier for him to do what we did last time, which is to just keep adding his used bags to the bin liner until his last day, then he’d take it outside. He still lives with his parents and he said that, at home, they have a special bin in the bathroom and, at the end of each week, they just take the bin liner out to the wheelie bin. Again, I didn’t push it to spare his feelings.

So I finished the dishes and went upstairs to take a shower not long after he’d changed his bag, and there was a small puddle of brown water on the bathroom floor. Luckily I saw it before I stepped in it but I was completely disgusted and I’d really begun to get annoyed by this point.

I really think that my nature to avoid hurting feelings is being taken advantage of here. At home, he and parents may have got used to having his bags in the bathroom for a week, but the fact is that for most people, that is unpleasant and they aren’t used to it. I just couldn’t imagine doing that as a guest in someone’s house, especially not when it’s a shared bathroom. And if I had an accident, fair enough, accidents happen – but I wouldn’t just leave it there. He could have asked me for a mop, or if he was embarrassed, he could have mopped it up with wet then dry toilet paper and flushed it away.

To top it all off, after I went with him back to the station on the last day of his visit, I got back home and discovered he had left the bin liner in the bathroom, so I had to pick up the bag of faeces and take it outside myself. That was when I became really angry. He had done the same thing the last time he came to visit as we both stayed one night with a friend of mine, and my visi
(end of question seems to have got cut off)

my visitor left his bag in their downstairs lavatory wrapped in a carrier bag. I happened to notice when we were leaving the next morning that he hadn’t taken it outside to their wheelie-bin and had to ask him to go back and get it. If I hadn’t, my friend’s wife or daughter would have found it. I think that he’s got so used to his arrangement at home that he thinks it’s normal and that he can do that in other people’s homes. And probably because people are too polite, they don’t say anything so he thinks they’re fine with it.

What do I do? Am I being intolerant or is he being inconsiderate? I don’t feel close enough to him yet to be able to talk about this sort of stuff. I don’t know how to bring it up without hurting his feelings. I do like him and want to get to know him better but (and this is where I sound horrible), I don’t know if I want him back here if this is how things are going to be.

What do other people think?

So my period started March 20. It usually last about 4 days. Well yesterday I went to change my t’pon and it wasn’t even half full. So I put a panty liner on instead this was about 7 or 8. I checked again before I went to bed and nothing. I thought this was weird because I usually bleed 3 days and spot the brown dark blood the 4th day.
Well when I woke up there was nothing and I went to go pee and there was a little spot of blood. Not the dry looking spotting blood red wet looking blood like I was still bleeding. Well it wasn’t that much so I just put a panty liner on again and by the time I got in the shower around 1 the panty lined was pretty full of brown blood. I put another on after I got out and its barley anything still but when I wipe there’s red on the tp.
This isn’t to normal for me.. has this ever happened to any one else?
I am starting ovulation tests when I’m off for 3 days and I don’t know what should I count as the last day on this one..
Help
Well I’m 19 and have had a period since I was 13 so I think we are pretty well set on that subject