Mortar Under Acrylic Shower Base
red
instructions say to put "mortar cement" under the base. Makes sense,
there were lumps of grey rock-like substance under the one I pulled
out. Problem is, I can't translate "mortar cement" into anything I
can buy at HD, etc.
My searches tell me to use the same mortar as laying bricks, or to NOT
use the same stuff, use regular concrete mix, use regular mix with
sand added, don't use regular mix as it will wreck the plastic, etc
etc etc.
I think I know less now than when I started.
Can somebody tell me what it should say on the bag at the building
center? Brand names are fine, if it isn't available around here at
least I can ask for equivalent product.
Thanks,
Red
EXT
You are looking for "Thin-set Mortar" and you will find it in the tile
section, as it is used to set tiles.
aemeijers
mortar-bedded shower bases and plastic tubs I ever saw go in were bedded
in plain old mortar mix. You definitely don't want concrete, lest a
stone poking up worry its way through the shower base.
ISTR on TOH a year or two back, they showed people using gypcrete, and
even a plastic foam that set up rock hard, instead. It doesn't need that
much strength like a sidewalk would, it is just to keep the shower base
from flexing as people stand and move in it.
--
aem sends...
EXT
Thin-set is only as runny as you make it by adding too much water. To bed a
shower base, you need something that is soft enough to conform to the bottom
shape so that it supports the base completely when it hardens. There will
not be much room under the base, so this is where thinset comes in, as it
will harden and maintain its strength even in very thin layers. If a thick
bedding is needed, then masonry mortar "may" work
cl...@snyder.on.ca
wrote:
>EXT wrote:
>> red <red...@rocketmail.com> wrote:
>>> I'm re-doing a shower using an acrylic/fiberglass base. The
>>> instructions say to put "mortar cement" under the base. Makes sense,
>>> there were lumps of grey rock-like substance under the one I pulled
>>> out. Problem is, I can't translate "mortar cement" into anything I
>>> can buy at HD, etc.
>>>
>>> My searches tell me to use the same mortar as laying bricks, or to NOT
>>> use the same stuff, use regular concrete mix, use regular mix with
>>> sand added, don't use regular mix as it will wreck the plastic, etc
>>> etc etc.
>>> I think I know less now than when I started.
>>>
>>> Can somebody tell me what it should say on the bag at the building
>>> center? Brand names are fine, if it isn't available around here at
>>> least I can ask for equivalent product.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Red
>>
>> You are looking for "Thin-set Mortar" and you will find it in the tile
>> section, as it is used to set tiles.
>>
>>
>I'm no expert, but I think not. Thin-set is pretty runny. All the
>mortar-bedded shower bases and plastic tubs I ever saw go in were bedded
>in plain old mortar mix. You definitely don't want concrete, lest a
>stone poking up worry its way through the shower base.
I used thinset, mixed to a "low slump" consistancy and just "worked"
the base in.
MLD
"red" <red...@rocketmail.com> wrote in message
news:e08b0996-12c5-4cee...@f20g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
My base flexed a bit when it was on the cement floor. Called the
manufacturer and he recommended using expandable foam--the kind that is used
to seal leaks etc. and comes in a spray can. I inserted the small nozzle
extension in all the open spaces under the base and let it fill until it
started coming out. Let it harden and then cut off all the stuff that had
expanded outside of the base. It's been several years now without a problem
and the base is solid--no movement at all.
MLD.