# Should have waited ...



## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

... for me to do the shower slope. I get to a job to do the liners today and show up to one of crappiest concrete slopes I've seen any of our other guys do. Every corner had fall away from the drain.

My boss wanted me to just put some concrete in the corners on top of the bad slope. I started to fight with him about that being a hack way of doing it and it would cause problems, but I held my tongue and did what I thought was right. I ended up spending a couple hours grinding and scraping the correct fall by hand using only a hammer and a nail plate. Wasn't efficient, but it is now perfect.


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

...


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

You'll sleep better than your boss...


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

I won't sleep better, because while I'm fixing problems, i only imagine them creating more problems somewhere else. I'm sure he sleeps great knowing he has me to fix all the mess ups.


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## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

I'm glad that I don't do shower pans anymore, tile guys job if ya ask me


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

I wouldn't want tile guys around here doing them ... they can barely lay tile correct.


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

rjbphd said:


> You'll sleep better than your boss...


Was thinking about it ... you are right. At least i won't have a bad slope on my mind.


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## Texan (Feb 21, 2015)

Hey chonkie, so what did you do with the nail plate? Did you use that as a chisel to knock the high points down? Then just add more mortar to fix the slope. Are the grooves there just to make the patch stick better?


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

Texan said:


> Hey chonkie, so what did you do with the nail plate? Did you use that as a chisel to knock the high points down? Then just add more mortar to fix the slope. Are the grooves there just to make the patch stick better?


I used the claw on my hammer to make grooves, made closer grooves than are in the pics i posted, then I used the short end of the nailplate to scrape the grooves flat. Also used the nail plate to scrape any high points down.

I added nothing, only took away. I did it this way because I did not feel it would be strong enough just adding 1/4" of sandmix on top of bad slope. Tons of high spots too. Ended up filling up half a 5gal bucket with what I scraped off. Last pic in the first post shows how much I had to lower the middle "corner" to get fall. Had to do that with each quadrant.

It's a good thing the cement was still fairly green. Probably only a few days since being poured wrong. It's also a good thing that whoever did the slope had it too thick around the drain.


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## plumberkc (Jun 23, 2011)

Most mortar needs to be a minimum of 3/4", floor leveling compound might have been easier.


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

I'm just glad I can put shower pan right in sub floor, sand and Portland gets graded on top.


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

Michaelcookplum said:


> I'm just glad I can put shower pan right in sub floor, sand and Portland gets graded on top.


That's how we used to be able to do them. I miss the ease of that. I think I finally convinced my boss to get the slope system that Letterrip posted about in an earlier thread I started showing my slope work. It's either get that, or have me train the other guys.


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

I had to do the same thing with the upstairs shower. I did figure out a faster way to get the cement knocked down. Only got a couple pics of the method i used on this one. I did look at some tools that are for grinding concrete, but boss man didn't want to buy anything. That's fine by me, I'll spend an extra hour trying different methods so i know which way is fastest for next time an issue like this arises and I'm in the boonies. Drilled holes to a close rough depth and then my hammer to knock it down, then the nail plate to scrape and even everything out. Was the fastest way without proper tools.

P.s. I even tried to convince my boss it would be cheaper for him to have me just bust it out completely and redo it. His answer is obvious.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

GREENPLUM said:


> I'm glad that I don't do shower pans anymore, tile guys job if ya ask me


Agree all the way,I'm not gonna be responsible for water leaking thru a floor or wall:no:


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

Can't let a tile guy here in Illinois install the panning. It's part of the plumbing code.

*Section 890.230 Safe Pan Material and Construction* 

a) Material. Safe pans shall be made only of lead, copper, aluminum, galvanized steel, stainless steel, ABS, PVC or fiberglass material. 

1) Lead sheets for safe pans shall weigh at least 4 pounds per square foot. 

2) Copper sheets for safe pans shall weigh at least 12 ounces per square foot. 

3) Aluminum, galvanized steel and stainless steel safe pans shall be of at least 24 gauge material. 

4) ABS or PVC safe pans or liners shall be 30 mil or 40 mil. 

5) Fiberglass for safe pans or liners shall be equally durable to the ABS and PVC material described in subsection (a)(3) of this Section. 

b) Construction. All safe pans shall be constructed with preformed dam corners, shall be watertight, adequately reinforced and provided with a drain opening designed to make a watertight joint. ABS and PVC safe pans and liners shall be solvent welded together with the proper cement. 

(Source: Amended at 28 Ill. Reg. 4215, effective February 18, 2004)




They finally started accepting the Kerdi system.


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