How to Install a Pre-Made Shower Pan

A shower pan protects your bathroom subfloor from the moisture that inevitably seeps through your tile and grout. Rather than reaching the bathroom subfloor and spreading out, causing extensive water damage and mildew growth, the water instead hits the shower pan – a structure intended to protect the subflooring by redirecting water. You can construct a shower pan yourself out of a flexible plastic waterproof material and staple it to the wooden shower frame before installing the tiles, or you can install a pre-made shower pan constructed of hard plastic.

Level
Screwdriver
Shower pan
Permanent marker
¼-inch drill bit
Power drill
1-inch galvanized screws
Rubber neoprene gasket
Drain strainer
Waterproof construction adhesive

Instructions

- 1
  Sit a level on the existing subfloor where you plan to install the shower pan. Ensure that the subflooring is perfectly even before beginning the installation.
- 2
  Unscrew the top gasket from the existing drain.
- 3
  Sit the pre-made shower pan in the open shower space. Line up the hole in the shower pan with the drain hole. If no drain hole exists, mark the spot where the drain touches the shower pan with a permanent marker. Measure the drainage hole and cut a corresponding hole into the bottom of the pre-made shower pan.
- 4
  Align the shower pan with the drainage hole in your shower space. Also confirm that the shower pan lines up with the sides and entrance of the shower.
- 5
  Affix a ¼-inch drill bit to your power drill. Drill holes 1 inch deep into the upper ridge of the shower pan where the edges of the pre-made shower pan touch the wall studs of the wooden shower enclosure.
- 6
  Place a 1-inch galvanized screw into each predrilled hole. Tighten the screws with the power drill.
- 7
  Push the neoprene gasket down into the drainage hole through the drain hole in the pre-made shower pan. The rubber gasket helps the water run directly through the drain rather than seep between the pre-made shower pan and the shower base.
- 8
  Glue the drain strainer around the edge of the drainage hole in the shower pan with waterproof construction adhesive.
- 9
  Screw in the drain's top gasket to the newly installed shower pan drain.

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How to Line a Shower Pan

Bathrooms