How to Frame a Cement Shower

Prefabricated shower pans and walls offer easy and fast installation but provide only limited designs, sizes and materials. As an alternative, a homeowner or builder may build a custom shower, often tiled, that accommodates unique desires or needs. One of the first steps required for custom shower construction is installing a frame around the shower pan that forms the curb at the threshold that contains the mortar bed and guides building.

Measuring tape
Carpenter's pencil
2-by-4-inch lumber, length TBD
Saw
16d galvanized nails
Hammer
2-by-10-inch lumber, length TBD

Instructions

- 1
  Measure the threshold’s opening the where the shower curb is placed. The curb should align with floor joists and wall studs.
- 2
  Transfer the threshold measurement to 2-by-4s. Three sections of 2-by-4s of this length are required.
- 3
  Cut the 2-by-4s to the specified length. Stack them at the threshold.
- 4
  Nailing the stacked sections to the floor joists and wall studs at the shower threshold forms the curb.
- 5
  Measure the openings between the wall studs around the shower perimeter.
- 6
  Transfer the measurement of the stud bays to 2-by-10s.
- 7
  Cut enough sections of 2-by-10s to fill all of the stud bays around the shower pan perimeter.
- 8
  Install the 2-by-10s in the stud bays using 16d galvanized nails forming a low wall around the shower pan.

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