What Are the Man Hours Needed for Installing a Vinyl Shower Pan?

Typical Installations

• In the typical shower pan installation, the pan is set onto a solid plywood floor, leveled, mounted and then connected to the drain. This takes about four to five hours to complete as long as no additional plumbing needs to be completed. However, this is not all that needs to be done in most cases. Usually a shower wall is installed along with the pan. This installation takes much more time than installing the shower pan itself.

Fiberglass Shower Panel Installation

• After the shower pan is installed, the shower walls are built. If you plan to install a shower pan with matching shower panels, you need to cover the wall framing with drywall, and then glue the panels to the drywall. Drywalling takes at least four hours, and then there is additional time to allow the joint compound to dry. The walls are primed and painted, and then the panels are glued into place. A normal wall installation usually takes an additional two days to complete because of the drying time involved.

Tile Wall Installation

• Installing a tile wall also adds additional time to your shower pan installation. Tile walls require lots of manual labor, because each tile is set into mortar and then the entire wall is grouted. Building a tile wall requires the installation of cement board or drywall, and then the mortar is laid in and the tiles set. You must allow 24 hours for the mortar to dry, plus another 12 to 24 hours for the grout to dry. A tile wall installation takes an additional two to three days to complete depending on how fast you can lay in the tile.

Other Time Considerations

• If you plan to demolish the existing bathroom shower to install the new shower pan, you'll need at least another five hours to complete this task. If your home has complicated plumbing beneath the shower pan that is hard to reach, you may find yourself spending another two to three hours to cut the drain pipe under the shower and installing the new shower drain. Shower pans also need solid, flat floors underneath them, so if your existing floor is damaged, you have to rip up and replace the floor. This process adds four to five hours of work time. If the floor is uneven, you must install a mortar bed prior to installing the shower pan. This task adds another day's five to six hours of work time.