Shower drain location?

[Mike Cornelsen]

I'm installing a new shower (60"x32") and I have the option of the drain being located in the center of the floor pan or at either end. It shoudn't make any difference that I can tell but if someone with experience with showers has a preference, I'd really like to hear their reasoning.

[Joe Chritz]

My only preference is someplace a joist isn't.

If you are making a custom shower (pvc liner, tile bottom) then a center location makes it easier to slope the floor to the drain and easier to set the height since you have to set that before doing the floor.

Joe

[Mike Cornelsen]

Thanks for the tip Joe. It's a remodel so I'll crawl under the house and see where my joists are located in relation to my existing bathroom. Darn I appreciate the mistakes Creeker's keep me from making!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mike,

Joe nailed it. By placing it in the middle, the drop from each side will be equal. If you were to place it nearer to one end....pretty steep drop from the short end as compared to the shop from the long end.....Steep ends when wet could be slippery.

One thing I did that has worked well. I selected a unglazed porcelain tile for the floor. The porcelain tile isn't glazed...therefore it's not slick. The tile is the same material all the way through...I hope this is making sense.

[Ben Grunow]

I have found that the high flow rain heads deliver so much water that the stream of water will prevent the shower from draining properly if the water stream is landing on the drain. Sounds crazy and most of the time you are blocking the stream by standing under it but it is a problem and it is easily avoided.

[Prashun Patel]

If you have other q's about shower construction and tiling, u might visit johnbridge.com. It's the best resource out there (free) for such a project.

[Mike Cornelsen]

Shawn: Thanks for informing me about John's page. The only tile I'm planning on is the floor (but I definitely want to get that right). I'm leaning towards a solid-panel shower. A local plumbing supply house had some stuff that appealed to me. Google Onyx Collection and if it's made in Kansas, that's the stuff.

[david hines]

we took out our tub and put in a shower pan the same size. the drain is about where it was before. we dont notice any draining problems and unless i am standing 6 inches from the wall , you dont notice a slant.

[Mike Cutler]

Thanks for the tip Joe. It's a remodel so I'll crawl under the house and see where my joists are located in relation to my existing bathroom. Darn I appreciate the mistakes Creeker's keep me from making!

Let me help you with a very big mistake I made 13 years ago.

I installed a new shower on the second floor of our house. At that time I installed a 34"x48" shower receptor, or shower pan, as a base, with the drain in the middle. The unit was a fibercast pan with built in strongbacks and internal support. I must have asked a half dozen times if the unit needed to be mortared in,and was told no they did not. Everything was installed per the manufactures directions. The floor underneath was two layers of 5/8" interior ply, dead flat, screwed and glued, and newly installed
Guess where the shower receptor failed? It developed micro cracks that radiated out from the drain, which coincidentally is right where I stand when the shower is running. The hole for the drain was just big enough for the plumbing to go through.

The receptor I am currently installing in our new bath remodel, 1st floor, has the drain in the end,and it will be mortared in place for additional support. There won't be any standing on the drain in this shower.;)

Highly second Shawn's advice on the John Bridge Forum. I've been on that forum for less than a week now, per Shawn's advice,and have learned a tremendous amount. Excellent forum, and resource for product selection. I plan to buy John's tiling books this week.

Make sure you put that shower base in as perfectly as you can. It's a big deal to tear one out.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Mike,

Guess where the shower receptor failed? It developed micro cracks that radiated out from the drain, which coincidentally is right where I stand when the shower is running
How long did it take for it to fail?

[Mike Cutler]

Hello Mike,

How long did it take for it to fail?

About 10 years.
I used an epoxy gelcoat repair kit to fix the leak and it held for a year or two, and then had to do it again. This is actually what is forcing the downstairs bathroom renovation I'm in the middle of right now. I need a functioning shower to rip that shower receptor out.
I'm going to cut up the receptor in place with an angle grinder,and will have to remove the first 3 or 4 rows of tile and cement backer board, and then build a shower pan in place.
That shower was my first "real" tile job. I'm pretty anal about doing home renovations, so I know that the wall tile and backer board aren't coming out easily.

[Mike Cornelsen]

Thanks Mike. I don't believe a failure around a center drain is likely provided I have prepared the subfloor correctly. The entire shower base is a solid, one-piece cast material similar to Corian and the entire base rests on the floor. Thick and heavy! I'm sure it will be a 2-man job setting that in.

On another note, I crawled under the house and the subfloor under the tub looks good (from the bottom anyway). And if I measured correctly, a center drain will clear the floor joists.

[Mike Cutler]

Mike

The one I used was an American Standard Fibercast shower receptor. That bad boy was built like a tank and heavy!!
I was really stunned when it started to leak. I would have never thought it would.

If you have trouble with joist clearance. Oatey make an offset 2" shower drain. It is their 103 series drains. They come in bothe ABS and PVC. Canplas makes a 45 degree offset 2" shower drain. Either can really bail you out in a pinch.
The combined flange heights on these will be less than the subfloor thickness and distance between the subfloor and the flange of the receptor.

One more thing, but it sounds as if you already have a handle on it, if you are replacing a tub/shower with a stand alone shower, the drain size requirement changes from 1 1/2" for a tub/shower to 2" for a stand alone shower.


Unfortunately for me, the shower drain leaked into the ceiling above the front room.:(