Exceeded my expectations. This shower base is very rigid underfoot. The bottom is a 2x2 fiberglass waffle structure. You still set it in thinset, but I think that is mostly to ensure that it's evenly and continuously supported.
Planning tips:
- be certain that your shower drain rough-in is absolutely perfect in X,Y location. Better yet, make sure it's a little flexible in X & Y directions so that you can get the drain fitting over the pipe. Don't cast the pipe hard into concrete without any gap. In fact, the drain fitting protrudes down into the subfloor. You probably need 2" (?) of gap around the drain pipe just for the fitting. In the Z-direction, the right height of the drain pipe seemed to be equal to the subfloor surface top. You mount the drain fitting to the shower base first, and then set the whole shower base into place over the pipe. It's difficult to adjust the pipe in that moment. I added a bunch of silicone sealant to the inside of the rubber gasket to help the pipe slip in, and then seal it for sure.
- The top flange has two steps up. The uppermost flange is about 7/16" thick, so I set the shower base against the stud framing, then added ½" plywood around the shower enclosure. This let the backer board drop cleanly over that topmost flange and solidly into the shower base. I added a line of caulk sealant behind the tile backer board where it overlaps that flange to prevent any water from wicking up and out of the shower base. The planning tip is to allow for this extra (2) x ½" = 1" of plywood material in your assembly. This 1" will likely change your shower door dimensions.
- The tile backer board and tile both fit within the width of the second step, so that the face of the tile is roughly equal with the curb of the shower base. I caulked this joint as well with white. Super-clean.. Tom Boysen. Seattle, Washington Usa. Fri Apr 18 2025