Shower base support??

[aolson]

Hello, I have an unfinshed basement that i am working on to complete. I have

80% of the sheetrocking up in the basement and am working on completing the plumbing for my bathroom so it can be sheetrocked. I bought a 3 piece shower to put in my bathroom and when working on it last night i steped down from one of the seats in the shower and heard a slight cracking sound like the base had cracked. I looked at the base but didnt' see anything as far as cracks or damage goes. The shower seems very sturdy and rigid but should i rip the thing out and get it replaced without even seeing a crack or would it be wise to try and pull it up and put some quickcreat underneath it to give it some added support and just go with it? I should have maybe done the quickcrete option right away but the shower seemed very sturdy and rigid from the getgo and sits darn near right on the floor so there isnt much of a gap between the shower and the floor. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help in advance.

[aolson]

Thanks for the response. Yes i could view underneath it and will do that tonight. You are correct that it is fiberglass and seems very ridged so didn't think i should need to put a base underneath it. Thanks again.

[No]

I like to sit these things in a bed or mortar. I build up a dam out of cardboard to contain the mortar until I set the pan down. If you can do this w/o much trouble I would do it. If you cant easily pull out the pan but you have access you could try and get some loose mortar squished under (Never had luck with this aproach) or try to squeze some construction adhesive in there, or some spray foam (minimal expanding), or shim it where its not supported.

Once you finish things off, if you do nothing, it will always flex and bug you every time you step in. Ask me how I know.

[Goedjn]

If it's a fiberglass/epoxy shower-base it's not likely to crack enough to actually leak. Do you have an access-port in an end or the back wall so you can inspect the underside? I wouldn't worry about it, but a flashlight and a 4" hole in some drywall would give you some piece of mind.

[MLD]

As an alternative to your suggestion---my base has a slight flexing when weight was put on the edge of it. The cement floor was not exactly level and that's what was causing the slight movement. The fix was about 4 cans of expandable foam sprayed under the base until it began to start coming out from under the base. When it was dry I trimmed all the excess with a razor knief. This was the suggested by the manufacturer of the shower. Then end result was no more flexing and the base has been rock solid since. MLD

>

[aolson]

Thanks again for the responses. Do you remember the kind of expandable foam that you used for the job? I want to make sure i don't get something that expands to much and causes me more problems. This sounds easier than the concrete option also. I looked under the shower last night and it looks as though it maybe sits an inch off of floor.

[MLD]

Don't specifically remember the name, but it was in a can and we got it at Home Depot. Same kind of stuff that is used for filling voids around outlet boxes etc. It comes with a small dia. tube that can be attached to the nozzle. I wouldn't worry about it expanding too much as the excess will find its way to the outside. I just kept pumping it under the base at different locations until it started finding its way out. As I noted, this method was recommended by the manufacturer of the shower and after it hardened I just cut the excess off with sharp knife. You might want to ask around to make sure that this will do the job for you since an inch of space seems quite large. Having said that, I don't know how much space was filled under the base when I did mine. But the foam did the job and the base is solid. MLD