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Originally Posted by Shorty10r  lol...after that add more wire mesh and mortar at an angle towards the drain. |
IF your sloped bed was done correctly, the setting bed will not be formed with a slope, but will be sloped only because it follows the slope below it...understand? The perimeter of the presloped bed should be at the same level all the way around and the furthest point from the drain will be 1/4" per foot, all other areas will have a greater slope as their distance to the drain is less.
You want no lath in the setting bed with one exception that I will cover later, so therefor, there is no need for any tar paper on top of the pvc or cpe liner.
I don't know the mud recipe you used for your preslope, and as long as it woked, it doesn't really matter. For your setting bed, though, you want a mud that is both very packable to create a dense base, very porous, to allow for quick draining, and very easy to shape and screed, so you can form it to be smooth.
Mud recipe 4-5 parts sand to 1 part portland cement. Bagged "sand topping mix" is 3 parts sand to 1 part portland so if you use that, mixing one scoop of sand into the mixing trough with every 4 scoops of sand mix will give you the mixture you want. Use only enough water to give it the consistancy of sand castle sand so you can pack it tight. You don;t want to be able to pour it and you don't want any concrete products as they contain lime, making them stickier and messy to shape.
Your liner needs to go up the walls no less than 3" higher than the finished height of the curb. There can be no fasteners lower than 2" higher than the finished height of the curb. If you take a file or chisel, you should notch the studs along the bottom 6-8" as you don't want the cement board bowing out from the liner or causing abrasive wear over time. Yeah, it's back tracking, but not much at this stage of your progress. Otherwise, you could furr out our walls where the cement board will go. If you do that, hardi is slightly less than 1/2" so furred walls + hardi works out really well without problems joining connecting wall areas as the bull nose tile can bridge it with a small enough joint on the underside of the tile to look nice.
If you haven't already, there should have been blocking installed between the studs to help support the liner where it turns up the walls. Line the walls with a moisture barrier of either 15 lb roofing felt (since you probably have plenty left over) or 4 mil plastic sheeting overlapping lower courses and the liner by 3". Install your cement board, keeping it off the bottom of the liner by about 1/2". IF you furred out your walls, it's not a bad idea to mix up a bit of thinset and comb some ontot he back of the cement board at the bottom just to make sure there is no hollow behind it. When you fasten your cbu, do not fasten along the bottom. When you install your setting bed of mud, it will pin the cbu to the framing taking the place of the fasteners.
For your curb (and the liner completely wraps over it to the outside and down), using left over lath, bend it into the shape of a "U" and bend the sides inward so that it pinches the curb. Fasten it only to the outside of the curb. Just like the walls, the setting bed of mud will pin the inside section of lath to the curb. Your curb is formed out of mason's mix, once it starts to set up, you can shave it to just the right size ans shape. Remember to slope it towards the inside of the shower. As a cheat, don't do the top. Tile the inside of the curb, then the outside, then use the top of the tile from both sides as a screed guide to fill in the top of the curb with concrete.
VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
1) Do you understand everything I wrote above? I'll be happy to elaborate on anything above.
2) Do you plan a bench or recessed soap dish/niche in the walls?
3) Have you purchased any setting materials yet and if so, which ones?
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