A year ago I had to rip out a small neo angle shower in my basement because it backed up. It has a metal strainer on it that rusted shut and the floor drain was not above the shower pan drain to be reached. Also, it turns out that under the plastic shower pan of the previous shower, the tiling around my house for water went under the pan and into this floor drain. See attached.

Now I want to put a shower back in but I need one that is about 35 inches and everything in the store is 38 inches. I have had 3 plumbers come in and the tiling/drainage coming out of the wall gives them pause. All have suggested I build a cement curb around the perimeter where I want the shower, tile it and the wall, and install the neo angle doors and side pieces as if the curb were the shower pan. Making sure to tile the slope from the curb inward to the drain.

Can I do that?
Extend the Durock down to the cement floor. Build a curb around the perimeter where the old neo angle shower was. Tile that floor and the curb. Then attached normal neo angle shower door and panel on top and attach to walls?

If so, what should I use to build the curb? Regular cement?

Or should I build a small subloor to get above that tiling out of the wall, then buy a shower until to install on top of that? I think I found a 34 inch round at Menards tonight. Keep in mind that the shower drain will not line up with the floor drain, but it didn't before and the floor has a large amount of slope to it anyway so the water will exit and run to the floor without a doubt.

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

Hello butesch, first of all the situation with the shower will make any plumber pause.
1. you don't want to go back to the raised floor and install a plastic showerbase because your just going to end up ripping it out when the drain starts to plugging up.
2. some building codes do not permit for a stormdrain to run into the sanitary sewer, if that's what Im seeing coming off the side wall. Check your local building codes.
3. the right way to do this is to have a licensed tile co. build your shower. They will have to cut a section of floor out to build a proper base for the floor and still allow for the side drain to dump into the floor drain, and install a membrane to prevent water from leaking around the base of the shower. Its not cheap but its going to be your best route to take on this matter. But then again that's my personal advice.----goodluck---Zeke---

Your photo describes exactly how shower pans should NOT be built. It is all wrong.

If you want to rebuild, you have to do it the right way. You have to install new pan ( plastic prefab pan or build your own ). We discussed the process of installing new shower pans here several times. See if you can look it up in previous posts. If negative, than come back and we will try again.

But in the interim: do not cover it up the way it is.

Are you saying that chipped clay looking tile coming out of the wall used to be the shower drain? Where do the sink and toilet drain? Unless you have a maserating toilet there must be drain pipes below the floor level. Please give us more details. I tried to send you the homepage for Swanstone shower pans but they are switching server right now.

The chipped clay pipe out of the wall is from drainage tile around the house. When it rains a lot, water comes out of this pipe and travels about a foot to the floor drain. Who knows what they were thinking in 1955!

The only reason this shower backed up is because a metal strainer was used over the floor drain which rusted shut. I removed that. So if I build a raised platform/subfloor, I can put in a shower kit with pan, walls, and door, which will drain to the sharp sloped floor and into the floor drain. The platform/subfloor would also allow the drainage tile in the foundation to continue to drain to this floor drain. The subfloor would also allow me to be able to reach the drain under the shower if it would ever back up again, but I believe that to be remote. If I build a high enough subfloor, I could potentially pipe the shower drain to match up to the floor drain.

What area do you live in? Are you on city sewer or a septic tank?

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So if I build a raised platform/subfloor, I can put in a shower kit with pan, walls, and door, which will drain to the sharp sloped floor and into the floor drain.

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If you wish to keep the outlet from the french drain than a raised platform with a indirect waste might be the only way to go. I don't like your present set up but I can see a lot of hassle if you terminate the french drain elsewhere outside. Gooid ;luck, Tom

I'm in Des Moines so city sewer for me. I also think the raised platform is the only solution as well.