Pan first nailing the lip to the wall studes and then the Hardiebacker over hanging the lip. What brand and model pan did you buy, I am assuming its fiber glass or acrylic, right? Swanestone and all other pans I have installed came with very good directions and diagrams on this topic. Would you like to search for an install manual?

Well that all depends on the type of pan. For a shower with a preformed base, like Swanstone or fiberglass or acrylic, Hardi is installed after, but not like Ballenger described, I'll elaborate shortly.

For a site built pan that will be tiled, the Hardi will be installed in the middle of constructing the shower pan.

Install your preformed pan and then to provide waterproofing, install 4mil plastic sheeting or 15 lb roofing felt over the studs and overlapping the flange of the pan. Each layer should overlap the lower course by 3". You need this as Hardi won't waterproof anything. Doesn't matter if you switch to Wonder or Durock, or Permabase, whatever, they'll all let water through.

Ballenger stated to bring the Hardi over the flange, but doing so will cause the bottom of the board to bulge out. Unless you furr out the studs or notch the framing for the thickness of the flange, cement boards get stopped 1/8" above the flange. Your tile will ride over that gap. Caulk the tile where it meets the pan, not grout.

For a tiled pan, it goes presloped mud layer, then pan liner, then waterproofing barrier (felt or poly) then cement board and lath folded over the curb, then setting bed of mud. Of course, a mud pan is significantly more detailed than that, We'd be happy to walk you through that.

Surface waterproofing is another option and is required in certain instances such as knee walls and niches. If you have anything like that planned, post back with those details.

Good luck.

Hi all:

Bljack did a great job, but forgot to mention that you'll usually want to use a bedding substrate, such as structolite perlited gypsum plaster or mortar, to set/level a preformed shower pan in. This step is critical in that it the keeps the pan from excessive flexing/rebound and reduces the chance of leaks at the shower pan/wall tile junction and the shower strainer and shower drain pipe.

There are even a few manufacturers that require the shower pan to simply be adhered to the floor using construction adhesive (tough with unlevel floor here).

As always, if you are installing a prefabricated shower pan you'll want to read the instructions provided for the best result... ;)

Finally, if you are installing a custom shower pan with a vinyl liner you'll want to follow Bljack's list but the order of materials presented would go:

Tar paper on floor 1st (15 LB roofing felt)... keeps wood from sucking moisture from the presloped mortar.

Then presloped mortar... forces any water in the vinyl pan to drain to the weep holes in the shower strainer assembly.

Then tar paper again... Keeps liner from getting abrased by the presloped mortar.

Then, vinyl liner, etc. as noted above in Blackjack's post.

I just wanted to add the above 'cause the tar paper is critical and was missing from the list is all!

There is even more listing to be done if you plan on a custom pan so let us know more about the specific pan being used, OK?

Mark

Thanks Mark, I was specifically vague as to how to set the pan as I would expect the instructions to be followed, you know, like what is it Americast tubs with the styrofoam underneath, that it voids the warranty if you use anything under them at all as a bedding or Maxx pans, same thing, etc.

For the site built pan, lath would be used to reinforce the setting bed, stapled over the tar paper, or thinset would be used to bond it if it was being formed on a slab. Mustn't forget weep hole protection, either. And by the way, who moved the post without telling me where to go and find it? :)

So LHaight, there you go, your question was answered instead of with a simple "before" or "after" but with a mini novel of variables. Welcome to the forum and post back to this thread with any other questions you have relating to this shower installation.

In case you already bought a whole bunch of stuff to use, you really should be using thinset, from a bag, to set the tile on your walls. If you purchased mastic, go swap it out.

I stand corrected, the Swanstone manual does show the Hardiebacker stopping 1/2" above the lip, not touching or over hanging. Page 10 I believe http://www.theswancorp.com/images/li...2006-10-10.pdf