A while back, I talked with Doug, about building a shower base. He told me that using thin set mortar was not correct. Luckily, I re-read the book I am using and found out he was right... you have to use concrete... sorry Doug, but I did listen enough not to go head long into the project without caution.

Anyway, in the book (Complete Bathrooms), it says to use, "Deck Mud" or something called "Thick bed Floor Mortar". There are no bags of concrete that have those names where I live. It looks like, from the pictures in the book, that the mortar has sand in it but , of course, no stone.. The mortar will be spread from a thickness of about 3/4 of an inch to nearly no mortar near the drain. It can't set up quickly because I have to have time to shape it.

I really hope someone can help me here and give me an idea of which type of concrete I should get.

the shower pan mud is what many tile guys use. I have seen it and I think it is too unstable and fluffy. I personally have not done many tile shower floors. But I did my own. It it I used sand mix.
on another note, I put my pan in first, the last tile job I watched, the guys put a 2 x 4 on the floor flat and that was the benchmark they used to start the walls, then did the floor.

Sand mix. That sounds right. I have the perimeter completed. Two sides are 5 1/2 footers I poured (that will be used to lay glass block). The threshold (at this point) consistes of two 2x4 (about 2' long) and the other two walls are made mostly of 2x6 treated wood.

This has held up the whole job because the shower base has to be poured before I can put the shower membrane down, then finally I can start putting up the concrete board on the walls of the shower.

Thanks for you help Doug

[grinz]
The membrane goes before the pour. Then thinset is lightly spread to adhere the tile to the pour.

I did find the correct concrete, in of all places a concrete store.

It's called Thoropatch and you add Acryl 60 to it. This mixture is great. It smooths out very well and drys very hard with no cracks at all. The only problem I have with it is that its $27 for a 50lb bag and $30 for the Acryl 60 additive(1 gallon). I have used this mixture for the base (before the shower liner) but I am switching to concrete grout for the layer before the tile. ( I do hope this is not a mistake but that Thoropatch stuff is just too expensive).

I never did this before and I found that it was very difficult for me to create a slanted shower base that went from the height of an inch to gradually go down to zero at the drain. In some places in the base I had close to a 4 foot run. (creating an incline plane that is 4 ft long starting at a height of one inch... right.) This took me forever, but the cement I bought did dry slowly enough and I could add to the work the next day (and several days after that)... to finally get it close to right.

I will show you pictures when the job is done.

This is just off the top of my head. I realize you guys are talking about buildinga shower pan.but I don't see any mention of the drainage. Is it in and vented already? If not I may have a suggestion that will save building a shower base, panning it out and running a separate vent. Interested? Tom

Unfortunately, the pan has been completed now. It did come out pretty well, although it turned out to be expensive, just for the materials. I am ready to put the tile in now.

After this is all over, I will post some pictures of the project. I took pictures all the way through it. In the end, I will have a glass blocked shower in a new basement bathroom.

I did conceder using a plastic shower base until I read in a how-to-do book, (on how to build a shower base). I took this as a challenge and decided to build the shower base myself. It was frustrating and fun at the same time.

But... sure Tom I am always interested in what you have to say... Synder

"sure Tom I am always interested in what you have to say"
It's a little late now but if you would have had the depth to do it you could have broke and sloped the floor to a floor drain. That would have done away with a base, shower pan and possibility a vent. I had one in our old hose in the basement and have one in the slab here in Florida in my second bath. Regards, Tom