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johnneedshelp · Jan 31, 2009, 03:56 PM

Hello
I am installing a shower in my basement. My home is 1 1/2 years old. The basement has a roughed in shower, toilet and sink drain. The shower drain is a 2 inch horizontal pvc pipe about 6 inches underneath the slab. When the basement floor was poured there was a 12" x12" hole left in the floor covered with a piece of plywood. I just took the cover off to add a ptrap and stub the pipe up to match up to the drain hole in the shower. About eight inches below the slab there is water. In fact when I put the Ptrap in it covers most of the U shape of the trap. I live in Wisconsin. Is this normal? The walls and basement floor have always been dry.

Please help as I want to keep moving on with my project..

Thanks.

massplumber2008 · Jan 31, 2009, 04:06 PM

Hi John...

Can't say whether it is normal for the WATER TABLE to be that high in Wisconsin, but I'm sure the town/city hall could tell you.

If you do have a high water table, then I would recommend installing a sump pump in the basement as one day down the road the water table could overflow and if you don't have protection you could have a good flood on your hands!

I have had a couple jobs where I had to dig hole larger so I could PUMP the water out while I was priming/cementing fittings together. You may need to do this here.

Otherwise, do you have any water pipes underground? Let me know...

MARK

johnneedshelp · Jan 31, 2009, 05:13 PM

I may be posting this a second time but no I don't have any water pipes under my house. I have a well on the east side of my house and the feed comes from the east wall of the basement about 6 inches above the floor.

massplumber2008 · Jan 31, 2009, 05:16 PM

Check on the water table with neighbors and the town/city hall. Pop back when you know.

Otherwise, open that hole up a bit larger and see what you discover. At a minimum you will need to pump the water out enough to install the ptrap!

MARK

johnneedshelp · Jan 31, 2009, 05:18 PM

I also have a sump pump already installed. It has not run to my knowledge in at least a few days. It runs a lot in the spring and when we get heavy rain fall.

massplumber2008 · Jan 31, 2009, 05:23 PM

I say you dig down, pump water and install the ptrap. Sounds like you are all set.

Are you setting the shower in a bed of mortar or structolite? What does the manufacturer recommend?

johnneedshelp · Jan 31, 2009, 05:38 PM

They recommend setting in a bed of mortar but I don't know how I am to do that. Do I just mix up some cement spread it out then push the shower basin into it. I have a three piece shower stall.

massplumber2008 · Jan 31, 2009, 05:49 PM

Most likely you will not be able to access all three sides to the shower so you will probably PRE-ASSEMBLE the unit. If so, you pre-assemble the unit and then you mix and pour mortar mix (or structolite) about 2-4 inches thick (depends on your base) into footprint of the shower and then lower the shower base into the substrate being sure to check for plumb (vertical) or level (horizontal) on the unit until best result is achieved.

The idea is to pour enough substrate to cause a filling of any voids in the shower base as you set the unit and to use substrate to level unit (from front to back and side to side... use SHIMS if needed), but not to pour so much that it fights you and keeps the base 1-2" off the floor... understand?

Let me know if that made sense.

johnneedshelp · Jan 31, 2009, 07:03 PM

That does seem to make sense. The one thing about my shower stall is that it has a piece of plywood on the bottom covered in 'raw' fiber glass. So there ar enot too many voids. Thanks again for all your help.

massplumber2008 · Jan 31, 2009, 07:37 PM

I see these all the time.

I prefer STRUCTOLITE for these installations so I will mention structolite here. You can use mortar mix or structolite.

If you were to assemble the unit and then fit the unit and level the unit from front to back, side to side and top to bottom WITHOUT structolite in place you should be able to actually measure the thickness of structolite needed by measuring from slab to fiberglass covered plywood.

Then, you would add about an inch to this measurement and place the structolite in the footprint of the shower and plumb/level as mentioned. Again, temporary shims are useful here.

This is worth the effort as you can imagine! When finished this unit will feel as solid as a concrete floor.

While here...have you considered adding a sliding shower arm in addition to the shower head... see picture?

Let me know...

MARK

johnneedshelp · Jan 31, 2009, 07:58 PM

What is the advantage of STRUCTOLITE? I have no preference so I will probably use it because you say its better. Can you buy it at Menards?

massplumber2008 · Jan 31, 2009, 08:01 PM

Hard to say if available at Menards. There are times you can find it at Home depot, Menards or Lowe's...

Mortar or structolite is fine. I like structolite because it is lighter and easier to FLUFF... but not super important here.

See what is available locally. You decide.

:)