[apearson3372]

Just installed a shower drain, using three levels:
1. bottom layer of mortar sloped to drain.
2. PVC shower pan liner, with middle portion of drain (including weep holes) properly installed over it.
3. Top layer of mortar, properly sloped to top portion of drain.
I am now ready to lay tile.

Here's the problem:
I forgot to use pea gravel around the weep holes when I laid the top layer of mortar. Is this OK, or do I have to dig it up and try again?

[massplumber2008]

Hi Apearson

It also sounds like you forget a layer of tar paper in between the sloped layer of mortar and the liner, too. Here, you've sandwiched a layer of vinyl between two layers of mortar and that could lead to abrasions and leaks in the vinyl pan down the road. Never mind that if the weep holes have become filled with mortar (they have) then residual water has no where to go but up and through the mortar... *UGH*!

I hate to say it, but mortar and vinyl are cheap enough... better to rip out and fix this than to have an issue a year or so from now when all the tile and the curb are all finished.

Once you install the tar paper and the vinyl pan I hope you plan on testing the new pan. You did test the vinyl pan for water tightness, right? If not, then that has to be done, too. Here, after the new tar paper/vinyl pan is finished and dry, plug the drain pipe solid and fill the pan with water to the threshold/curb height. Let the water sit overnight and then check for leaks in the morning. If no leaks, pour your pan as normal... can add chcicken wire if you want, or you could use a "thick floor mud", made for shower pans.

Mark