Getting Started
What’s the first step?
Well, if you haven’t done demo, that’s a great place to begin.
But ideally you should also have a plan for the new bathroom and shower. One demo is complete, you should inspect the mechanicals. For example, look at the subfloor, studs, electrical, and plumbing.
Schluter has specific requirements (as do all manufacturers) for subfloors. For example, since our joist spacing was 16″ o.c., we used 3/4″ plywood for the subfloor. Read Schluter’s handbook and see what they recommend for the subfloor.
Also, stud spacing should be 16″ o.c. for any backer board, including drywall. By the way, did you know Schluter recommends using drywall for KERDI shower kits? Yep, it’s due to drywall having a flat surface and the fact that KERDI will completely waterproof the paper face of drywall.
Check studs with a 4 foot level; they should plumb and even with each other. That way the backer board, in this case it’s drywall, won’t bow in or out.
If any electrical runs behind the shower now is the time to inspect, reroute, or replace it. Once the shower is built, electrical will be a pain to move.
Finally, get your plumbing in place before buying the shower kit. And determine if you need to reroute the drain. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, call a qualified plumber and make sure they know what shower system you’re using. That way they don’t have any excuse when the drain doesn’t line up with the shower pan, which happens all the time with contractors.
Order of Operation
Here’s the order of how things should be installed:
- Mixing Valve
- Drywall or Backer Board
- Schluter KERDI Membrane Walls
- Schluter Shower Pan & Curb
- Schluter KERDI over Pan & Curb + 24 Hour Flood Test
- Set Pebble Stone Shower Floor and Seal
- Tile Main Wall
- Tile Shower Bench Wall then Shower Bench
- Tile Plumbing Wall the Shower Niche
- Tile Shower Curb
- Grout Pebble Stone Floor
- Grout Shower Walls then Caulk Joints
Consider this your cheat sheet.
We’ll go into much more detail within each module.
Supply Lists
Below are the supply lists for each aspect of the pebble stone shower installation. These links go to Amazon where we built Idea Lists