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Old 04-28-2013, 11:22 AM   #1
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can you cut down a shower stall?

can you cut down a shower stall?

Do I just get one from home depo, and a pan and cut it to shape of the wall/roof slant of the bus?

Any particular shower to buy?

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Old 04-28-2013, 01:30 PM   #2
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

We used a flat square shower pan (like this one but we bought ours used off of Craigslist for $25) and used 2 sheets of FRP on the walls (liquid nails). We have a seam on the shower head wall roughly in the middle of the wall. The FRP is more flexible than the fiberglass shower surround. We rolled the back wall sheet of FRP from the floor, up the back wall (still need to cut out for the window we covered up), onto the ceiling and ended the sheet at the front of the shower (David screwed in a line of drywall screws to catch the front of the FRP to keep it pushed back against the ceiling and curve in the wall). Turned out nice. I still need to replace the shower curtain with a vinyl accordian door. We don't like shower curtains. We used peg board as a backing because we have so much of the freebie material. We caulked PVC quarter round into the corners.










Apparently the rest of the photos are still on my camera. We had to brace all the FRP until the Liquid Nails set up (we left overnight... braced side to side and angled the bracing for the back off the side cross braces.... fun). We used a standard kitchen sink basket strainer in the drain (same size) because we used a small drain pipe and didn't want to spend $$ on lots of expensive PVC drain fittings to reduce down to the smaller drain size. We reused the original rear heater hose as a drain line. The nice thing about using the kitchen sink drain is that I can easily plug up the drain and let a bit of water run into the shower pan to soak my aching feet (I stand on concrete at work).
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Old 05-27-2013, 01:32 PM   #3
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

neat,

Can I put a Thetford toilet in the center of a lowes or home depo cheap plastic shower?
I dont want to use lots of space!

I just get a pan and shower and toilet and fittings?

Im not sure what a baseboard is, I think they sell complete cheap shower stalls with a cheap pan.
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Old 05-27-2013, 08:45 PM   #4
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaybus
neat,

Can I put a Thetford toilet in the center of a lowes or home depo cheap plastic shower?
I dont want to use lots of space!

I just get a pan and shower and toilet and fittings?

Im not sure what a baseboard is, I think they sell complete cheap shower stalls with a cheap pan.
Yes you can but do you really want to? Ever had to deal with an "all-n-one" unit before?

How long will you be using your conversion? Weekends, monthly, fulltime?

For a weekend, you might be okay. Longer than that and they suck. We fulltimed in a Class C with an all-n-one unit. Interior dimensions were 27" wide and about 45 " long. That included the vanity sink, shower stall and toilet. We repaired part of the flush mechanism on the toilet because it rusted due to constant moisture. Did you know it's cheaper to buy a new expensive toilet than to repair the toilet with expensive parts. We did a work around because the Class C was going to be dumped in a few years (only a matter of time). The floor is always wet, dirty or muddy. If you are a small person, then the dimensions that our typical unit was is small but useable. If you are a "normal" size human (between 5'5" and 6'4" and slightly overweight) you will either not wash some of your body parts very well or you will sustain bruises from taking showers (those pesky elbows get in the way). Keep in mind, many campgrounds are doing away with their bathhouses. And many you just really don't want to use.

The cheapest way to do a shower is to use a cheap floor pan then use FRP on a cheap substrate. 2 (4x sheets of FRP will do three walls of a 32X32 shower pan with a seam in the center of one of the walls (I suggest it be in the wall where your shower head/controls are... it gets less water in it). Unfortunately you are looking at one of the expenses of a conversion that is hard to get to $200 much less under. Bathrooms & galleys eat up most of your money followed by plumbing parts and electrical parts.


I can't tell you what to do. I can only tell you what we have done and why...

The vintage Mansfield Traveler 910 toilet (china) was a free salvage. It will cost me roughly $100 to replace the breaker valve and the teflon seal for the ball. I replaced the toilet seat with a round one that almost fits. It was a $10 clearance item (or was it $7). The vanity sink and cabinet is made up of old scrap Corian kitchen countertops, a plastic bath faucet ($10?) and a free 6" deep 1/3 stainless steam table pan that we drilled a hole in to accept a vanity sink drain. We bought a damaged/marked down prehung hollow core slab door and used the door as a side wall in bath area. The "cabinet" is simply a face frame only... built from left over frame pieces from the prehung door. We have discovered that using slab only doors are a cheap way of making "walls". Runs roughly $1 per inch. Our 36" doors for walls tend to cost $33. All we have to do is install and paint. We try to get the doors with the real wood "finger joint" frame. The no joint framed ones are tough to cut as the glues are like rock.

ON EDIT: The Mansfield toilet broke and we replaced it with a standard low flush residential (similar to this one but cheaper -- it was a $70 all in one contractor type on the shelf at work and replaced the ring and plastic flush handle with a pretty one after the plastic one broke... can't find it online) toilet that would fit in the same space (almost -- the bowl sticks out a couple inches into the "foot" area - odd considering the old round toilet seat fit perfectly -- but the flange fit perfect). Used a waxless toilet ring that was wonderful to use. It was a matter of waiting over a week for replacement parts in the mail or having a working toilet again in a day's time. After using it for several weeks, I think I really like it better. Yes it does use more water. But I think that is a good thing. I suspect that the problems so many people have with their black tanks all involves a lack of water. Eventually, the black tank will be replaced with a fiberglass on plywood box and a diverter will be added to divert to either the black holding tank or directly to the sewer hose for when on full hookups. For traveling, I think, since the toilet tank only fills halfway up, I can run a gasket around the top and strap down the tank lid.

Our 32X32 shower pan was bought off Craigslist (Building Materials) for $25. The tempered peg board we used as a substrate was free off of Craigslist (Free), We bought the kitchen sink drain, FRP (x2), divider molding, PVC Quarter Round molding (x2) and cheap shower setup plus hand held shower head. We spent over $180 on the shower alone and that does not include the glues, caulk, trim molding yet to be bought (still haven't cut out the window in the shower stall) and I'm using a cheap shower curtain liner from Dollar Tree. I did not get the shower handle set up I wanted (porcelain cross handles). But give me a little time and I will upgrade the handles. The framing wood was mostly the 51¢ culls I get at Home Depot. We bought a single full price 2x4. I'm sure to just do the shower, plumbing included, it tipped over $200. We did spread the purchases out a bit. We had the shower pan for 3 years, peg board for almost a year.

But like I said, I can "upgrade" the handles later. I can upgrade a lot of stuff later. The bus will never be really finished. We already have added an 18" grab bar (to prop our feet on to wash toes and so I can shave my legs) and plan on adding a 24" grab bar in front of the window to use as a wash cloth holder (preplanned... added the support to handle the grab bar before covering up the wall). We are in our 50's and plan on this bus being our last home. The shower curtain will be upgraded to an all vinyl accordion door. And that's why we haven't trimmed out the shower stall. We will be using several of the accordion doors thru out the bus. Same brand & colour. This way we can make some narrower while others we can add the excess panels to make wider if needed.

If we plan ahead and know what we want eventually, we can know where we can cut corners now and later upgrade (cosmetically) as we get the cash.
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Old 11-23-2014, 12:40 PM   #5
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

do you think this is to ugly? everything in my bus is brand new or solid oak...
this is really really ugly.

and you said the toilets are junk so I should just get a brand new one?
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Old 11-23-2014, 10:37 PM   #6
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

Beauty is in the "eyes of the beholder".......go with what feels good. Everyone has different opinions of how & what they would do.
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Old 11-24-2014, 11:33 AM   #7
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

Yes you can cut them down, that's prob what I'll do as I don't want leaks and sealing the FRP in the corners isn't 100%. Take careful measurements and make a template from wood to doublecheck. Use a rotary tool or a VERY fine jigsaw blade. I'd use a rotary to prevent the saw from "chunking" the cut. Something like an angle grinder with a thin steel cutoff wheel will make quick work of it.
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Old 11-24-2014, 12:27 PM   #8
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

BEFORE you start cutting something down... take measurements and make sure you can get the thing inside in the first place. Contrary to what far too many people think, the store won't (or shouldn't) take back anything that was cut.
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Old 11-24-2014, 02:41 PM   #9
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponyracer
Yes you can cut them down, that's prob what I'll do as I don't want leaks and sealing the FRP in the corners isn't 100%. Take careful measurements and make a template from wood to doublecheck. Use a rotary tool or a VERY fine jigsaw blade. I'd use a rotary to prevent the saw from "chunking" the cut. Something like an angle grinder with a thin steel cutoff wheel will make quick work of it.
and WEAR A RESPIRATOR!! Airborne fibreglass is really nasty for the lungs. You'll probably notice some skin irritation on exposed skin after cutting. Just imagine what it's doing to those precious, pink lungs.
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Old 11-24-2014, 02:59 PM   #10
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Re: can you cut down a shower stall?

For the record, here's my experience with cutting FRP, which is an easier to cut version of normal fibreglass:
http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtop...art=30#p590544
http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtop...art=45#p592341
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Old 01-28-2015, 01:23 PM   #11
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A big Yes.

A simple 4.5 inch angle grinder, with a thin, metal cutting wheel is all you need.

Works on acrylic, fiberglass, FRP, ect.

Nat
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