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Old 10-13-2017, 12:25 AM   #1
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Shower Idea

So I'm suddenly toying with a new idea for my shower room. Up till now I've been planning on converting an animal feeder trough into a tub, and tile the floor around it. Advantages include a simple laundry tub, and also soaking tub for when I'm too cold to sleep in winter. Disadvantage, might take up more room.

But now I'm thinking of something, and I was wondering if it's actually a terrible idea... Is it feasible to create your space out of wood, sheet in visqueen or something, then caulk the ever loving crap out of it, and also create a mosaic tile in the caulk, for a water tight seal with a drain and slant and water barrier lip on the outer edge? And just have a simple open shower with a curtain?

Would this totally not work and leak anyway? I'm just not a fan of buying some premade plastic shower thing to install, I wanna make it myself. And in the case of an open shower, a homemade mosaic would be cool...

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Old 10-13-2017, 01:44 AM   #2
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i dont see why this wouldnt work. ive built a workshop into the back 4 feet of my bus and will be placing a shower there with basically this design. yes its wood walled right now but when im done itll be a bright white steel shower. Steel because im repurposing the steel from the ceiling. (its free afterall) and when the shower curtains pulled back to the corner itll still be a nice sized tool storage/small workshop area.

you can get water resistant drywall in fairly thin pieces thatll give you a great smooth surface to tile on. and you can wood frame around it with no problems.
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Old 10-13-2017, 06:29 AM   #3
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It should work fine. But why use wood when you could use something like hardibacker.
Smaller tiles and flexible grout would be ideal.

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Old 10-14-2017, 12:47 AM   #4
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I figured wood since I already have some materials in wood. I've got a good savings/junk pile going right now. Gonna use what I already have before I go buying stuff. That won't take long! lol

Flexible grout sounds great, just looked it up. Adding it to the supply list.

A white steel shower sounds nice! I considered unfinished steel, I like the metal grey, but I also like the idea of tiling a mosaic, honestly I can grout and tile the bathtub too if I like, I'll tile the walls in any case.

So lemme run this by you. If you have a tub or a shower in your skoolie, how cramped or big did you make it? I was considering a shower rather than a tub because the space of a 3ft by 2ft open shower seems like it will be roomier than a tub filling the same space. Roomier is nice. But like I said... soaking tub... laundry tub.. so handy amirite?

Which would you favor?
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Old 10-14-2017, 08:24 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DreamWeaverBus View Post
So I'm suddenly toying with a new idea for my shower room. Up till now I've been planning on converting an animal feeder trough into a tub, and tile the floor around it. Advantages include a simple laundry tub, and also soaking tub for when I'm too cold to sleep in winter. Disadvantage, might take up more room.

But now I'm thinking of something, and I was wondering if it's actually a terrible idea... Is it feasible to create your space out of wood, sheet in visqueen or something, then caulk the ever loving crap out of it, and also create a mosaic tile in the caulk, for a water tight seal with a drain and slant and water barrier lip on the outer edge? And just have a simple open shower with a curtain?

Would this totally not work and leak anyway? I'm just not a fan of buying some premade plastic shower thing to install, I wanna make it myself. And in the case of an open shower, a homemade mosaic would be cool...
My son created my shower with framing out, PVC sheet (black rubber like stuff) and greenrock sheet (or whatever it's called, lol )... you can see some of it on my blog and if you want a detailed description, here's what he say when asked about it on facebook the other day:

"The materials called PVC liner you need to frame your walls then tack that about 12 in Off the Wall folding your corners and tacking them as well then you put the green board in all the way from floor ceiling and that's what your tile sticks to use premixed tile Mastic to get stick your tiles to the green board it holds the best that's all I got for you hope it works out"
"After u get the PVC liner and the green board in you got to pour a 3 inch pad of concrete in there make sure the plumbing is done first the drain should screw down to concrete level tape drain off to slope the pad towards the drain make sure your concrete kind of hard to where you can pack it"

Sandi
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Old 10-15-2017, 02:46 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by DreamWeaverBus View Post
I figured wood since I already have some materials in wood. I've got a good savings/junk pile going right now. Gonna use what I already have before I go buying stuff. That won't take long! lol

Flexible grout sounds great, just looked it up. Adding it to the supply list.

A white steel shower sounds nice! I considered unfinished steel, I like the metal grey, but I also like the idea of tiling a mosaic, honestly I can grout and tile the bathtub too if I like, I'll tile the walls in any case.

So lemme run this by you. If you have a tub or a shower in your skoolie, how cramped or big did you make it? I was considering a shower rather than a tub because the space of a 3ft by 2ft open shower seems like it will be roomier than a tub filling the same space. Roomier is nice. But like I said... soaking tub... laundry tub.. so handy amirite?

Which would you favor?
i run a different set up than most. i didnt want a shower to take away from the finished look of my interior. i also left myself a tool storage area in the back of my bus to be accessed from the outside rear door. im going to make my shower half of that storage areas size. so im looking at roughly 42 inches by 40 inches. i havent really focused on getting it built. i should but ive chosen to spend my time working on other aspects of the bus.
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Old 02-07-2018, 09:11 PM   #7
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Ok, I had to jump in here. The idea is good but I would use redgard on the shower side of the boards instead of the PVC lining. The thing with wood is that if it gets wet it rots. The flexible grout would be good to use but if you just get a small crack in it that could lead to some serious rot.

Redgard can be used in place of the PVC liner everywhere. It's made specifically for showers/tubs as a water barrier. I think of you could glue and screw the vertical and horizontal wood pieces as tight as possible and paint 3-4 coats of redgard, your be good to go.

On top of that, depending on the type of adhesive or thinset you use to out up the tile, your going to want to let it cure really well before you grout. In my thoughts, normal hand mixed thinset may have a tendency to not be the best way to set your tile because of the amount of movement. However, premixed thinset sets due to evaporation so you would need to wait to grout. Normal thinset sets due to chemical reaction.

I would probably use a industrial adhesive to set the tiles and then let it cure for a few days or more. Then I would go back and use the flexible grout.

If you use normal grout, your going to have a water seepage issue unless you redgard it really well first.

Just my thoughts on it. Good luck on whatever you do.

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Old 02-07-2018, 09:59 PM   #8
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We used the PVC liner on the floor and cement board on the wall behind the tiles. So when I quoted my son (who is also a Nick!) "frame your walls" he is referring to framing out the walls at the floor of the shower, to make the shower pan with frame, PVC liner and concrete. All of the framing wood is wrapped in the PVC lining, with no risk of the integrity of the liner being punctured.
I would recommend using what we used for grout.... grout with silicone, so that it has some flexibility with the movement of your bus. I've driven my bus to Maine and back to Florida and down some pretty rutty dirt roads with nary a crack

Sandi

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjakitty View Post
Ok, I had to jump in here. The idea is good but I would use redgard on the shower side of the boards instead of the PVC lining. The thing with wood is that if it gets wet it rots. The flexible grout would be good to use but if you just get a small crack in it that could lead to some serious rot.

Redgard can be used in place of the PVC liner everywhere. It's made specifically for showers/tubs as a water barrier. I think of you could glue and screw the vertical and horizontal wood pieces as tight as possible and paint 3-4 coats of redgard, your be good to go.

On top of that, depending on the type of adhesive or thinset you use to out up the tile, your going to want to let it cure really well before you grout. In my thoughts, normal hand mixed thinset may have a tendency to not be the best way to set your tile because of the amount of movement. However, premixed thinset sets due to evaporation so you would need to wait to grout. Normal thinset sets due to chemical reaction.

I would probably use a industrial adhesive to set the tiles and then let it cure for a few days or more. Then I would go back and use the flexible grout.

If you use normal grout, your going to have a water seepage issue unless you redgard it really well first.

Just my thoughts on it. Good luck on whatever you do.

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Old 02-07-2018, 11:20 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by DreamWeaverBus View Post
Is it feasible to create your space out of wood, ...

And in the case of an open shower, a homemade mosaic would be cool...
Sure it is possible. Some wood doesn't even need to be treated- naturally happy in the rain. I think they make shingles out of it for houses- Cedar. Cedar shower would smell nice- there are some on here that have been done.

You want to do the floor basin out of wood. It'd have to be properly seasoned. read-up on it and do some tests.

Here are some pics:
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Old 02-08-2018, 10:37 AM   #10
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I'm making my shower right now. It will be about 35" wide and 30" deep, big enough to not be banging elbows against walls or running out of space inside. The side walls are 5/8" ACX plywood, faced with 1/8" Celtek board on the outside (non-shower) faces to match the rest of the interior's walls. The inside faces of the plywood and the rear wall will be covered by 1/16" white poly sheet from Home Depot, smooth side out. The shower pan will need to be custom-made because it's not only a non-standard size, but the drain hole must be in a very specific place - I'll have the pan made from stainless steel with 3" or 4" sides. The walls' poly sheets will extend down into the pan, and I'm thinking of perhaps making a pan floor from slatted cedar. To make the shower walls look nice I'll cover the white poly sheet with 12"-square vinyl Armstrong floor tiles that come in different stone patterns - how about faux-marble or faux slate?

The shower's side walls are a total of 3/4" thick, and they fit inside 3/4" aluminum channel attached to the floor, back wall and ceiling. The ends of the shower walls are 1.5" x 1.5" x 0.125" 6063 square tube bolted into the ceiling and floor, and between them will be a length of 1.5" x 6" x 0.125" 6063 rectangle tube for a 6"-high threshold (I just ordered a 36"-length of it last night from Online Metals for $66 - ouch.) I want to have a frameless bi-fold glass door, and a local shower door maker says he can make one using C.R.Lawrence hardware. For doors like that the mounting points MUST be perfectly straight and true, so I've been fussing over the side walls to get them to less than a 1/16" from perfect, not easy when the bus's floor and ceiling are not perfectly straight and flat in the first place! The plywood walls are not load-bearing or structural in any way - all loads are taken by the aluminum exoskeleton pieces on the ends of the walls.

I'll have a LED strip light above the door shining inside against the ceiling, and the range hood extractor fan for the kitchen's cooktop next door will also serve as ventilation for the shower itself - there will be a louvered grill on one wall close to the ceiling connected by a duct to the range hood, and this should keep all steam and humidity inside the shower. I'll use boat bilge blowers for the ventilation - they're cheap and move a lot of air.

It's a lot of work to make a shower this way, but I want it to look good. For possible full-timing I want to pamper myself with nice things!

John
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