# Replacing Garden Tub w/Tile Shower on a Slab floor.. Need Help!!



## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

*more pictures....*

here's a few more pictures...

I layed out the 2x4's (seen in the pictures) to give an outline of where the curb needs to be and where the shelf or ledge needs to be to cover up the PEX piping in the floor.


I know theres a simple solution to putting a tile shower in this spot. I just dont have the knowledge or experience to know what to do at this point.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

You are just going to have to move that vent line that is to the left, inside the wall. Cannot tell if that old drain for the tub goes under the slab, and where, due to the gravel fill. Can you get a better picture showing where the 2" goes from that P-Trap, besides the vent up the wall to the left?

BTW, wth is with that rat's nest of PEX that you have going on there.


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## md2lgyk (Jan 6, 2009)

Tubs usually have a 1-1/2" drain. Showers require a 2" drain. You might have some jackhammering to do.


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## PoleCat (Sep 2, 2009)

Boy! That is a mess with the PEX.


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## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

gregzoll said:


> You are just going to have to move that vent line that is to the left, inside the wall. Cannot tell if that old drain for the tub goes under the slab, and where, due to the gravel fill. Can you get a better picture showing where the 2" goes from that P-Trap, besides the vent up the wall to the left?
> 
> BTW, wth is with that rat's nest of PEX that you have going on there.


Hi 
thanks for helping....

The pipe goes underneath the slab floor in the gravel... and I believe it meets up with the old showers drain thats to the left of that area.

I had the same reaction to that ridiculous mess of PEX pipe I discovered that has been hiding underneath my Garden Tub until now. What can I say.. looks like a lazy or extremly stupid plumber did this house. The HVAC system and electrical are terrible as well. I've re done a lot of stuff on this house... why not fix the plumbing too right? This house ought to be completely round because they cut so many corners on it when building... Needless to say I would stay away from any product SouthEastern Builders in TN builds because this is what you get. In my opinion its not a real house... its an imitation of a house so they can charge the full price of a real house.

We are going to be selling it in a couple more years anyway...but for the meantime..here we are LOL!!


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

What are you going to do with the blending valve and what does it serve? It needs to remain accessible for service and adjustment. Looks like you'll need to relocate it or can it be reached from the other side of the wall? The rest of the pex manifold can remain as is
For the drain/vent- it appears to be 2" under slab up to the vent - only the trap arm is 1.5" - that will need to be changed to 2" from the vent tie in to the shower drain. What I'd do is bust up the floor as needed- extend the drain to the block out in the footing. I'd move the vent to that point also and from there I'd build the 2" trap arm to the propose drain location. Now the vent is out of the floor and tucked into the wall where it belongs.


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## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

md2lgyk said:


> Tubs usually have a 1-1/2" drain. Showers require a 2" drain. You might have some jackhammering to do.


yes I'm aware and I was prepaired to replace the Ptrapp once I removed the tub, but I discovered that only the Tub drain was 1.5" ... it goes into a 2" Ptrapp and on to 2" drain pipe... so Im good there.

I just got to figure out what to do with that d#[email protected] vent pipe coming up out of the slab.:furious:

I think I've finally decided to just build my shower curb around it and the [email protected]#$ with diging it all up, etc...


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## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

TheEplumber said:


> What are you going to do with the blending valve and what does it serve? It needs to remain accessible for service and adjustment. Looks like you'll need to relocate it or can it be reached from the other side of the wall? The rest of the pex manifold can remain as is
> For the drain/vent- it appears to be 2" under slab up to the vent - only the trap arm is 1.5" - that will need to be changed to 2" from the vent tie in to the shower drain. What I'd do is bust up the floor as needed- extend the drain to the block out in the footing. I'd move the vent to that point also and from there I'd build the 2" trap arm to the propose drain location. Now the vent is out of the floor and tucked into the wall where it belongs.



I dont really need the blending valve... I think they put that on the bath tub that was there to keep kids from scolding themselves. I may just do away with it completely and make my life a little easier. If the water is too hot and is scolding us then I can just turn the water heater down a little. What do you think?
I have to run those lines that are going to be the water lines to my shower valve into the wall so I can put tile backer board on that wall and tile on it.

The only part of running those pipes through the wall is that I have to make that 90º turn to the left (in the corner) to stay in the wall and make it around to the wall the shower valve is on... any recommendations on how to do that... will the PEX handle being bent that much? I've got some elbows I can use... if the angle is too sharp to make by just bending the PEX, but I dont know if an elbow with fit in the corner(inside the 2x4's)?

On the drain and vent pipe...
I talked to one guy and he called that type of pipe venting a "flat vent" and he said that I have to watch the angle of the vent ( as it comes of the drain line) so that it stays above the plain the drain pipe is at...otherwise it wouldn't get the proper air it needs 100% of the time and could potentially cause a problem. The drain pipe isnt set very deep (its just under the slab) so if I try to move the vent pipe into the wall Im going to have to use a T connection and run from that to the wall and I would loose my angle that I need to make sure that drain has air...

Hope that makes sense...

Thats why I was planning on just building my shower curb around the existing vent that's sticking out of the ground.


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## md2lgyk (Jan 6, 2009)

cufflinks said:


> I discovered that only the Tub drain was 1.5" ... it goes into a 2" Ptrapp and on to 2" drain pipe... so Im good there.


Boy, didn't you get lucky?


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## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

md2lgyk said:


> Boy, didn't you get lucky?


On that part of it I did.... I inherited a "rat's nest of PEX pipe instead though..LOL!!:laughing:


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## md2lgyk (Jan 6, 2009)

cufflinks said:


> On that part of it I did.... I inherited a "rat's nest of PEX pipe instead though..LOL!!:laughing:


Yeah, that's a real mess. Plumber must've wanted to use up all his crimp rings and elbows.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

md2lgyk said:


> Yeah, that's a real mess. Plumber must've wanted to use up all his crimp rings and elbows.


That or a homeowner did all of that mess.


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

First of all, could you add your location to your profile?

It might be nice to know the dimensions of the space, and which walls are exterior walls. For example, the wall which the vent comes down seems to have a footing under it. I think this is why the vent is brought out from the wall, in order to avoid the footing. However, it looks like the footing was knocked out for the drain line?

It looks to me like the space is about 5'-4" wide. I mean the wall with the cluster of pex on it. 

What dimension in the other direction do you have to work with?

I suppose the walls are just furred out basement walls and have nothing to do with structure?

I think I would start by removing the walls. You know you're going to have to remove the sheetrock anyway.

Next, I would cut out the floor out beyond where you want your shower pan to be. You're going to need to relocate that drain anyway, unless you want one of those $400 linear drains near a side. So just take a 4x4 or whatever chunk of concrete out.

Try to make peace with that cluster of pex in some way. Maybe you can just fur out that wall far enough to put it all in a wall. Or reconfigure it to fit into a 2x4 or 2x6 wall.

If you can't get the vent down a wall, you can fur out the wall some more to allow space for it. Or, let's say it is 30-60" out from the other wall. Just build another framed wall there for a partial side wall, coming out maybe 12" or whatever it takes to incorporate that vent into it.

Now you have a big open area with no concrete in it and your supply lines are all squared away.

Lay out your drain so it is in the center of your proposed shower pan. Now I'm going to take you down the road of a curbless shower. You can decide whether you want to go with a two-layer system with a membrane in the middle, or a one layer system with a waterproof membrane applied on the top only.

If you go with the two layer system, then pour your pre-slope well below the slab surface, and lay down your membrane. Run the membrane up your framed walls and up the front, where it will terminate at the floor level.

Next, pour your second layer and you are done.

For the one layer system, get yourself a laticrete or similar drain designed for a single layer, and pour your concrete or portland/sand mix so that it is flush with your existing slab surface. Then follow the directions. You will apply a surface membrane to the floor and side walls.

Now you have a curbless shower. If you want a curb, add one.


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## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

gregzoll said:


> That or a homeowner did all of that mess.


No it wasn't a homeowner  my wife and I bought the house new... it was a spec house. We were in kind of a hurry to purchase a house and we got a great deal on it... I knew things weren't 100% right in the house, but like I said, we're not planning on growing old in this one... so we bought it with the intent to sell it and move on.
Im only doing the bathroom remodel to allow us to enjoy the house a little more while we're living here and to help sell it when the day comes.


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## cufflinks (May 19, 2013)

cleveman said:


> First of all, could you add your location to your profile?
> 
> It might be nice to know the dimensions of the space, and which walls are exterior walls. For example, the wall which the vent comes down seems to have a footing under it. I think this is why the vent is brought out from the wall, in order to avoid the footing. However, it looks like the footing was knocked out for the drain line?
> 
> ...



Thanks Cleveman,
I appreciate the help and attention... I'm in the Hendersonville, TN area.

On the shower walls: on the opposite side of the walls is my already very small, super organized, garage with our water heater directly behind the rat nest of PEX pipes you see in the pictures. My work bench is also in that are of my garage. the wall to the right of the PEX pipe mess is an exterior wall... the other wall is also garage.
We are in a long, narrow, town home style house. You know the type where our neighbors house is literally a matter of about 10 or12 ft from our house.

So I cant really expand my walls...
I've been searching fro answers on YouTube as well as JohnBridge's forum and I think I've got a game plan.

I'm going to just use treated lumber to build the curb and just build the curb around that vent pipe that's coming up out of the slab. I'm probably going to mirror the build out that I do around the vent pipe on the other side as well... that way it will look like I planned it to look like that. It will kind of frame the curb up to the wall. I could make the curb big/wide enough to be a straight curb and hide the vent too, but the curb would 8.5" wide and 6.5" tall we just don't think that would look right so that why doing just the areas where the curb meets the wall. It's not the ideal way, but like I said... its my first tile job and tile shower.



I'm also going to build a ledge or shelf around the PEX pipe (about 4 or 5ft high) and (about 8 or 9 inches from the wall). This will hide the pipes and act as a shelf for shampoo, soap, etc..
Then I will cement board everything, RedGard and Reinforce the seems with Reinforcement fabric tape, and more RedGard, then tile it and be done.

The only thing that concerns me is getting the rubber membrane to go all the way over the odd shaped curb that Im going to be doing. I picked up some rubber membrane corner pieces that Oatey makes for sealing the membrane around shower curbs from Home Depot. Im sure I'll fugure something out to make it seal properly.

So that's the way I'm going to do it. Since this is my first shower install... I don't want to get in any more over my head than I already am ... So I don't want to have to bust up concrete and relocate drain pipes,walls, etc. if I don't absolutely have to (especially since I don't have anyone helping me).


Let me know what you guys think... (that is if any of that made any sense t0 you)


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## PoleCat (Sep 2, 2009)

gregzoll said:


> That or a homeowner did all of that mess.


No way! I never lived there. But it looks like the sort of monkeybars I would build if I had a big sack of fittings and a little sack of pipe.....and too much to drink.


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