Building a Neo-Angle Shower From Scratch

by Peter Bales | 20th June 2011

Showers are one of the greatest challenges for a tile contractor.  Not only does it have to look great, but it has to work great and send the water down the drain where it’s supposed to go.  Some homeowners in East Nashville called me to add lots of tile to their bathroom, starting by removing a vinyl shower surround and doing a custom tile shower with a glass enclosure. 

There are many things to consider when embarking on a project like this.  One of the most important things is to make adequate preparations for the glass enclosure INSIDE the wall.  Even though they will give you some drywall anchors with most enclosures, it’s much better to think ahead and put some studs exactly where you’ll be attaching the enclosure to the wall, especially the side holding the door.  You don’t want that to pull away and leave a gap and make the door unable to close.

For my shower projects I use a waterproofing system from Schluter called Kerdi.  It consists of a fabric membrane that is applied to all the walls and floor that results in a completely waterproof shower.  It’s so good it can be installed over drywall!  For convenience they sell all the pieces for a complete shower in a kit with some variation depending on the size of your shower.  The kit has the Kerdi membrane, the Kerdi drain and some fancy Kerdi pieces made especially for inside and outside corners.  It also comes with a pre-sloped tray for the floor of your shower.

The pre-sloped tray is made out of some kind of foam and can easily be cut to fit your shower with just a simple hand saw.  The tray is set in mortar and then you apply the membrane over the top.  By the way, the old fashioned way of doing it meant you’d build a sloped floor using a type of mortar called ‘deck mud” or more commonly just called “mud”.  It’s a lightweight, sandy mixture that can be used to build the floor however you like.  This way worked, but it is slower and takes more expertise and mess.

This shower is a Neo-Angle shower, which is fancy way of saying the door is at the corner of the unit rather than one of the sides.  I prepped the walls with cementboard and then went to work on the curb.  The Schluter kit actually comes with a foam curb for your shower.  This is great, but for a neo-angle, you’ll actually need two of these to have enough and you’ll have to cut them to get the shape that you want. 

To build the curb, I started by tracing the outline of the shower on the floor.o  To get the correct measurements I had to study the instructions that came with the enclosure.  You want everything to fit when you’re finished and have some nice margins that make it look like it was done right.  After I know the outline of the curb, I needed to cut the foam to fit the angles.  This is where my Johnson sliding T-Bevel comes in very handy (see this post for more info).  It allows me to copy the angle from the floor and transfer it to the foam.  Then I cut it with my hacksaw.

Once all the curb pieces are cut and I’m happy with the fit, they are set in mortar just like the floor of the shower. 

With the curb and pre-sloped floor in place, I’m ready to install the Kerdi waterproofing membrane.  I’ll address that in my next post…

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6 Responses to “Building a Neo-Angle Shower From Scratch”

  1. Lisa O'Donnell

    Aug 21st, 2011 :

    Nice shower and good info about a neo-angle shower using Schluter products. I wanted to ask you about using the Kerdi shower pan. I am hesitant to use the pre-made one due to possible different heights around the edges. What size did you use and how did you ensure all was the same height at the edges? I would prefer this method to a mortar bed since I have no experience with them. Thanks.

  2. Peter Bales

    Aug 22nd, 2011 :

    Lisa, Thanks for your question. You are correct that the hieght around the edges can be a concern. The variation will depend on your shower, of course. Most of the time, the difference is minimal and you can lay the wall tile in such a way to minimize it more (i.e. using large pieces that may hide the fact that the bottom has some height variation). This is done all the time with tub surrounds because the tubs are rarely perfectly level all the way around.

    If you really wanted your shower pan to be the same height around the edges you have some different options: 1. Make sure the shower is square and the drain is centered. Then the foam tray will be perfect. 2. Use the Kerdi foam tray, but add some deck mud to slightly raise the low edges to make them all the same. 3. Use a mud bed and craft the entire sloped floor from scratch.

    I hope this helps. If you’re doing your first Kerdi shower, I would highly recommend reading about them on http://www.JohnBridge.com and watch the Schluter step-by-step instructional video that comes in their shower kits.

    Good luck!
    -Peter

  3. Michael

    Apr 26th, 2012 :

    Hi there my question is what size did you use?(kit size) and do you think I can use this system for my neo angle redo my original size was 36×36 Im thinking 37×37 my drain will be my hardest thing to do seeing my dain is not centered its aprox. 12 inches from the corner of the wall like in your picture
    thanks

  4. Peter Bales

    Apr 26th, 2012 :

    Michael,

    I believe I used the 48″ x 48″ kit for this installation and cut it to fit. You can cut it for off-centered drains with no problems. With a neo-angle shower the edges around the pre-sloped floor will not be level.

    To get them level you can do a couple things: 1. Don’t use the foam pre-slope at all and use a mud floor with deck mud or sand topping mix, which is a cement product of sand + portland cement OR 2. Use the foam pre-slope and add a little cement on top to raise the edges to a level line.

    Most of the time, the difference is slight and can be hidden by using large pieces of tile at the bottom. However, I usually opt to fix it if I can because it’s so nice when all the bottom tile pieces are the same size around the bottom.

    Hope that helps!
    -Peter

  5. Michael

    Apr 26th, 2012 :

    thanks,it does help did you use the sloped floor and did you use the drain as well? this project is for my on suite bath room and I would like to try it myself. was wondering if you recommend a preformed neo angle base instead and using the schluter system for the walls
    once again thanks for your help we need more guys like you in canada
    cheers (eh!)

  6. Peter Bales

    Apr 26th, 2012 :

    Michael,

    Yes, I used the Schluter sloped shower floor and Kerdi drain for this installation. If you use the Kerdi membrane for waterproofing you have to use the Kerdi drain with it. The drain has a different flange that bonds to the membrane than a typical shower drain that ‘clamps’ onto the liner.

    I fully recommend the Kerdi system, especially if you are trying to do it yourself. They include a very useful installation DVD in the shower kits that explain step-by-step how to do it. If you are already familiar with tile installation, it should make sense. You can also call a Schluter rep. They have been nothing but helpful to me whenever I’ve talked to them.

    Also, you can search my website for Kerdi and you’ll come up with many different posts about how I’ve installed it.

    Good luck!
    -Peter

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