How to Install Mortar for a Shower Pan Quick and Easy 

Link for the Bucket Mortar Mixer amzn.to/2FknYyT

I was a bit confused how to check with a level and you cleared it right up!

Great job..myself i make my mud just a little bit more wet only because i feel i know what im doing and its quicker for me,,,only because my life is pans & tile..if i was telling someone new i would tell them what you just showed...wish youtub was around when i started..lol..great job to the guy doing the slope...your a good teacher....

30 yrs in tile business,good job!

Best fkng to the point and short vid Thank You sir. Great technique with the slope and it WORKS EVERYTIME

Great video, love this guy. No nonsense simple straight forward explanation, perfect results. 🌿🌿thank you.

One of the best methods i have found thank you 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 thank you 😊

Extremely Insightful for diy

Perfect job 👌👌... I do it differently just putting the thread 🧵 from the drain to the wall then follow it thanks and keep going

I'm a journeyman finisher in the union In vegas going for apprentice setter and I give this video a big thumbs up

Finally after a thousand hack videos someone actually knows how to do a proper mud pan, i.e. "dry pack"and pea gravel around the drain. Cudos to you man! There's a ton of so called wanna be tile setters who should watch this and go do the same!

The video I’ve been looking for! Thank you! You might consider adding to the title or tag something about the shower pan being an unusual geometry. It’s unique to your video. Might help you get more traffic to this video. ☺️👍 Thanks again!

Assuming you had a pre slope underneath that pan liner, this is a very good video. I've been packing pans for a long while and you did a great job. That is exactly how I like to do my pans.

Awesome. Thanks.

It’s the only way to mix dry pack. Bucket mixer. You do great work. I still like to see you guys do it the old way, wire mesh around the curve and float it. And also floating walls. It almost eliminates cracks in corners which is big problem in showers. Then waterproof.kept up good videos.🤛

Thank you very much 👍👍👍

Thankx man, the drypack guy i use flopped, so I will do it tomorrow.

so close to what I was looking for.. I'm trying to find out what kind of mortar/concrete to buy.

Relocating my shower drain right now. Using a Kerdi H drain, is there a minimum height for the mud bed thickness or can I pretty much set the drain almost even with the concrete foundation? It's about 1/2" off the floor right now.

I want to do this to a friends shower, but the previous owner did some custom weird shower that drops down 6 inches. Tile was removed and is down to concrete. I want to fill it in and make it level with the rest of the tile floor. I suppose I should fill it in with gravel, then concrete it around the new drain height, then tile over that. Its on the ground floor, all concrete.

I did a dry pack following the directions on the bag and it was too dry - some of the mortar mix just flaked away. Went back and redid with more water and it's nice and solid now.

Dude there was no pre-slope under that liner, flat as a pancake!!! If you pre-tested your pan, filled with water for 24 hours, then drain the water out you would definitely have standing water. This leads to mold and mildew issues down the road. MUST DO A PRE-SLOPE !!!!!!!!

My mud bed/wet bed has been laid and set for 2 days. We used a mix of Portland cement and sand. There seems to be some give in one spot when you stand on it (a bubble or air pocket). Is this a problem? Does the whole thing need to come up and be redone?

What to do next after the dry oak mortar work?

Thinset a level backer board around the perimeter approx 2 3/8 set your drain approx inch and a half these are all approx you can then pack your floor mix then screed from the perimeter to top of drain then once your done spin your drain up to thickness of tile

Se puede usar .ud para tirar sobre pisos en areas grandes ?

Do your perimeter, screed off drain then turn your drain to to desired height. Way easier than trying to screed around drain

Nice… after it dries… you red coat it? N waterproof it? Then tile…

My contractor messed on the pan bed cuz it’s not very smooth around the drain area..have him smooth it out? What do you suggest?

you guys are doing it right and the same way I learnied how to do it in manhattan, but I didn't see how you did the curb and attached everything... how did you attach concrete board over the top and on the sides of the curb with out puncturing the vinyl... how could it stay there securely?.. I am wondering if you have the answer... I know i do, contact me if you are interested

Are you sticking the tile right to the bed or are you using a thinset?

this applies to second floor bathroom shower area too?

Your are first I've seen who uses GoBoard and RedGuard like I do. Never leek! Do a GoBoard video!

What if I mess up on the dry pack? And the end result is some minor bumps here and there?

Better to install drain flange when you set your pan, and set the drain cover after waterproofing to ensure control of the height of tile to drain

👍

If done correctly will the mortar bed feel sandy when hardened?

Do you float walls?

How’s the water going to drain away from the walls without a presloped mortar bed to start things off. It should be a presloped bed, liner and then your final mud bed for your tile. Just tore a second floor shower out that was done like this and the mortar stayed wet for so long due to no preslope that it was nothing but wet sand when pulling it out. This just sets the homeowner up with a rotten situation. You don’t need the peagravel because the water that wicks through will never make it to the drain to even use the weep holes.

Couple of concerns. The pan liner appears to be flat on the floor without any pre-slope. The arguments about pre-slope are endless, so this may or may not be an issue. I put in pre-slopes because there is no negative to doing so. The bigger concerns are around the wall board. Wall board (Hardi-board, Durarock, etc) is water resistant, not water proof. Preferentially the whole wall board should be coated in 2 coats of red guard or aqua defense to water proof it. This does not create a problem with tiling. Second concern is the wall board is buried in the mortar pan. The pan does get water into it. That’s why the liner is required by both code and good sense. When the wall board is buried in the mortar it is subject to wicking... plenty of examples online of wall board buried in mortar and pulled down later with black mold reaching up a couple of feet thanks to wicking. Lay the mortar bed and then install the shower floor tile to the edges of the mortar bed. Then install the wall board with a 1/8” or so gap above the tile... no contact... do not fill the air gap with thinset when placing the wall tile (be careful about buttering the back of the lowest row of wall tiles, you don’t want to accidentally fill the air gap. Position the wall tile against the floor tile and grout properly. The air gap between the floor tile and the wall board will help ensure the wall board will not up water.

So im only 25 been working alone for three years now now I told a builder I work with yeah I can do tile thinking it was a floor because thats what I do is flooring and he said great you know jow to build a mud pan lol hell no but i said yeah anyways lol now I'm trying to learn it all

Was that liner below the drain? I didn't see anywhere the liner ON TOP of the drain, otherwise why have a liner?

I see some tile guys are insistent about not to burry the wall cement board into the pan the way you do. So I am really confused about the right way to do it. Can you give me your opinion as to why you do it this way? thanks

You do not do a pre-slope first and install waterproof membrane ????

Hey I’m new home owner and working on shower pan now , what type of tool he use to tap down on the mortar

How many bags of type -s did the job mine is of similar size?

For the bucket mortar mixer do you recommend using a regular mixer or a drill like the dewalt you’re using?

How long to let set and dry?

I don't understand why there is a second bucket with the bottom cut out. What is the benefit? Also, is that a sand mix (like Quickrete yellow bag w/red stripe)

From the picture it looks like the pan liner is cut around the the drain, not under the drain fixture If so why?

Did u pre slope under the membrane?? Thx

Can you use sand topping mix for dry packing?

Hey buddy I see on another channel where the guy said never to embed your cement board or duroc in your shower pan, what’s your advice when it comes to that

What is Dry Pack mortar? Is it regular mortar that I mix with water?

I have a question…what happened if the mortar cracks? Is that not a good sign?

Is that "deck mud" ? What brand do you use?

does it dry solid in this consistency? how long to wait before tiling?

install pan during rough framing before installing cement board. lots of videos on why you shouldn't have your wall board going into the pan.

So did you put your backer board behind the mortar??

Dude ! I have searched and searched for a video on how to do exactly that ..( complaint alert!!) .. ok so I find a video it says how to make a custom shower pan , FYI I have done this more then a few times but not in a couple years so I wanted to see if there is any new tricks or products on how to do it out there before I do this , the old simple way is always the best , anyway , SO ,, I click on about 15 videos and I kid you not for the first 15 minutes of every vid it is the you tuber talking shit on how he saw this once or I knew ppl who did it this way and then they broke off into this drama .. so by the time they try to explain how to do it I’m like 10 minutes into the video ,, get to the point I yell at the iPad , ( iPad rolls it’s eyes ) so I guess where I was going is your straight to the point and u show the steps in the perfect amount of time it should take u to understand how to do it and then your out . I solute u sir

What is that blue plastic matt?

I'm replacing a shower pan and cement boards that failed Welcome to not more than five years ago I'm very concerned about Burying my walls under the pan if I do my floor pan first then install my walls how do I make sure my walls don't belly out I got a wedge women Between the Sheets from one side to the other and hope for the best what's the best way to do this I'm very confused

How long does it take to dry? Do you tile right over it?

I thought you were supposed to leave at least 1/4" gap between the backerboard and dry pack? Novice here. Help appreciated.

Did you tile over that mortar bed or did you have to put a shower pan in? Do you need two waterproof layers if you aren’t using a tile pan?

Is there also a pre-slope under the liner? If not this pan will hold water.

Is this unbounded I didn't see him use thinset

Why no lathe in the pan with the drypack?

Good video just about how I would do it Drea would float next time make the face look better

What brand of motar

why not put the level directly on the mortar? 2x4 must be pretty straight.

Everything you did is correct but your backer board should be about 1 inch above the shower pan mud because it will try to suck up the water from the shower pan. Im not hating just a helpful tip that might help you

What kinda liner system is that?

What mortar do u use ???

How do you centre the drain? Lol

Where do I find that mixing auger?!?!

I did this but seems like the motor didn’t cure right I can keep scraping like dust of the top of it an I’m afraid the tile isn’t going to stick,can I seal it ?? Will tile still stick if sealed ??

why is the tile close to the drain? what about mortar mix? wouldn't that raise the tile even more?

What if the tile is thicker and you have to spin that square drain. Ur gonna mess it up:(

What kind of mortar is that?

So if I have an offset drain which is a few inches away from one wall and over 3 feet from the other wall, the line around the shower from where to start the dry pack will be the same correct?

The only thing missing from this video is what mud you used

Is that “ S” cement?

Didn’t look like the membrane was laid on a preslope. That would not pass code here. Otherwise, good video.

You should never allow your pan to touch the wall board. This will wick moisture and create black mold. In 6 months

do u do pre slop?

I have to ask...are you a pre sloper...or non pre sloper? 😂

I’ve seen a lot of guys’ll felt on top of the subfloor, then do a sloped mortar pour towards the drain, then after that dries, cover it with a pan liner membrane. Then do another sloped mortar pour to finish it out. Are the 2 mortar pours necessary?

But you skipped the sloping part. Most likly why most people searched this 😂

Is he going to take the pea gravel back out????

8:26 pm

The guy floating the pan.....i have the same knee pads. Can you please tell me where I can get them....? I have worn mine for 10 plus years. And they are the greatest knee pads. Please help me find them ....thank you jeff

Looks like you put your walls down into the shower pan. Most experts say don't do that. Put the mortar in THEN install the walls to 1 inch above the mortar bed to prevent wicking.

Why not just use Kerdi/Schluter pan? I'm at that stage.

I thought wall boards are supposed to be above shower pan?

Great technique, however embedding your durock or shower wall board of choice in the pan is a huge mistake.

Everyone is a mr knowitall these days

Why is the cement so dry?

Doesnt look like a very smooth surface for a tile install. Do you skim coat on top of it or something? Sorry, just a typical floor installer trying to translate it to showers haha

Dry pack? LOL This is wrong in Florida & wtfrick am I looking at? It's too much work & the shower is being built up unnecessarily high Ya did a great job though