Shower Pan Repair

A client had a built-in shower with an acrylic pan. The pan had cracked in several locations, as shown below. This photo shows the cracks after they had been enlarged with a small abrasive cutting wheel.

Crack ends were relieved by drilling round holes, shown below. Large irregular holes are the result of pieces of acrylic that fell out during drilling process.

Shower pans are supposed to be installed on top of a mortar bed to give them structural integrity. You can see there's nothing but emptiness under the pan. Fortunately, the subfloor seemed solid when probed with an awl.

About 30 pounds of catalyzing mortar were injected through the holes to reinforce the pan. We probably could have injected another 30 pounds under areas that had not failed, but that was not in scope and the homeowner was happy with what was done.

Three layers of fiberglass were applied and the repair was complete.

The client chose to skip painting for the time being because paint can take three days to dry before it can be subjected to water. A wise friend said a shower mat would do the job just fine.