Shower installation

2018 Build. Constructed by the homeowner who is a general contractor. Basement bathroom. Anybody have a reasonable explanation for this shower basin to be floating? Literally zero support underneath. Only connected to the 2x4 studs.

Also…will I catch hell from the plumber when he comes to evaluate this “glued” connection between the pvc and the copper?

Thanks.

Mike

They make CPVC transition fittings and stub outs to connect to copper.

I always set them in a nice spread of mortar…worked great!

The owners better not have any overnight guests that are, shall we say, large? Or, skinny with sharp knees and elbows and such, and also clumsy.

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Yes, you would because that is a fitting made to accept a glued PVC joint, similar to this adaptor.

image

And under the tub, might be something like this that you don’t see.

And if not like that above, some may use expanding foam to cushion the bottom which works great.

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Thanks man! Yep, that looks exactly like the one in my pic. I appreciate the help!

Thanks Larry! I typically see mortar or expansion foam in this situation, or sometimes even wood framing, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something. I’m not aware of a fiberglass shower product that can be just supported by walls, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist…so I appreciate the confirmation.

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Thanks for the pictures and reference Marcel. I really did not see any sort of support under that basin, so I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a manufactured fiberglass shower surround that had enough integrity to be only supported by vertical walls. I couldn’t imagine that there is, but, my imagination ends where someone else’s engineering begins.

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Not crazy about a cement bed under the shower, mortar works better.I’ll bet that shower valve moves around easily with those plastic J hooks doing a crap job of support.

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I agree. Where’d you see cement bed in this thread? Or, maybe it was just from past experience, eh Martin?

It looked like cement under the shower. Maybe it’s just gravel.

Oh, I was thinking that that is where they rooted around to find the drain to hook up to. LOL!

Yeah, that was the gravel in the hole where the drain stub out was.

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Yup looks like a big box was framed up with 2x4s before the pour. I used to do that years ago before styrofoam blocks became more popular.

This adapter fitting is very likely not an NSF approved fitting. You may want to verify approval with your AHJ.