trok10

We took out the old bathtub in our bathroom and want to turn it into a tiled shower. Never really done any bathroom renos before and wondering if there is anything I should know before beginning. Is it ok to tile to the cement? Do you have to have a shower base? And if it is ok to just tile, do you have to angle at all towards the drain? Does anybody know any brand names of high density foam used for framing?

joecaption

By the questions your having to ask I think you should have had a pro do this for you.
A shower is a one shot deal, done wrong and it's going to cost you thousands of dollars in damage repair and having to have to do it all over again.
There's dozens of steps in doing this job, miss one and it's a do over.
#1 there should have been a plan in place long before removing the tub as well as materials to do it on hand.

Redwood

I agree with Joe.

The damage that can occur from an improperly installed shower is huge and NO you can't just tile over concrete to make a shower base. A sloped pan must be made which the tile will go on top of...

I would encourage you to look into having a Kerdi shower installed. Kerdi by Schluter Systems is the ultimate as far as I'm concerned. It allows you to make things in showers such as seats, ledges, and shelves, which previously would have been things that you wanted to avoid as they would be problem areas...

The 2 links above are to the John Bridge website which is a superior information link relating to tile. John Bridge has an E-Book called Tile Your World which goes into great detail about setting tile and the Kerdi Membrane System which I highly recommend reading.

With enough study on the available material at the John Bridge Website and the Forum there you could do it yourself or, at least know very well what you want a pro to do for you and that the pro is doing it right....

Plumbingwise you will probably have a 1 1/2" drain for the tub which will have to be upgraded to a 2" drain for a shower stall... Maybe even bigger if you are going to install a water wasting multi head "Car Wash" style shower, which will also require a water heater upgrade...

trok10

Thanks all. We do have a plan, apparently we are purchasing a Kerdi system. I'm just trying to do my homework and get some ideas/advice to share with my husband since we are both new at all this. We are just trying to utilize everybody we know with some knowledge. Thanks for the good advice!