How to waterproof and screed a shower on concrete floor?

[JoshyBoy]

Hi Bunnings Workshop Community,

We are currently doing some renovations to underneath the house at the moment (not quite legal height) and we are wanting to put a bathroom in. We are trying to DIY most of it ourselves so any advice would be much appreciated.

The questions I have are around screeding and waterproofing. I've attached an image plan for the shower. The floor is concrete and we have already had a plumber come in and drill a hole and put the piping in for the drain. I've watched the Bunning's video on how to screed a shower base and i want to give it a crack myself. Trouble is, it's not a square base like the video but a long rectangle (1800 x 900). The reason we've gone with this layout is because it was much cheaper to drill the hole for the drain close to the wall and we are worried about the window not being waterproof so we've got the shower head as far a way as possible.

My questions:

- Do we need to waterproof before or after putting the screeding down? We are based in Qld and I believe we can't do the waterproofing ourselves so we will get a professional in for this.

- Is there a rule of thumb for how much of a gradient slope I should use for the screeding? On the Bunnings video he's got his 600mm wedges going from 20mm to 6mm. Does that mean i'll need a wedge of approximately 1600mm wedges going from 60mm to 6mm?

- We are just going to have a walk in style shower and i'm just wondering what i should do about the opening (area highlighted in Yellow on attachment). With the screeding there is obviously going to be a step up. Do Bunnings have shower curbs i should use? Or would some sort of tile trim do the trick?

- As mentioned before, we have a concrete floor, do we have to put down any tile underlay?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Jason]

Hi @JoshyBoy, 

Let me tag one of our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. experts in @EricL to share his thoughts when he is back on the site later today.

Before you start the project, we would always recommend checking with your local council about any licensing requirements for waterproofing.

I trust you have seen the videos below, but will add them for the benefit of other members.

Jason

[JoshyBoy]

Hi Jason,

Yes i saw those videos but we are based in Qld and waterproofing must legally be done by a professional up here.

Josh.

[EricL]

Hello @JoshyBoy 

Thanks for sharing your question about screeding and waterproofing your shower area. The general sequence of events is to do all your concreting and screeding first and letting it cure properly before applying the waterproof membrane. In regards to the opening, I suggest building a small concrete plinth to prevent water from flowing out of the shower. The plinth can be tiled over so that it does not look out of place.

Since you have a concrete floor there is no need to put in underlay. But it will be necessary to prepare the concrete surface and apply a primer such as Dunlop 4L Multipurpose Primer. The slope suggested should work even if your proposed area is a little bit bigger.

However, please make sure to check the rules and regulations with your local council regarding shower installations. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[JoshyBoy]

Thanks Eric - much appreciated.

Still doing a little bit framing but i'll have a go at this in the next couple of weeks and update this thread with pics

Josh.