Time to Come Clean

At long last I'm making some progress on getting a shower installed in the Wimberley house. This will be a great relief to those anywhere within about ten feet of me after I've been working there more than a day. And to those visitors who want to clean up a little themselves.

I had decided on a conventional tiled enclosure before I really understood all the steps in building it, so it has been a lot of work just getting it to this stage pictured. That concrete looking surface at the bottom hides layers of sloped mortar, PVC membrane, seam sealant, more mortar, and reinforcing mesh, and the tiled curb base was a whole adventure in itself. I'm just to the point where I'll be able to start laying ceramic tile on my next visit. Those cheap but simple fiberglass pan shower bottoms started looking pretty good after I'd been on my knees for a few hours.

The second photo is in fact related to my shower adventure, although it should not have been. After letting the mortar cure a little, I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to go ahead and vacuum up the loose mortar remnants. Did I mention that it is a REALLY great vacuum? It sucked a couple of chunks of the partially curred floor right up. I was not pleased. I had my evidence of extreme stupidity hidden an hour later, but not without going through several scenarios in my mind for making that vacuum pay dearly...

So barring any further giant leaps backward, I'll have an operational shower in two more visits. One for the tile, a final for the grout and door. I'm feeling cool, fresh, and spiffy just thinking about it.