Building a Curb on a Wood Floor
A curb is the one part of a shower that gets built twice by people who fasten it wrongly the first time. How walk in shower installation lakewood ca nexusphiladelphia builds one on a timber deck avoids screws through the pan entirely, because a Lakewood shower with a fastener driven through its own waterproofing leaks from the day it is finished.
Never Fasten Through the Membrane
The curb sits inside the waterproof envelope, so any screw driven down through the top or the inside face makes a hole below the water line. Build the curb first and waterproof over it, or bond it down with adhesive rather than mechanical fixings. Fastening from the outside face only, above the finished floor level, is the compromise where a fixing is unavoidable.
Three Ways to Build It
Stacked timber is traditional, cheap and moves with the seasons. Solid concrete block or brick is stable and heavy. A preformed foam curb comes ready to bond and is already part of the waterproofing system it belongs to. The foam version costs the most in materials and the least in labour and detailing errors.
Slope the Top Inward
The top face falls back into the shower by a small amount, usually about a quarter inch, so water running along it goes back where it came from. A flat top holds water at the edge of the glass door. A top sloping outward puts it on the bathroom floor, which is the most common curb fault of all.
Height and the Glass
Around four to six inches is normal, and the enclosure sits on it, so the width has to suit the glass channel or clips being used. Confirm the hardware before the curb is built rather than after, since a curb two inches wide and a channel needing three is a discovery made when the glass arrives.
Waterproofing the Ends
Where the curb meets the wall on each side is a triple change of plane and the single most detailed spot in the whole shower. It needs preformed corners or reinforcing fabric worked properly into all three surfaces. Take a photograph of both ends before tiling, because that is the area a future leak investigation will want to see.