To curb or not to curb

My vote is not to curb the entry to a walk in shower. Save the extra framing and tile, and leave it flush with the rest of the bathroom floor. Keep it simple. As you can see, the pans themselves don’t look glamorous, but they’re very important for the eye candy (tile) that goes on top of them.

As for splash, we have a curbed shower with a door now, and there are always spots of water on the floor when we get out. So it’s not like the whole bathroom becomes a bath tub. And that’s what bath mats are for, which you will have anyway.

Tile-Redi

Tile-Redi makes shower pans that are leak proof and mold resistant. The pan shown at right is their 48″x37″ fully curbed model. The design I’m actually after is essentially a walk-in shower – literally walk in, as in no curb at all. Their ADA compliant model seems to fit the bill. It’s a good size at 48″x37″, and the drain is shifted a couple of inches past center further from the curbless side, so water heads away from the entry with the built in slope of the pan.

The pans are polyurethane with integrated drains. The curb walls are 1/2″ wide, so you can set it directly on the subfloor, and then set wallboard right on top of it. These pans can be installed and tiled in the same day, which is also a plus. Here are their technical faq’s.

Not high on the green scale in terms of material, but it does eliminate some installation framing and finish materials and time.

For comparison, a previous curbless shower product post.