Repair cracked Shower floor Pan

[waiter]

Repairing the crack in the Shower floor pan.

I have a lot of experience working with fiberglass, so this was a no-brainer.

I drilled a 1/4 hole at the end of the crack, this will prevent it from spreading any farther. I also drilled 1/4 holes every few inches on each side of the crack. I was surprised to find that immediately below the pan was a plywood sub pan. I did NOT drill through the plywood.

I then squired some spray urethane foam in all the holes. The urethane expands to fill any gaps and also acts as an adhesive so the bottom of the pan would stick to the plywood.

Give the foam a couple days to expand and cure. I then cleaned the excess foam from the pan. I used #80 sand paper and sanded the pan about 3 inches on both sides of the crack. This will allow the fiberglass to adhere to the plastic.

I cut two strips of Bidirectional Fiberglass tape (BID) about 18 inches long and 2 inches wide. The fibers run at 45deg.

I use West Systems epoxy. I mixed up a couple ounces, wet the pan, then lay up two layers of BID over the crack.

I then laid down a layer of Peel Ply over the glass. When cured. pull the peel ply,

Next week, I'll sand the glass to ensure no sharp edges, then spray a coat of clear coat over it to protect the glass.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[BrianO]

That's great! How well does the spray urethane foam support it? Have you put your weight on it to see if it flexes? My shower pan had a similar repair but the rest of the structure was so messed up that I couldn't tell if the spay foam provided enough support.

[waiter]

On my pan, there was a piece of plywood under the plastic pan, I believe the plywood is actually an integral part of the pan, and is there to add structure and support weight when someone stands on the shower pan.

Keep in mind, I didn't know this when I started drilling holes. I fully expected to find an "Egg Carton" type of plastic substructure.

My intention was to drill holes every few inches, and squirt the foam in the holes to fill any voids directly under the plastic floor. I based this decision on photos of a pan someone else have removed. Their pan didn't have plywood, but had this "Egg Carton" looking plastic substructure to reinforce the main floor. The purpose of squirting foam in the holes was to fill these "Egg Carton" voids with foam to help distribute the floor loads around the crack.

SO - When I drilled the holes, I hit plywood immediately after the drill got through the plastic floor, SURPRISE. (The plastic sits on and contacts the plywood) I decided NOT to go all the way through the plywood.

Now to answer your question - No, in my case the foam doesn't supply any support, because the support is already supplied by the plywood. In my case the foam acts as an adhesive to glue the plastic floor to the plywood sub-floor (This foam is really, really, sticky). With that said, Yes, if the sub structure would have been that egg carton structure, the foam would have been mandatory to distribute the weight around the crack.

ALSO - I must point out, It doesn't appear that the shower was ever used with this cracked floor, as there didn't seem to be any water damage to that piece of Plywood. (I was happy to see this)

FOAM - Use the stuff in the Red Can. Its an expanding urethane foam that cures hard (It will shrink a little over the years, but for this application, we're OK.

DO NOT use the stuff in the blue can. HINT - If it says environmentally safe, OR Latex, OR "stays flexible". DON"T USE IT.

Hope this makes sense!!!!

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[85mirage]

Could you explain the peel-ply and what kind of sealer?

All that was under my pan was 4-5 stacked pieces of ridgid blue insulation which raised pan off of floor to provide for p-trap.

thanks for post from another cracked shower pan owner

[waiter]

Peel-Ply is nothing but Dacron fabric. After the glass is laid up and wet, lay up a layer of the Dacron fabric over the glass, make sure its wetted out.

After everything cures (24 - 48 hours), pull off the Dacron fabric. What your left with is nice smooth transitions, no bumps or sharp fiberglass ends.

Sand this with # 200 paper just to knock down the little bumps. Clean all the dust (shouldn't need a lot of sanding) then paint with Over the counter clear Urethane.

The way peel ply works, its a very fine weave Dacron fabric probably 500 fibers per inch. Epoxy won't stick to the Dacron fibers. When you wet it out, epoxy is now in between the fibers weaves. When you pull it off, the epoxy breaks off where it went between the fibers and what your left with is little tiny ridges, 500 per inch. Peel ply is great for creating smooth transition, and also if your going to be adhering anything to the layup.

See

www.iflyez.com

JOhn Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto