Shifting and Cracking Shower Floor

Get tips on fixing a shifting and cracking shower floor. Learn how to keep the shower floor in place and seal any cracks that can cause instability.

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LESLIE: Steve in Maryland is working on a bathroom project and needs a helping hand. What can we do for you?

STEVE: I’ve been working with a shower – a corner shower.

TOM: OK.

STEVE: And it’s – we used it for about a year and then it developed a crack in the base. And in examining the shower, it seems that the material that the shower is made of – it’s not like a hard base, fiberglass with metal construction; it’s just kind of fiberglass so …

TOM: Right. It’s a fiberglass pan. OK.

STEVE: It moves a lot; the base moves. It’s not as sturdy as something that’s built on a metal base.

TOM: Well, actually, if it was installed properly, it would not move because when you set a fiberglass pan, you’re supposed to set it in mortar. You basically mix up some QUIKRETE or something like that, put it on the floor when it’s kind of loose and wet and you sort of press the pan down into it and that gives it structural support. If you don’t have that and you have a lot of flexibility in it, it’s more likely to crack.

STEVE: Well, this one did crack and …

TOM: OK.

STEVE: … really, the only thing I can see is to replace it but I was looking what to put under it and you mentioned mortar which I don’t believe is under it right now. When the original installer put it there, he just put the shower and …

TOM: Well, I’ll give you one other option if you don’t want to pull it out and replace it. You can repair the cracked fiberglass pan and basically you’re going to re-fiberglass that. If you get a fiberglass repair kit like – and the place to get this is at an auto supply shop because it’s the same stuff you’d use to fix a fiberglass, you know, car door, body or something like that.

STEVE: Right. Like Bondo or something like that?

TOM: Well, it’s kind of like that, yeah. And basically, you clean the surface really well; you apply the resin; you press the fiberglass into the resin, then you put a couple of coats on top of it. And I actually have fixed a fiberglass pan this way in a shower and actually bought myself a couple of more years by doing it this way before we were ready to replace the whole thing.

STEVE: Good enough. Thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Steve. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.