[VAL] Re: bathtub/shower caulking

[Chris Koehn <timberguides@xxxxxxxxx>]

Daisy,
I came to the conclusion with our 1979 center bath that trying for a 
permanent fix using caulk was not practical. Gravity being what it is, 
having the walls lap behind the shower pan is just a bad idea. With all 
the movement experienced in an AS going down the road, something's 
gonna give eventually.
So I re-lined our shower with vinyl shower enclosure material purchased 
at a big box home improvement center. I was able to overlap the flanges 
on the shower pan allowing gravity to do its thing. Inside and outside 
corner moldings are used, as are special plastic rivets and 
construction adhesive to attach to the walls. If your AS is like ours, 
there is a duct running just above the seat (it serves the bathroom and 
the back bedroom). This was another hard to seal spot. I chose to cover 
over this ~3" protrusion by building a rounded wooden wedge (for lack 
of a better descriptor) that attaches to the back wall, which allowed 
me to use the shower liner material to cover over it  as well in a 
smooth arc.

I researched replacing the shower pan. A new one from Inland was ~$300. 
No way I was paying that. I chose to pull it out and resurface it. Ours 
was worn thin from scrubbing, so I reinforced it with a layer of 
fiberglass and epoxy resin. I then painted it with epoxy paint, which 
is a bit tricky to work with, but provides a tough, durable finish.
If I were to do this again, I would have put the fiberglass on the 
bottom side of the pan rather than the inside. This would have made the 
fiberglass job much easier, as working into inside corners is tricky- 
especially for a beginner like me.
I believe I have some pictures of the process. If you'd like I can put 
them up on Tom's site.
Regards,

Chris
<www.koehnjourney.blogspot.com>