"Mastering the Curbless Shower: No Joist Cutting Guide"

Creating a modern, accessible, and safe bathroom space often involves installing a curbless shower. However, the thought of cutting joists can be daunting. This...

Building a Curbless Shower Without Cutting Joists: A Comprehensive Guide

Creating a modern, accessible, and safe bathroom space often involves installing a curbless shower. However, the thought of cutting joists can be daunting. This guide will walk you through the process of building a curbless shower without compromising the structural integrity of your home.

Understanding Curbless Showers

Curbless showers, also known as barrier-free showers, are designed to be wheelchair accessible and easy to navigate for people of all ages and abilities. They are typically installed at floor level, with no lip or barrier to step over. This design not only enhances safety and accessibility but also creates a sleek, modern aesthetic.

BUILDING a CURBLESS SHOWER (Recess in Floor Joists)

Why Not Cut Joists?

Cutting joists can weaken the structural integrity of your home. Joists are horizontal framing members that provide support for your floor and walls. Altering them can compromise the stability of your structure. Therefore, it's crucial to find alternative methods for installing a curbless shower.

1.3K views · 79 reactions | 3 things that are easy to look for and will give you a functional curbless master shower…. #shower #construction #home #new #forsale | 724 Development | Facebook

Planning Your Curbless Shower

Before you begin, measure your space and decide on the shower's dimensions. Consider using a shower pan with a sloped base to facilitate water drainage. Also, ensure that your shower is at least 36 inches wide to accommodate a wheelchair, if necessary.

Raising the Floor

One way to create a curbless shower without cutting joists is to raise the floor level. This can be achieved by building a platform using engineered beams or steel joists. These materials are strong enough to support the additional weight and can be installed without compromising the existing joists.

Using Engineered Beams

Measure and cut engineered beams to the desired length.
Install temporary supports to hold the beams in place.
Secure the beams to the existing joists using appropriate fasteners.
Install a subfloor on top of the beams.

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Using Steel Joists

Measure and cut steel joists to the desired length.
Install temporary supports to hold the joists in place.
Weld or bolt the steel joists to the existing joists.
Install a subfloor on top of the steel joists.

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108K views · 1.4K reactions | Curbless Shower BUILD Highlights | Why step over a curb if you don't have to ? 😄 ❤ I love curbless showers ❤ Hydro-Blok has made barrier-free showers easy to BUILD 👊 Here's a list of all... | By Bathroom Remodeling Teacher | Alright, so let me give you the highlights of the construction of a curbless shower. Lot of people are confused about this and I can understand why, I mean, when you see the finished product, all you see is a nice flush surface into the shower and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense how that was done. Majority of the systems out there including the hydro block system is created so that you can recess the plywood within the shower area. So, you can see my existing floor joist here and here. I have the plywood built in between it. So, it's at at the same level as a joist. So this is where it's nice not having the riser pipe glued. Just take it out. Put your plywood down and then cut out where that needs to be. Now, when you put new subflooring or if you have existing subflooring, most of the time you're three quarters of an inch. I So, you have a three-quarter-inch drop down into the shower and the shower pans are made an inch thick. So, this one's set in the place. You basically have a quarter-inch difference in height between the outside floor and the inside and there's a bunch of different ways you can go about addressing that. One, which is the one that we're going to be doing in this particular bathroom is to use an uncoupling membrane. This is a quarter-inch uncoupling membrane made by Hydro Block. It's waterproof and it makes a nice seamless entrance into the shower. So, this is going to build it up the outside floor that quarter inch. The uncoupling membrane is also used to separate the plywood layer from the tile layer and you know, preventing cracks and you know, basically, it's a crack isolation membrane. So, this is a great way to go about it. Another alternative is to use their quarter-inch foam board. So, this is one-quarter-inch thick. You can thin set this down and screw it into place and that would also make a nice transition into the shower. Now, one reason that you really might want to go with this is that if you're doing some small mosaic tiles. If you're doing penny tiles, if you're doing something less than two inch by two-inch tiles, this would be a great way to go because it's a nice, smooth surface that's going to be easy to tile over. So, this is a great way this would be also be 100% waterproof on the outside floor and the third way would be to simply floor level the entire outside floor area and just floor level up to the shower pan in some ways that could be the most foolproof way if you had an unlevel floor on the outside floor or if you had a little bit more of a raise on the pan from one side or the other you can make everything perfectly transitioned so just adding floor level now the one thing you would want to do on top of the floor leveler is to actually do a liquid water proofing so that you have everything 100% waterproof. That's the one big difference between a tiled shower and a curveless shower is waterproofing. You really want to have at the very minimum three feet of waterproofing outside of the shower but I would really highly recommend you just do the entire bathroom floor so you have it. Don't have any issues with water migration through the thin set layer and getting out into that plywood layer.

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Installing the Shower Pan

Once the floor is raised, install a shower pan with a sloped base. This will ensure proper water drainage. Make sure the shower pan is level and properly supported.

Waterproofing and Finishing

After the shower pan is installed, apply a waterproof membrane to the walls and floor. This will prevent water from damaging the structure of your home. Finally, install your chosen shower surround, tile, or other finishing materials.

Final Thoughts

Building a curbless shower without cutting joists requires careful planning and the right materials. By raising the floor level and using strong, supportive materials, you can create a safe, accessible, and stylish shower space without compromising the structural integrity of your home.