Corian Shower

Last week we got the back bathroom drywalled and the shower plywood installed. After fiberglassing the shower plywood, it was ready for the corian installation. The fiberglassing of the plywood makes it waterproof, so if any water gets past any of the joints in the corian, it won’t be able to get into the structure to cause damage. Given that there are so few joints in the corian, that is unlikely to happen but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The corian floor

The first piece of the puzzle is the floor. This is the most labor intensive piece as well. Just like in the front bathroom, I’m doing a hidden drain style floor so that when you look down, all you see is a sheet of corian. The water drains around the edges of the main floor piece and it gives a super clean look. To get the proper fit, I templated the floor area. I then trace the template onto a sheet of corian and cut it out to size. With the perimeter cut to size, I traced out for the removable floor panel cut out. I very carefully cut out the removable floor portion and set it aside.

The flange

The removable part of the floor needs something to sit on, so I create a flange from corian that will hold it up. I cut the flange pieces to size and sand them and route them before gluing up. I wouldn’t be able to easily get at the edges with a router after glue up, so it’s best to do it now. With all of the flange pieces ready, I glue them to the bottom of the floor perimeter. After the glue sets up, I scrape and sand everything flush.

Removable panel

While the glue was setting up on the floor flange, I sanded and prepped the removable floor panel. I also made 4 small blocks that I’ll glue onto the corners of the bottom of the floor. These blocks will contact the corners of the flange to keep the spacing around the panel perfect. After the floor flange was sanded and ready to go, with the floor assembly upside-down, I set the floor panel in place and got the spacing even around the panel. Once the spacing was good, I glued in the 4 corner blocks.

Floor installation

After the glue set up on the corner blocks, I took the floor assembly inside and did a little final scribing and fitting. Once it was good, I siliconed it in place. While the silicone was setting up, I gave the exposed fiberglass part of the pan a light sand and then painted it with a coat of marine primer that I had laying around.

Mirror cuts

Next up was the big piece – the back wall. Since corian only comes 30″ wide, and the back wall is 45″, I’ll have to glue two pieces together. In the front bedroom, I had to do this glue joint in place in the shower, as the panel would have been too big to stand up in the bathroom. However, in this bathroom, I can glue it up out in the shop and bring it in as one large piece. I start by templating the back wall. I trace out the pieces onto a sheet and cut the pieces out slightly oversized. I then set up the two pieces that are to be glued together and performed a “mirror cut” with a router. This cuts both mating edges of the pieces at the same time which yields an invisible glue joint.

Installing the big panel

After the mirror cut, I glued the panel together. Once the glue was set, I sanded out the seam and then shined up the rest of the panel. Lastly, I laid the template back in place and traced out the shape onto the corian. I made the cuts and then Oceana and I carried it into the bathroom. With the help of a big suction cup, I fit the panel in place and it slid right in on the first attempt. Great. I pulled it back out and applied silicone to the wall and installed the panel in place. I added a few blocks to keep the panel tight while the silicone set up.

The curb

The next piece of the puzzle was the curb. I took the measurements and then found an offcut of corian that was just long enough. I cut out the pieces and then glued them up. Once the glue set up, I sanded and polished the faces. Lastly, I rounded over the edges to give it a smooth finish. I stopped the roundovers short on the ends so that it would meet nicely with the wall panels that will sit on top of it. I dry fit the curb and made a few tweaks. I set it up with a slight angle back toward the shower so that any water that gets onto the curb will run back into the shower. Once it was good, I siliconed it in place.

That’s all, folks

This week I’ll get the two sidewall panels completed and we’ll have a working shower. Also, now that the curb is in, I can start laying the floor tile. That’s all for now. As always, thanks for following along!