Shower Pan; Step Two

Hey, Merry Christmas again!  After all it's Christmas day!

Progress!!
I completed the shower pan floor yesterday, Christmas Eve.  From start to finish it took about 3.5hrs with me finishing the actual shower pan work at about 4:00pm.  I had some leftover cement that I was about to discard until I remembered a place where I could do some repair work on the porch.

I was done and had all the tools cleaned up by 5:00pm, leaving plenty of time to get myself cleaned up and over to a friends for Christmas Eve dinner.  I didn't get home until after midnight!

The Shower Pan
The first step was to measure and draw depth lines on the lower hardibacker board all around the lower perimeter to identify how deep to make this layer of the pan and.  It was important to get the measurements right as I still had to match the same 1/4" drop for every 12" stretch slope to insure correct water runoff to the drain.

The biggest chore was mixing the sand and portland cement to the right consistency which, according to my online sources, is for a clump of it to ball up in your fist and not leave cement or moisture on your had.  If your hand was wet, too much water.  If the clump fell apart, not enough water.  I was never sure about getting that part right as my clump never quite looked like the one in the picture.  I got pretty close though.

Once consistency was achieved, I shoveled a layer around the entire perimeter and with my trusty knee pads strapped on, started working it under the gap at the bottom of the backer board and then packing it down a 1-2" wide 'shelf' all around making sure I was right at the measurement lines I had drawn on the wall. 

 Once the perimeter was laid and packed down, it was just a matter of filling in the center section, using some planks to scree it level, then packing it down using a trowel to work it smooth.  Working down on my hands and knees in a tight quarters is not a lot of fun!  The thought did occur to me more than once that I'm getting to old for this kinda stuff!  Sure glad I had those knee pads.

The curb...
The hardest part was working on the curb.  I started working on it and then remembered that I needed wetter cement for that section so I scrapped off the lay over the mesh, added more water and then reapplied.  It was still a bit tricky but with the forms I was able to build the curb and smooth it out.

With the curb in place, I set up a fan at low speed to provide some air circulation.  At about 4 hours it was looking a little splotchy but it was on it's way to drying out to a smooth consistent surface.

Success!
I removed the forms at about noon today.   It came out really well even if I do say so myself!

What's next?
Finish installing the upper sheets of hardibacker board and on the toilet side of the divider wall.  Eventually, as in after the drywall is installed, tile installation and then some type of upper divider wall glass and door combination.  I was at someone's home today and saw a nice glass wall and door so it gave me food for thought.

As for the tiling, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do but I've not settled on anything specific just yet.  Whatever I do, it's going to be timeless in nature....as in NOT trendy.  Last thing I want is for someone to walk in the bathroom and accurately tell me when I installed it.