|
|
The shower base
A shower base is the
part of the shower in the bottom of it, where the water drains out and
where you stand to take a shower bath. These bases must be either
purchased as part of a modular shower unit, where they are built into the
whole module in the factory, or they have to be installed as independent
parts of the construction of the shower and then attached to the walls of
the shower and sealed for leak proofing, etc.
A good shower base should be smooth, so that it is easy to clean, because
those that are porous or rough will attract the proliferation of bacteria,
fungus, and other unwanted elements into the shower. If you have an
unclean and bacteria prone shower base, it will likely lead to infections
like athletes foot or even staph infections that can be potentially very
dangerous.
But a shower base is also where you stand and move around on top of a wet
surface, so while it needs to be smooth and not porous enough to attract
microbial growth, it also needs to be rough enough that is is a non skid
surface, and this creates a design problem for many of us. How to make a
surface smooth, yet not slippery when wet, is a challenge. But this
challenge has been adequatley met, and you can either add gritty
substances to the top surface of the material, using a topical adhesive
sort of like an epoxy with grit in it, or you can just take the cheaper
and easier but less permanent route of using those little plastic or
rubber strips of non skid material that you glue to the base of the
shower.
There are many materials for making a shower base, and they range from
fiberglass and tile to concrete, stone, and pre-cast Terrazzo, which is an
Italian style of material composed of marble chips and Portland Cement.
The surface is ground smooth, polished, and sealed before being used.
To find out more about what kind of shower base you want, consult a
plumbing contractor or the sales people at your local home improvement
center. |
