HOW TO WATERPROOF YOUR SHOWER
If you are building a shower into your van, you’ll want to take extra steps to ensure it’s waterproof so you don’t have any issues with water damage down the line.
Here is our method for creating a waterproof shower in a van:
STEP 1: FIND A SHOWER PAN
First thing you’ll want to do is find a shower pan that will fit within the available space you have in your van. We love this 24” x 32” shower pan by Lippert Components.
We always recommend using a shower pan instead of trying to build your own because it will save you time and ensure that you don’t have any leaks in the corners/cracks.
STEP 2: FRAME YOUR BATHROOM
We use steel channels to frame our van bathroom. Check out the step-by-step instructions on how to frame your bathroom here.
STEP 3: SEAL BETWEEN THE WALL AND THE TOP OF THE SHOWER PAN
You’ll want to use something like this 3M Flashing tape to ensure you have a seal at the top lip of the shower pan. This will make sure no water will be able to get in between the shower pan and the wall.
STEP 4: ATTACH FOAM BACKER BOARD
Instead of using heavy cement hardie board, we use a foam backer board. There are a few different products on the market:
Kerdi Board
Hydroban Board
Go Board
Wedi Board
You can usually find these products at a local tile shop like DalTile. Some Lowe’s are now stocking the Kerdi Board which is our favorite foam backer board.
STEP 5: SEAL ANY SEAMS, SCREWS, CORNERS
You can use Red Gard tape and Red Gard Waterproofing membrane or Schluter Banding for this step. We seal anywhere we screwed the foam backer board into the studs, all the corners and any other seams.
You can do an entire layer of the Red Gard membrane in your shower if you’d like but the Kerdi Board foam is already waterproof so we do not typically waterproof on top of it. See the photo for what the bathroom looks like after waterproofing your seams/corners.
STEP 6: ATTACH YOUR WALL MATERIAL
Figure out what type of wall material you’d like to use for your van shower, and attach it to the walls. We typically use a FRP board from Home Depot.
We’ve also used real tile before, and that worked great but it’s a LOT more work. It took us 5 days total to prep, tile and grout the bathroom. On the other hand, using a waterproof board only takes 1 day.
STEP 7: SEAL ANY ADDITIONAL CRACKS
Caulk any corners or edges of the wall material and where the wall material meets the shower pan to ensure we have a completely waterproof bathroom!
