Breathing New Life Into an Aging Avacado

It looks like the beginning of the end for this elderly Avocado, but in fact this whipper-snapper just has a soiled diaper. Yes the stained sand that was untill lately a shower pan is sporting a distinctly over-ripe aroma, but the crossover is not warped or bulging and the ceiling below it is unstained. Before it recently softened and began releasing its tile it was draining well.  

A careful dis assembly with blunt chisels, followed by a scrub with bleach water and a shop-vac, had it ready for a makeover quicker than anyone expected.

The next day, with a fresh work space and a taped drain, the new pan was installed in short order.

   


It was a little distressing to mark up the freshly troweled smooth pan with pour patterns, but the new pan (made with mortar admix instead of water) was thoroughly saturated with the same admix. and smoothed carefully where necessary.    


After seeing a pan breakdown like this one, it was tempting to go back with concrete or some sort of precast pan. In fact with a good vinyl liner and a sound sub-floor this admix should  be quite enough.

        






This last round of repair and restoration isn't very dramatic,
to look at. It would be the before and after test ride that would make you appreciate this difference.
While waiting for the grout to temper, (it has rest for 15 min after mixing to prevent tiny bubbles) I pulled the toilet to replace the wax ring and caulk it down to improve it's stability. This proved more challenging than expected. The cast iron flange was raised above the tile about a quarter inch, and there was crumbling tan putty spread over most of the toilet's footprint. After replacing the bolts and removing and replacing the wax ring, we re-set the toilet. From the way it wobbled it was obviously balanced on the flange and leaning down to the floor. Once we fitted and caulked down a 1/4 in thick Hardie backer board (waterproof and very crush resistant) insole, we replaced the wax ring again and re-set the toilet. Ta-Da! We taped around the wobble free toilet carefully and caulked it to the floor. 

  When researching this color for it's age, I also found it refereed to as banana, which inspired more interesting design directions. The saved pieces of the one piece of base that had been damaged fit well and grouted in nicely.

The thin-set mortar and grout were also prepared with the mortar admix to enhance their waterproofing.