Shower Drypack

What shower drypack is

Shower drypack is a drypack mortar bed formed specifically as a shower floor or shower base. The same stiff sand and cement mix is packed and screeded, but instead of a level plane the finished surface falls consistently from the perimeter toward the drain.

The result is a solid, shaped substrate that the waterproofing and tile layers are built onto — the part of the shower nobody sees, and the part that determines whether the finished floor drains the way it should.

Why the shower floor is treated differently

A level floor only has to be flat. A shower floor has to be flat and pitched at the same time, from every direction, into a fixed point — and it has to reconcile that geometry with curbs, benches, glass tracks, doorways and the tile format that follows.

A centre drain is pitched from all sides. A linear drain is pitched from one plane. Each shapes the base differently, so the drain specification is settled before the bed is formed rather than worked around afterwards.

The general process

Work starts with what is already in place: the drain and its height, the substrate, the framing, the curb, and the finished floor level the rest of the bathroom is set to. From there the fall is set out, the bed is packed and screeded to it, and the plane is checked before anything covers it.

• Review the drain type and height, substrate and surrounding levels
• Set out the perimeter height and the fall to the drain
• Pack and screed the mortar bed to that plane, working the perimeter and drain surround by hand
• Detail curbs and edges, then check the fall across the whole floor
• Leave a clean, cured base ready for the waterproofing and tile stages

Why professional preparation matters

A shower base is not accessible once it is finished. Water that sits on a flat spot, a bed that has come loose from the substrate, or a curb that is out of plane are all problems that surface after the tile is on — when the fix is demolition rather than adjustment.

Getting it right at this stage is also what allows the trades that follow to do their own work well: a membrane installs cleanly onto a sound, correctly shaped base, and tile sets flat on a plane that was built to be flat.