I have a 36" x 60" pre-formed fiberglass/acrylic showerpan in white color. I have had an issue come up that I thought would not be so big of deal but now I can see it is. 3 of the sides of the pan have that lip that your tile/tile board can overlap. However the entire 60" front of the pan has no lip there! This is typical if you have the whole front open to a shower curtain or maybe glass but I only have 30" open and 30" is going to have a wall infront of the shower pan. I know that I can install tile and use silicone to seal that lip and then maybe grout down to the base itself to provide durability to the silicone behind it, BUT, I am worried for the long term life of the seal. Surely there is a better way?
The only two ideas I can come up with are 1.) A rubber gasket that will make a seal between tile and shower base lip, rubber meaning it's durable, will not rot, somewhat decent looking, etc. 2.) Some kind of acrylic mix that I can "form" a permanent lip for my tile to lay over. If this product exists please link it from an online source! Locally I can not find it. I was picturing something like bondo, but I do not believe bondo works with high moisture long-term.
Best Answer
If you caulk the hell out of the bottom edge, and construct the wall so it doesn't move relative to the shower base, then you should be fine. A rubber gasket will probably be less effective than caulk, since caulk can be made to fit any shape of crevice.
Do not put grout in the line between tile and base, use caulk instead. Same goes for the corner seams between the walls. Many grout manufacturers also make caulk that matches their grout colors, so the transition will be invisible. Caulk is flexible, so it can handle slight movement without cracking.