This beautiful bath-improvement project is dedicated to the millions of do-it-yourselfers who’ve always dreamed of building with glass block, but didn’t have the foggiest idea of where to start.That’s right. You can build a gorgeous glass-block shower even if you’ve never laid a single block. It’s all possible with the Glass Block System—a new line of shower kits from Pittsburgh Corning. Each kit includes an acrylic shower pan, glass blocks, and all the necessary hardware, such as spacers, silicone sealant, anchors and reinforcing wire. The only thing not included is glass-block mortar, which you can buy at any home center or masonry-supply dealer for about $10 per 50-pound bag. Three kit styles are available. Square ($2000) and 52-in.

This is how to install compression, glue-on, and tile shower drains. If you have a plastic drain pipe, make sure to match the shower drain to the type of plastic in the drain system. Like the compression-type shower drains, this type can be used with steel, fiberglass, and plastic shower bases.

Neo angle ($2100) both come with a framed glass shower door. The 51 x 72-in.

Walk-in design that we chose ($2560) has a curved wall and doesn’t need a door. The shower pans come in seven colors and are specifically designed for glass block. For more information, contact Pittsburgh Corning Glass Block, 800 Presque Isle Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15239; www.pitts burghcorning.com; 800-624-2120. This project was originally published in the October 2002 issue of. You can find more great projects.

For our project, we hired a plumber to relocate the shower drain, run new water-supply lines and install the shower pan. Before installing the pan, create a solid base for it by covering the subfloor with 15-pound felt underlayment followed by a 2-in.-thick grid of mortar. With the pan set in place, the mortar will cure to provide solid support. Install the shower pan before the finished wall material (i.e., ceramic tile, solid-surface material, stone). That way, it will overlap the pan and prevent water from seeping behind. Once the pan is in place, prepare it for the first course of block by roughening the top surface of the curb with 80-grit sandpaper (Photo 1). Sand just enough to remove the gloss, and then wipe the surface clean with a damp cloth.

The shower kit comes with slotted metal straps, called panel anchors. The 2 x 24-in. Anchors will be embedded in the mortar between the blocks to strengthen the wall and tie it to the shower wall and pan. Bend three anchors to form L-shaped brackets. Pachadlela marathi movie. Make the bends about 8 in.

From the ends. Stand them on the curb with the short legs facing down.

Position the first anchor 10 in. From the wall, and the next two 18 in. Mark the positions of two slots in each anchor and bore a 3⁄16-in.-dia. Screw pilot hole through the curb at each mark. Stand the anchors back into position and secure each with a single 2-in.