Mom Necessity!

Indeed, without her, where would we be? I'm pleased to announce that I've cracked the code for the perfect river rock shower pan composite, "moho" style. And, it's easy-peazy!

I'll admit that I avoid Home Depot personnel like the plague. First of all, I really do enjoy traversing the aisles while searching for what I need, because I usually stumble upon an amazing treasure that I can use for some sort of project in the future.  But when it comes to the people who work there, it seems as though every time they volunteer to help, I pose a question they can't answer.  I'm always trying to find a way to use a product in an application it's not marketed for, so one step forward essentially sets me two steps back.  I don't try to be a pain in the ass.  It just happens that way.  However, this time I gave in to an aggressively helpful fellow in the roofing department. I tried to fend him off, but he displayed an impressive persistance in trying to figure out what I was trying to achieve. 

Understand that I don't necessarily blame the employees of Home Depot for their lack of knowledge.  There must be ten thousand items stacked upon those towering shelves in aisle after aisle of merchandise.  And, I know that it would be next to impossible to educate a staff of that size on everything Home Depot carries.   I can't deny that he did seem genuinely engrossed in my notion of creating a river rock shower pan in a camper -- I swear, I get the craziest looks from people.  But, he was right on the money!

So...I took Henry 204 Plastic Roof Cement and slathered it over my test plastic like frosting on a cake.  The stuff is very easy to work with, smells like tar and takes about 4 days to dry -- FYI.  Next, I poured the smooth and small river rocks evenly over the thick layer of  cement and pressed them flat with a board.  This made a very nice even surface, with no jagged edges jutting out. 

Once the whole layer of rock set firmly, I mixed and drizzled the Glaze Coat broadly over the surface.  I then smoothed out the resin with a nylon brush, evenly covering all of the rocks. 

                                                                                                       

What you can't see, unfortunately from the pictures, is that the layer of rocks are completely embedded in a thin layer of rock hard resin.  The stones stick up and have relief, but due to their rounded edges and a nice even packing with the flat board, they can easily be walked upon.

This, of course, is simply the top layer of the shower pan.  Beneath all of that will be the wood base, the pvc shower liner and graded layers of vinyl sheeting that are normally used for the shower wall liner.  I'll be building all of that after I acquire my vehicle.