crexalbo

[crexalbo]

Extremely Strong Shower Bench

I've gotten feedback from the community asking me to share my plans, so here it is. If you want to build your own shower bench, this is how you do it. Make sure to ask a thinno for help, this will not be easy to do!

This is an extremely strong shower bench with a 1000+lb capacity. The floor under you will fail before the bench does! This shower bench is designed to remove you from the shower and basically have you sit on the ledge. You will need a couple feet of clearance away from your tub's ledge for it to work.

The top of my tub's ledge is about 1' 3⅜" up from the ground. If yours is taller/shorter by more than ¼" or so, you will need to make some adjustments to measurements down below.

This is a photo of the materials I used to make this build. I got everything I needed at my local hardware store. My build wasn't perfect though. I would suggest you learn from my mistakes and acquire a slightly different material list though:

1x 2'×4' plywood sheet. Get something pre-sanded and rated for outdoor use. I recommend ¾" thick.

2x 8' 2×4s. Most any wood type will work, so get what you like most. I just got some normal 2×4s and made sure they looked pretty. If you don't want to bother with staining or weatherproofing the structure of your bench, get pressure-treated 2×4s.

4x 2' ½"×½" square dowel.

4x Simpson Strong-Tie RTC2Z. Get the black-powder-coated ones if you can.

2x Simpson Strong-Tie LUS24Z. These will be used for the cross beam.

4x Simpson Strong-Tie FB24Z. These will be the feet.

1x Simpson Strong-Drive SD9112R100 #9×1½" 100ct Connector Screws. You won't use the whole box. It comes with a bit.

4x 3" common nails.

32x 1½" common nails.

35x 1" brad/finish nails.

200-220 grit sandpaper.

Oil-based high-gloss polyurethane.

Small dense-foam roller & roller pan.

If you're applying stain, oil stain & staining brush for oil stain.

Liquid rubber. Get something that will provide grip.

Rubber-foam weather stripping. The thicker and wider, the better. I got 20' of 1¼"×7⁄16" and it worked great for me.

4x paper clips, hair ties, or something to hang the feet from.

A plastic tarp, thickness is more important than size.

As for tools, you really only need two things:

Hammer

Drill, ratchet, or socket screwdriver

OPTIONAL: File or knife

I also highly recommend some PPE. Get some cheap/disposable cleaning gloves, a mask of some type, hair ties for your hair, and an old change of clothes.

If you don't have access to a table saw at home, *don't leave the store yet!* You need to cut your wood at the store. Many home improvement stores will cut your lumber for you, either for free or for a low price.

Ask an employee to cut the two 2×4s like this:

2×4 #1: 38", 38", 17"

2×4 #2: 33½", 33½", 13", 13"

NOTE: If your tub ledge was taller/shorter than mine, then for every 1" difference, lengthen/shorten each 33½" cut by TWO inches.

Then ask them to cut two dowels down to 20½", and two down to 24".

You should also ask them to take 6" off the short side of the plywood, so it's 2'×3½' instead of 2'×4'.

You're not ready to leave yet! You need to make two more cuts, and the store employees will not help you with these. Many home improvement stores will have a DIY handsaw table where you can cut moulding down to length. You'll need to use this to make the last two cuts yourself.

You need to make an ANGLED cut into the 33½" boards. Lay the first 33½" board down flat as shown. On the edge closest to you, mark a point 1' 5⅛" away from the left end of the board. Then on the edge farthest from you, mark a point 1' 5¼" away from the same left end of the board. Position your saw across both points, and cut through the board. You may need to roll the board over to finish the cut.

NOTE: If your tub ledge was taller/shorter than mine, then for every 1" of difference, add/remove 1" from the 1' 5⅛" / 1' 5¼" measurements above.

For the second board, *do not measure!* It is more important that the cuts in the boards be identical than it is for any one cut to have exact dimensions. Lay the second board down, then set one of the cut pieces on top so the ends of the two boards are aligned, then use the existing angle in the cut piece to start the cut in the second board.

When you are done, you will have four boards, two slightly taller than the others, with the exact same angle cut in all of them. In the above photo, the boards are resting on their angled ends. These pieces will be your long and short legs.

NOW you can bring everything home.

First, lay down your tarp somewhere. Ideally you'll have access to a 5'×10' flat area outside.

Then you need to sand *everything* (except the big faces of the plywood, and the pressure-treated wood if you went that route). Pay special attention to the corners and cuts in the wood.

Now you need to attach the square dowels to the outside of the plywood board. Choose a face of the board to be the "up" face, the one you'll sit on. Put the 24" dowels on top, right along the short edges. Choose a long edge to be the back, and squeeze the two shorter dowels in along it between the side dowels. Nail everything down with the finish nails.

Next is staining, if you chose to stain. Apply according to the directions on the tin. You will likely have to do multiple coats.

Now the truly hard part, applying polyeurethane. I recommend using the foam roller for this and applying many coats. You can prop up the plywood sheet using the 2×4s if you like so you can get all the way around the edges in one pass. You'll still need to flip it over and do three more passes when done with the top, so you can protect the underside from warping.

While waiting for your polyethylene to dry, you may as well make the rubber feet. Grab your four FB24Zs and tie something through one of the holes in the end. Open your can of liquid rubber and follow the instructions to fully submerge each one before leaving it out to dry. One coat should be enough. Once dry, try to remove excess rubber from the inside using a file or knife.

When everything's had a good long dry (at least a day after final coat), it's time for assembly.

Grab your two 38" boards, your two 13" boards, all four of your legs, and your four RTC2Zs — everything except what's highlighted red in the first photo above. Set the 38" boards down on their narrow side along the long edges of the board, and the 13" boards down on their narrow side along the short edges of the board. Bring them together to form a rectangle, then set the RTC2Zs upside-down on the corners. Each RTC2Z has an L-shaped hole in its bottom; the top/bottom of each L-shaped hole will be filled by the ends of the 38" boards, while the center and left/right of each hole will be filled by the legs. The ends of each 38" board will butt against the wide side of the legs, while the ends of each 13" board will butt against the narrow side of the legs. Now make sure everything is pressed firmly together as you use the Strong-Drive screws to attach the RTC2Zs to the 38" & 13" boards. For each corner, four screws go into the 38" board and two screws go into the 13" board. *DO NOT ATTACH THE LEGS YET!* The legs are just here for spacing right now. Remove the legs when everything is attached.

Grab your 17" board and your LUS24Zs. The 17" board should squeeze in nicely right in the middle, turning your blocky 0 into a blocky 8. Straighten out your LUS24Zs if needed (mine were bowed outwards too much), set them down over the ends of the 17" board, and use 4 screws each to attach them to the sides of the 38" boards. Now grab your long 3" nails and use two on each LUS24Z, installing them at a 45° angle into the remaining holes. They'll nail at an angle into the 17" board and go straight through into the 38" board.

Flip everything over such that the plywood board is now resting good-side-up on top of the mostly-complete frame, with the whole thing resting on the rounded bottoms of the RTC2Zs. Center the frame between the left and right sides of the plywood (should be ½" overhang on each side); let the plywood's back overhang ½" off the back of the frame, and its front overhang 3½" off the front. Now use the 1½" common nails to nail in the plywood into the frame. I used four lines of nails, one for each outer board; measurements are in the second photo above.

OPTIONAL: Apply a final polyurethane coat over the nail heads. This will need a day or two to dry.

Screw the feet into the ends of the legs. See the third photo above for a reference. Try to make the feet as straight and snug as you can get them.

Insert the legs into the holes left from step 1. The short legs go in on the front side, and the long legs go in on the back side. You should have a bench that tilts slightly forward, to allow for water to drain into the tub. Use some sort of material as a spacer as necessary to adjust each leg to level out the bench. Don't be afraid to introduce gaps between the legs and the plywood; the metal connectors are what hold the weight. Once everything is nice and level, use six screws on each leg to attach then to the RTC2Zs.

Apply your rubber-foam stripping. I applied stripping all along the length of my tub's ledge AND along the underside of my bench.

And you're done! Your bench will look different than the photo above, I hadn't yet added the stripping, the wooden dowel siding, or the feet. And perhaps you chose a different stain color, or made your legs out of pressure-treated wood! In any case, this thing is built like a tank (made with actual home framing materials) and shouldn't break easily. I hope it serves you well!