DIY trench drain

nimblemotors

I'm remodeling my master bath and plan to put in a curbless shower with the tile from the bedroom running through the doorless bathroom and shower.
So i've been researching trench or linear drains, and holy sheeeit it appears they are made of gold and not stainless steel because they are hundreds of dollars for a freaken drain.

So I am looking into building one DIY style. I have found this during my countless hours of searching, http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/...ad.php?t=90967
but the pros declined to comment (of course, they say $600 is cheap for a drain..)

My plan is to do pretty much as described in the link above. It is just taking a normal drain and sinking it into a trough, and then add a removable piece that makes it level with the floor. It would be a piece of tile, so there is just a small gap that looks like a grout line around the tile drain cover.
Seems simple and effective, yet the link above is ALL i've found regarding any DIY trench shower drain.

Also, since you've read this far, I'm wondering about the dirt under my concrete slab. The old shower pan leaked badly and its been years since I've been able to get to this project, and ants had already taken up residence EVERYWHERE in this bathroom, but particularly around the drain under the concrete there are millions of them as the dirt is always damp. I'm wondering if I need to remove the damp dirt and replace it with sand or rocks, or if it will just dry eventually and make the ants go elsewhere (i've killed billions already, but they will come back I suspect unless it dries out).

Thanks for your input, JackB

joecaption

Sure it's ants and not termites. Termites need mosture to make there tunnels.
Call an exterminator.

nimblemotors

yes, just black carpenter ants, they nest around moisture, don't eat wood,
my studs are perfect, not even dryrot, all the ants lived under the tile and the shower pan and slab

Javiles

trap must be accessible and no part of the trench can have any type of standing water. everything in that shower must drain dry after use.

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nimblemotors

No interest in a trench drain setup?

I'm doing it similiar to the link above, but I'm tiling the area in the trench,
instead of using mud like he showed. The pic show the tiles, and the grout joint of one tile is where the water goes. In fact, I think I will cut the tiles in half so instead of 6in wide, they will be 3in wide in the shower area for better traction with more grout area, but the drain will still be 6in wide.

joecaption

Looks like you have a little but of fungus going on there Nimble.
Sure looks like water and condinsation has been getting in behind whatever was up on those outside walls.

nimblemotors

that is just water from the concrete saw, what looks like fungus is drywall dust.

joecaption

They may not use wood as a food source but they sure do a whole lot of damage to the wood making there nest.
No way would I seal up that area without treating all that wood.
There's nest someplace that needs to be killed.
http://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden...arpenter-ants/

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/timbor.htm

They do not call them carpender ants because they build bird houses on the weekends.