In praise of pebble stone shower floors
stone. They’ll usually suggest the preferred adhesive.
The spaces between the pebbles are so large that you need to use sanded grout. Sanded grout is almost always just a blend of tinted Portland cement and fine silica sand. Silica sand is extremely hard and durable. It’s a very uniform color, often just translucent. The sand makes the grout very strong and it mimics larger stones that we put into concrete for sidewalks, patios and driveways. The stones give the concrete its strength.
Be careful to use the least amount of water possible when mixing and placing the grout in a pebble stone shower floor. Too much water will cause the grout to shrink and crack as it dries.
The person asking the question doesn’t have to worry too much about humidity because she lives in the Northeast. If you’re grouting a floor in the
West or Southwest where humidity can be low, you might need to mist the pebbles and the thinset beneath them to add a bit of moisture so the grouting process is easier. If the humidity is low where you’re installing your floor, cover the floor as soon as you’re done grouting with plastic for 48 hours to slow down the evaporation of the water from the grout. This will help make it very strong.
Keeping a pebble stone shower floor clean is somewhat easy, but many people don’t want to invest the time to do it. First and foremost, scrub the floor at least once a week to get rid of body oil, soap and shampoo residue, and plain old dirt. These things are food for mold and mildew.
Make sure the shower floor dries as quickly as possible after you shower. Water fuels mildew and mold growth. If you have a door to the shower, keep it open after you leave the bathroom.
The same is true for a shower curtain. Shake off the curtain to remove as much water as possible and keep it retracted so air can get into the shower stall.
You may have to battle hard water stains. This is easy to do with white vinegar. If you see white spots starting to form, you need to get rid of these as soon as possible so you don’t have layer after layer of hard water deposits. White vinegar spritzed onto the tile will do a great job if you let it work for about 30 minutes and then scrub and rinse. Yes, there may be a slight odor, but believe me, your pebble stone shower floor will look good for years.