Shower pans, also known as the shower trays or shower bases, constitute the base of a shower enclosure. The shower pan collects the water, and in addition provides a firm base to stand upon. They are made of fiberglass, and also provide a slip resistant surface. Shower pans are sometimes made of composite molded material, which appears almost like marble or granite.   Fiberglass shower pans are cheap and relatively quick to install shower floor. The traditional way to set up a shower floor is to build a base which is of brickwork and then set the fiberglass tile over that base. Installing a Fiberglass shower pans requires no glue to make it a watertight attachment. Instead, it is compressed with a neoprene ring to seal any water seepage. The skill level involved in putting up the fiberglass pans is not at all much lower.

You can get a standard shower pan of your choice at your local Superstore. These pans which you get are of the standard sizes, but you can order for special sizes and also sometimes even get them custom made according to your choice. If you happen to have a drain located at an odd place or of an odd size, the cost of fitting the shower pan will be a little higher.

Most of the times a fiberglass shower pan fits into an existing old location without even replacing the walls. Now with your older ceramic tile shower, you had to replace not only the floor and but also some part of the wall to get the new replacement pan in position. And that too assuming that the walls are still in good shape after so much work. Often the walls get damaged during work and the water works up behind these walls. These walls then will break down quickly as soon as the floor is removed.

If you happen to set up a new shower for your bathroom, fiberglass shower pans can be used with your ceramic tile walls along with the fiberglass walls that can match up with the floor. Mostly these pans are used in showers which are accessed by the handicapped, hence there happens to be little or absolutely no curb and also has a special skid-free surface.

When compared to the traditional shower pan made of masonry construction, the fiberglass options has advantages as well as disadvantages. The advantages are that they are a lot quicker, easier, and cheaper, when installing them. They are also easy to clean. The advantages of the traditional masonry and ceramic tile is that they with a proper care can last pretty longer, looks good, and are less subjected to the wear and tear due to regular use.