Infinity shower pan

• US 20060236452A1
• Filed: 04/20/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: John Polimeno
• Original Assignee: John Polimeno
• Inventors: Polimeno, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 4/613
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 3/40 Pans or trays

Abstract

A shower pan includes a draining base portion that drains to an orifice. The draining base portion includes a support structure for supporting a slab floor member (for example, a single piece of granite, marble, or engineered stone) above the orifice such that a planar upper surface of the floor member has a slight tilt. The pan is installed such that the tilt is toward a shower head. The shower enclosure is finished by cladding the enclosure walls with a finishing material (for example, granite, marble or engineered stone) such that the finishing material extends down into the pan. The floor member is placed on the support structure such that water from the shower head that falls on the floor member runs off one or more edges of the floor member and is conducted to the orifice under the floor member by a draining portion of the draining base portion.

Claims

1. A cast shower pan comprising:

a plurality of sidewalls; and

a draining base portion that defines a draining area when the shower pan is viewed from a top-down perspective, the cast shower pan draining the draining area to a drain orifice, wherein the draining base portion comprises;

a support structure for supporting a slab floor member over the drain orifice, the support structure extending up and terminating in one or more bearing surfaces disposed in a support plane, wherein the support structure extends up to the support plane in at least one location in each two-foot by two-foot square of the draining area; and

a draining portion that drains to the drain orifice.

2. The cast shower pan of claim 1, wherein the sidewalls extend up from the draining base portion, the drain orifice being an orifice in the draining base portion, the support structure comprising a plurality of pedestals that extend up to the support plane, each pedestal terminating in an upward-facing bearing surface, all the upward-facing bearing surfaces being disposed in the support plane.

3. The cast shower pan of claim 1, wherein the support structure is a central part of the draining base portion, the support structure having a single contiguous upper surface disposed in the support plane, wherein the single contiguous upper surface of the support structure has an area that is at least fifty percent of the draining area of the cast shower pan, the draining portion of the draining base portion forming one or more drain troughs that drain to the drain orifice.

4. The cast shower pan of claim 1, wherein the drain orifice is disposed below the support plane when the shower pan is viewed from the top-down perspective.

5. The cast shower pan of claim 4, wherein the sidewalls define an upper rim of the shower pan, the support plane being disposed below the upper rim when the shower pan is viewed from the top-down perspective.

6. The cast shower pan of claim 1, wherein the support structure has a bearing surface area disposed in the support plane, and wherein the bearing surface area is at least fifty percent of the draining area of the cast shower pan, and wherein the draining portion forms a drain trough that extends along an edge of the support structure.

7. An assembly comprising:

a unitary cast shower pan comprising a draining base portion and a plurality of sidewalls, the sidewalls extending upward from the draining base portion and defining a draining area that drains to a drain orifice; and

a slab floor member that has a substantially planar upper surface, the slab floor member being disposed in the shower pan, the slab floor member extending to within six inches of each of the sidewalls of the shower pan, the shower pan supporting the slab floor member such that the substantially planar upper surface of the slab floor member has a slight tilt, wherein a portion of the shower pan makes contact with a bottom surface of the slab floor member in each two-foot by two-foot square of the bottom surface of the slab floor member.

8. The assembly of claim 7, wherein the substantially planar upper surface of the slab floor member has a surface area that is more than seventy-five percent of the draining area.

9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the upper surface of the slab floor member is a continuous surface of a material taken from the group consisting of:

granite, marble and engineered stone.

10. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the slab floor member has a peripheral edge, and wherein water from a shower head falls on the upper surface of the slab floor member, flows across the upper surface of the slab floor member, passes over the peripheral edge and onto the draining base portion of the unitary cast shower pan, and is conducted by the unitary cast shower pan underneath the slab floor member to the drain orifice.

11. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the slab floor member is not fixed to the unitary cast shower pan but rather rests on the unitary cast shower pan.

12. The assembly of claim 7, wherein the unitary cast shower pan has a first sidewall, a second sidewall, and a third sidewall, and wherein the slab floor member has a first peripheral side edge, a second peripheral side edge, and a third peripheral side edge, the first peripheral side edge extending parallel to the first sidewall, the second peripheral side edge extending parallel to the second sidewall, the third peripheral side edge extending parallel to the third sidewall.

13. A method comprising:

supporting a slab floor member in a cast shower pan such that a substantially planar upper surface of the slab floor member has a slight tilt, the cast shower pan having a draining area that drains to a drain orifice, the drain orifice being located underneath the slab floor member, wherein a surface area of the upper surface of the slab floor member is more than seventy-five percent of the draining area of the cast shower pan, and wherein the slab floor member has a peripheral edge; and

conducting water that flows over the peripheral edge across a surface of the cast shower pan under the slab floor member and to the drain orifice.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the cast shower pan is a unitary cast resin article, and wherein the slab floor member includes no cast resin.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the substantially planar upper surface of the slab floor member is a surface of a material taken from the group consisting essentially of:

granite, marble, and an engineered stone material.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the slab floor member is composed substantially entirely of a material taken from the group consisting of:

granite, marble, and engineered stone.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the slab floor member is a single piece of a material taken from the group consisting of:

granite, marble, and an engineered stone material.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the slab floor member has a substantially planar bottom surface, and wherein the shower pan contacts each two-foot by two-foot square portion of the substantially planar bottom surface of the floor member.