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I'm in the middle of remodeling my bathroom, and am about to tackle putting up the shower walls. My house was built in the 1930s, and thus most of the walls are lath slathered with mortar that holds the plaster wall.

The bedroom is on the other side of the show, and I would like to keep its plaster intact. My problem is that I would like to install shower niches (for shampoo, soap, etc.) in the wall. However, the mortar holding the plaster on is brittle, and if it comes off, so does the plaster. I was planning on putting a piece of plywood for the back of the niche. However, I'm worried I'll lose at least a 1/2" because the of the mortar pressing against the back of the plywood (not to mention potentially being destructive to the wall behind it).

Does anyone have any suggestions or experiencing dealing with this type of configuration?

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What are you planning on finishing the shower surround with? Plywood and plaster are usually not things you want in the shower. Are you tiling? – DA01 Jan 3 at 4:14
I'm planning on doing: 0.5" cement board, redgard, then tile. The plywood was just to build out the niche, and provide something that I can seal and tile. – Abe Schneider Jan 3 at 13:19
Ah, well, that should work. Note that getting a good seal on the corners of the niche can be tricky. They actually make 'niche boxes' that are plastic boxes that provide a more water-tight container. Personally, I built niches into my last tiled shower and regretted it. They ended up being a place for water and soap scum to collect and ended up being more of a pain than useful. In hindsight, I would have preferred to just install a higher quality shower caddy. – DA01 Jan 3 at 15:18
Yeah, I've been doing a bunch of research on building the niches. It looks like a lot of sealant plus fiberglass tape is necessary. As for the water and scum build-up, in theory sloping the bottom and top help with that. I currently have a shower-caddy and think it's more of a pain to clean etc. It's always possible I'll change my mind... – Abe Schneider Jan 3 at 16:00
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yea, the theory is that it'll drain. In our case, the bottles and soaps and such trapped enough water even with the slope that we'd have mildew. If you do decide to go this route, I'd suggest using a solid-surface material for the bottom of the niche (rather than tile it) to avoid having any grout joints on the bottom. – DA01 Jan 3 at 16:02
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