I know this is not strictly plumbing/piping but it is very closely related.

What is the best material to use to build up a shower curb?

Set up two planks and pour solid concrete?

Use the thinner 4" thick hollow blocks?

Stack and cement 8"x4"x2" bricks?

Stack several pieces of pressure treated 2x4 together?

From an ease of installation lumber is the easiest. Plus it is easy to attach the shower pan when you wrap it over the curb's lip you can nail it easily into lumber. But if there is a leak in the pan the lumber would warp rot and crack the tiles.

sum....All the ways you described will work well. The best thing you can do is spend as much money as necessary to get the best water-proofing technology that is available. The key is no leaks. Build it to withstand a nuclear blast, and you're "good-to-go".

in florida you have different problems than we 'yankees' do. spelled T E R M I T E S...
up here pressure treated stacked 2 x 4's is all i have ever seen used.

Pressure treated 2 X 4's are what we use here also.

Never seen it done, but I think I like the idea of a poured up curb. Not sure how the pan would attach.

Packy, yes we do have termites down here.

However, for a shower curb I am not that concerned if the other three walls are already wood framed walls. So the termites have the same wood on four sides (3 bottom plates and 1 curb) instead of three sides.

I think the pan would fold over the curb and be attached to the front with adhesive. Then you screw in a piece of thin cement board on the front if curb as tile backing.

I understand if you use those liquid membrane like Redguard you can just paint on the concrete and that's it.

With wood do you wrap all sides with a layer of cement board before you put the shower pan over it?

Sum

Have you considered Styrofoam? This is what a lot of tile guys are using Dense foam is rot free and easy to install Google styrofoam shower curbs.. there are some real nice products..

At first i questioned about styrofoam strength, however some Highway departments are using it for bridge abutments under the pavement as it doesn't compact.



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The shower pan liner is stapled to the studs and the cement board laps down over the liner.