The drain I put in is leak free, but the shower is leaky beyond hope. The door leaks, the edges leak. The whole thing is a mess and it’s destroyed part of the underlay and vinyl tile I put in a few years ago. So needless to say I’m very displeased. I’ve dismantled the whole stall  and determined no matter how well you caulk the thing, eventually it’s going to leak when the caulk deteriorates or gets its seal broken somewhere. It’s just a fundamentally bad design, no matter how you cut it.
We actually hate the shower anyway, and were contemplating replacing it outright, but I decided I’d rather have the shower back quick and dirty, so I set out just to replace the drain. Not going to cut it. The new shower bases have lips to prevent water that might get out of the door from leaking all over the floor, and their walls are more substantial than a piece of vinyl glued to the drywall. The existing shower is an outdated piece of camel dung, and there’s no getting around it. Sadly, this is also going to mean replacing the floor I put in a few years ago, since I don’t have enough tile left to replace what I need to take up, and they don’t sell that pattern anymore. It’s vinyl tile, so not particularly hard to bring up if you use a heat gun to soften the glue. I may have a tiler come in and tile the thing with ceramic tile so I never have to worry about it again.
I really hate having to fix things. I really really hate having to fix things I already thought I fixed once.
Tiling with ceramic tile is not difficult as a DYI project. You might want to check into it and save a bit of money.
One of the most unpleasant aspects to any expensive system is the decision whether to repair or replace. Fortunately, my current house is only about five years old, so I have not had to do anything terribly complicated yet. The worst was a loose kitchen faucet that required a plumber because it was so badly done at install.
Have you thought about installing a one piece or two piece shower stall? It would save you a lot of grief if you want to re-do the shower yourself.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4621968_install-onepiece-shower-unit.html
http://www.fresnod.com/ShowerStalls-i-26-26.html
http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/51-288-shower-stalls.aspx
The thing about older homes, you fix one problem which turns into another, then another. Like opening the proverbial “can of worms”. But if it has good bone structure then it’s worth repairing correctly.
think about installing one piece or 2 piece shower stalls…
If you’re going through that much work, consider a floor heater as well.
Ceramic floors are chilly in the winter.
Rule of thumb I once read was budget 1% of the value of the home, per year for maintenance and upkeep. Not improvement, maintenance. My household budget in quicken has just such a line item, updated every so often as the laughable estimates of house prices fall (I won’t drop below the purchase price to calculate that line item, though).
Reminds me of when Bob & Norm (mostly Norm) used to open up the first wall in any of the original This Old Houses. There’s always some Money Pit to be discovered. Even if it’s not a demand on the wallet, then time and sweat equity come into play.
Good luck.
Maybe if you loosen your skirt you would enjoy fixing things more!!!
Just kidding, of course. I’m the type of guy who, while not especially handy, would enjoy a project like that.
I think buying a new shower can be helpful, there are lots of design now a days that are very functional. Also you should need to check your plumbing in the bathroom this allow you to prevent further more problems.