There was blood sweat and tears, but that is most likely part of the waterproofing membrane.

I dont know yet. I’m building a whole place and we dont have the water hooked up yet. If it does feel slippery, i will find some sort of sand to put on with a new coat of polycrylic. But i dont think it will be needed.

Thats a hard question to answer. The overall process took a ton of planning and pulled from alot of areas that i have done some work before. If you are familiar with framing, some cement and tile work, i say go for it. Prepare for mistakes amd take your time. The shower pan was more difficult than i thought. It was my first one and i would say it was the hardest part. Getting the angles right to flow water into the drain was tedious. Id say watch some youtube videos on that part for sure and shower waterproofing. This took me about 14 days all together.