www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi,

I am looking to swap my existing 'walk in shower' for new. Have purchased a resin shower tray from b and q and compatiable shower enclosure. This is onto wooden floor boards with plasterboarded/skimmed walls

Have read quite a bit on forums etc on how best to go about and so have decided on the below stratergy, this is from removing existing shower

replaster/make good current walls
fit ply board to floor boards to steady tray and give better surface area
using dunlop waterproofing kit, tank round area 1metre high in accordance to instructions
plumb waste onto tray, seal with silicone
using silicone ( a lot of) place tray onto prepared ply, making sure absolutely striaght silicone bottom and wall areas of tray
fit and attach enclousre onto tray direct onto wall
seal entire tray with silicone in all corners etc
tile inside enclosure and grout when adhesive dry
reseal entire shower enclosure
connect waste to waste pipe through trap created off the shower area
fit new shower (electric) onto finished tiled wall within shower

So this is the plan, my first question is does this sound adequate? my current shower leaks and so this is the main goal to avoid, hence the tanking stage etc.

Also my preferred method would be to fit the shower enclousre bit onto the tiles, however only one bit of wall will have continued tiles outside of the shower bit so I will need to screw the enclosure directly onto the wall. Once i have fitted the tiles within, how do I go about making sure there is an absolute tight seal at the point where i screw enclosure to wall!?

Hope all this makes some sort of sense

thanks in advance

handyandy!!!

Plumbing and electrics for shower.

I am presuming the shower tray is direct fit to floor and not on legs, take out floor boards and replace with ply as a suitable base. Over ply for the shower if you are tiling the floor.

If you want to tank the walls then do it full height, after making good too walls. When you make good walls will depend on what work you need to do for electric shower and waste.

Lay tray in position and mark outlet onto floor. Run the waste and fit tray making sure it is level.

Silicone between tray and wall with Dow Corning 785 silicone.

Tile walls. On the wall which is only tiled to the edge of the shower enclosure, finish this off 15mm from outside edge of tray and use a vertical tile trim to match the enclosure. White plastic, chrome etc, a square edge profiled trim looks best. Shower enclosure which is normally set back 20mm from outside edge of tray will then run nicely up the tile edge profile.

Grout walls and leave for 24 hours.

Fit electric shower and enclosure.

using Dow Corning 785, seal the electric shower. seal the enclosure as per instructions (some are sealed inside, some outside, some inside plus 150mm vertical on outside). Seal around tray, seal tiles to internal corners and where tiles meet the ceiling.

Leave shower 5-7 days before using.

By the way, tanking will not stop the shower enclosure from leaking. That is workmanship which does that.

cheers for the advice

through further reasearch and to give access to underneath shower tray, b and q sell a 'universal easy plumb kit' which raises the tray so access underneath is given. I have also bought a tanking kit from screwfix (not cheap £45). I can see what your saying about tanking not preventing leaks, however I suppose i like the thought of underneath the tiles there being an extra 'so called' seal inbetween the wall, however is it really going to do all that much or is it a bit of a waste of money!?