I'm afraid you won't be able to just raise it on a 40mm bed of mortar! Nor will you be able to cut a hole in the side of the shower tray.
For one, there's the trap. This will extend about 100mm below the floor surface.
If it's being installed on concrete, you will either need to channel the concrete for trap + pipe, or raise the tray by about 120-150mm to get enough clearance.
Having just typed this I find myself wondering if the post is a troll, but I'll post the reply anyway.
It's really mandatory, because neither the floor nor the underside of the tray will be dead flat. If you don't then there is a strong risk of the base cracking when you stand on it. It is usually a condition of the base warranty.
You don't say whether it's a stone resin tray or a fibreglass one. You can cut a hole in the side of a fibreglass tray, but I am not sure that you can with a stone resin one without a high risk of stressing and wrecking it.
Added to this, you have to account for the trap as well as the waste pipe. It will need a greater depth than the waste anyway. If the tray is a fairly high profile one - say about 200mm high in total, you should be able to accomodate the trap in this depth. Much less and you won't unless you dig out the floor under it.
Not long ago I needed to replace a shower tray in one of our bathrooms when the old glassfibre one had cracked. This was a high profile one and the waste was run above the floor, so there was a cut through the side. Ultimately, I'm going to re-do this bathroom substantially, and run the waste under the floor but this is quite a fiddly job for which I didn't have the time.
So I used a low profile stone resin tray and made up a very stout frame to go underneath using 91x38 CLS timber (two heights of it) with cross bracing, and then a piece of 18mm WBP (water resistant ply). A hole was cut in the side and the plumbing fitted, then the tray was bedded on the top using mortar as recommended to level and support the tray. I then simply tiled the outside of the wooden frame.
I suppose on a concrete floor, you could make a base of bricks infilled with more concrete or something like that, but it needs careful thought in case you ever need to remove the waste or fit a different type of shower tray. At least with a wooden frame it's easy to change. I would screw it to the floor, though.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Sorry, just my suspicious nature :-)
I'd do it with timber. Build a timber frame high enough, then top it off with a piece of 3/4" ply for the tray to sit on. Make sure it's high enough tto allow room for the shower trap and sufficient fall from the trap outlet to whatever you are connecting to. It's worth buying the trap before you do this.
I know from a previous post it is best to bed a heavy shower tray rather than just letting it rest on the floor. My problem is the floor is concrete and I need to be able to get the shower waste pipe to a connection outside the tray. I don't suppose I should cut a hole in the tray side to feed the pipe through, so should I simply raise the bed the 40mm to clear the pipe, or would it be better to rest it on a timber base supporting the whole of the tray underside? Or is there an even better way? Many thanks.
Not sure why you would think this post isn't genuine, so thanks for the reply. Basically I have never done anything like this before, which is why the question might seem dumb, if that is why you doubt it. I can't channel out the concrete because that will leave the fall below the existing waste, so it will have to be raised. But should I do that with bricks and infil with concrete to give support across the whole tray bottom, or perhaps timber? Thanks for posting.
Many thanks, the advice is greatly appreciated.
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