Shower tray won't budge

[Lobster]

I need to relocate my shower for various reasons, and am therefore trying to 'uninstall' it. Unfortunately whoever installed it did a very thorough job and I can't make the tray move even slightly. I want to re-use it, but at the moment it is looking like a sledgehammer job.

The tray is plastic, embedded with what looks like expanding foam (ie, it was supplied that way). It's sitting in a tiled corner (on two sides) on a 0.5" marine ply base, which in turn is supported by 2" square timber beams. No visible fixings anywhere (suspect there are probably screws down thru the ply and beams into the floorboards. I've tried ramming a wrecking bar and cold chisel into any gaps in the wood I can see, but it just deforms the timber and they become embedded. And the shower tray is not strong enough to lever against; and it's solid as a rock, can't induce any detectable movement whatsoever. Can't access it from underneath (there's a lath-and-plaster ceiling I'd rather not destroy).

So how are these things normally fixed - what am I likely to be up against? I'm damned glad I'm not having to fix a leaking drain under it rather than pulling it out! Are there likely to be lugs buried in the plaster or something? If it's just glued down, I'm probably stuffed, aren't I? :-(

Thanks David

[Clive Summerfield]

Typically they're set into a thick bed of either mortar (generally stone-cast resin trays) or silicon sealant (plastic trays). I reckon you're going to have to resign yourself to trashing the tray in order to remove it.

Cheers Clive

[Rick Hughes]

whoever put it in seems to have done a good job - rare

[Lobster]

Just in case anyone's interested (!) for future reference, I recently removed the above tray. I ended up taking a wrecking bar and sledge to it, and ended up with not a single piece larger than about 2" square. Unbelievable. It was attached to the floor and walls using a combination of nails, screws (all concealed heads), glue and silicone rubber; with screw heads concealed between several layers of battens, plywood base etc. God only knows how anyone was supposed to have got at the waste pipe underneath for servicing purposes! Is there a 'proper' way to fit the trays, or are they simply 'disposable'?

David

[Michael Mcneil]

To be honest I've never thought aabout something like that. I have to make a stand out of 6x2 on Monday for one. The drain has to run halfway through the house and over the garage, hence the 6" staging. I have to make it so that the plumber has access to the outlet and for the pirpe to run to it. In other words open ended. I shall probably screw it to the floor with a couple of smallish screws.

I doubt the plumber will use more that a few dabs of silicon to fix the tray to it. When he has fitted it I shall be putting a cover or box over the nether regions with a few tacks and a lot of silicon or/and gripfill. It sounds like yours was a DIY jobbie by some belt and braces merchant.

[John]

If it is a stone resin tray, make sure he (plumber) sets it down on a full (i.e. shower tray shape and size) bed of 1/2" sand & cement mix. This ensures thet there are no 'pressure points' on the tray when in use. The installation instructions should tell you this.

HTH

John