shower trays

[jon]

Are there any pros and cons of either the cast stone resin shower tray, sold by screwfix for example,

to this "stilted type" sold by Plumbworld

[Lobster]

the advantage of the adjustable legs which in theory at least should make them vastly easier to install. I haven't fitted one myself but have one coming up to do, and I'm certainly going to give it a go.

The conventional trays are very heavy, and have to be installed on a mortar bed so they are evenly supported underneath (to avoid cracking); which is a lot of work and moderately tricky to get level. All should be far easier with the stilted job.

David

[John Rumm]

(i.e. they are solid with no flex or drumming). The stone ones also work well if you want a very low step height into the shower and can run the waste under the floor.

For good quality and value enclosures and trays try these folks:

bought a 800mm quadrant enclosure and tray from them a while back, which was certainly comparable to the stuff that many shops were knocking out in the £500-600 range. Cost including delivery was about £200 IIRC.

[Lobster]

I thought the above Coram ones *were* stone resin too, not those cheapo acrylic bendy ones - is that not the case?

David

[Christian McArdle]

I fitted a traditional stone resin one in my mum's house and a Coram Waterguard in my own. Both are excellent, but have distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of stone:

Solid underfoot. Quality feel. Lack of upstands make retrofitting to existing walls easier. Quiet in use.

Advantages of Coram:

MUCH easier to install. 1 person job. Space underneath for plumbing (and waste pump in my case) Easier to remove, as not cemented in. Tiling upstands make sealing to wall a doddle, but only if you are retiling.

The main disadvantage of the Coram is the noise. The lighter construction does sound like a polycarbonate conservatory roof in the rain.

Personally, I find both trays entirely acceptable and the correct choice in each case. For example, the stone resin could not have fitted in my en-suite, as there would have been nowhere for the pump, I had no help to install it and the weight might have put the marginal joists over their dead load limit.

Christian.

[John Rumm]

From looking at the video on the plumbworld site, they are certainly not the thin bendy fiberglass type, but by the same token they are not stone (i.e. concrete) either. They look like a more solid thick fiberglass substrate with resin/gelcoat surface.

"stone resin" usually means a cast concrete tray with a resin/gelcoat surface. If you dropped one of these in the way shown at the start of the video you would have lots of bits of tray!

[John Rumm]

Wandering off topic a bit... I have installed stone trays a number of times on my own, and found the following trick makes it doable without wrecking your back:

First mix and spread your bedding material (I usually use mortar, but I have seen it done once on bonding plaster). Try and level the bed reasonably well before going much further. Then to lay a couple of offcuts of pipe (a bit longer than the tray) over the mortar going front to back. Take the tray and deposit the edge of it down onto the pipes. These will push into the mortar, but will stop the tray from making contact with it. Now you can tilt the tray toward you and slide the far edge toward the wall on the pipes. Once almost in place, you can lower it down flat on the pipes and slide it the last bit of the way. Once in position you can pull the pipes free from under the tray, and in so doing, dropping it onto the bed. Finally tap/wiggle it level to get it nicely bedded on.

[jon]

Cheers for the link, some good prices there, almost half as much as screwfix are charging.

Jon

[jon]

Cheers Christian, will probably go the the Coram, as it looks just as sturdy as the cast resin ones, but more flexible to install.

Jon

[Christian McArdle]

Go for it. IMHO, this is a case of there being two right choices, rather than one right and one wrong, unless one of the advantages/disadvantages is compelling.

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

All I did with mine was to mix up some rapid set tile cement...tip the tray on the plinth against the wall..splodge a 10cm load of cement on the plinth and lower the tray down, and tape with a rubber bonker till the spirit level showed true. My tray had recesses under the lips where the surplus muckite squidged up.

Then a quick sort of the tray lips with silicone before tiling locked it all in place.