Standalone Shower Cabinet

[Gordon Henderson]

I'm after a standalone shower - one with 4 walls (or D shaped, whatever).

I've had a look and found a few, but they're all stupidly expensive. Is that just the way it is? It seems a standard corner unit is well under £200, but add the other 2 panels to it and sudently they're £1000 more! (or more!)

The issue I have is that I want a shower in an old barn - but the wall I want it on is stone and limewashed - so I was looking to avoid touching the wall at all and just use a standalone cabinet... The alternative might be to prepare the wall - open to suggestions - "blob & dob" some plasterboard onto it, tile it and... or build a wooden frame/battons to stick plasterboard onto, or remove the limewash and render the wall, or ...

Any ideas welcome (or places to buy such a unit at a reasonable price), but I'd prefer to just drop-in a shower cabinet without touching the wall...

Cheers,

Gordon

[Huge]

When I wanted to build a 3 sided cubicle in our bathroom, I found one in Gibbs & Dandy that consisted of panels & aluminium extrusions that you could slot together as you wished to make a 2, 3 or presumably

4 sided cubicle. Sadly, I have long forgotten the make of it (it was ~10 years ago and we upgraded to a much larger, all glass, cubicle a couple of years ago).

One point I would make is that you'll have to be careful about the stability of the cubicle. I had to add some corner bracing even on the

3 sided one otherwise it wobbled about.

[Lobster]

FWIW I bought one from B&Q (own-brand I think) for a refurb project I was doing, about 3 or 4 years ago, for under GBP200: however I do remember going through the same angst looking for one as you are; that was an exceptionally good price I think and I think a 'special' or one-off.

That said, contrary to what you'd think it was bizarrely difficult to seal it and make it waterproof - it leaked badly down the two back vertical corners, requiring copious amounts of silicone to seal (allegedly none at all should have been required).

David

[Huge]

Ah, yes, I forgot about that particular nightmare. Mine came with a stupid toothpaste sized tube of silicone. I ended up taking it out and refitting it with about two big tubes of silicone bathroom sealer to make it watertight. That's one of the reasons we went for a all-glass "minimalist" one to replace it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

SWMBO wanted a special so I ended up gasping at the price of cabinets she said 'looked nice' and didn't fit anyway...

..ended up making one from toughened glass, special clips and clear silicone. With hinges, it was no more expensive than the cheapest crap they had for sale..

AND it fitted exactly. Well it did after the tossers at the glaziers made me a new door that actually had the hinges in the right place.

STRONGLY suggest you sketch up ideas and trot off to any glazier who claims to be able to do this.

Not sure how you would mount the shower heads and so on in a completely standalone situation tho.

[Phil L]

Plastic panelling is dirt cheap and lasts quite well in shower enclosures.

If it were mine, I would affix battens to the sandstone wall, and build another framework wall abbutting this, then clad the two in plastic and affix a normal two sided enclosure to this

[Cicero]

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This method has the added advantage that you can have a large shower tray and a smaller side panel and door. In effect you're making two (possibly three)stud walls with a third smaller return to make up a suitable size to accommodate any size of door / panel combination.

The plastic panelling has a warm soft feel which some might prefer to hard cold tiles.

Cic.

[Lobster]

Spookily enough I just came across the installation manual for this cubicle so have the details in case it's of any help:

Mfr: Gelco Design (but it was supplied as B&Q own-brand) Hydro cabin with sliding doors Model: Palma 702148

It also had 'body jets' (oo-er missus) I now recall.

David

[Gordon Henderson]

Just to post a follow-up - thanks for the replies, etc.

Found some that are sort of reasonable - From "Kinedo":

some of those prices go to over three grand! Who'd pay 3K for a shower!!! We just want a basic unit to provide for a 2nd shower in the house. (The old barn is attached - it's actually a sort of indoor garage abive the kitchen)

Cheers,

Gordon