I'm intending to put a shower over our bath. Question is what to do with the walls.
The existing walls were covered in painted hardboard glued to lathe & plaster by the previous owner. I've ripped it off leaving me with a slightly springy plaster surface. I'm going to put the shower over the end of the bath opposite the taps in the 'stud' wall along the lines of John Stumbles' wiki entry.
I have at present an open c/h system with 1.75m head above the proposed shower head; and in due course this may be changed to a pressurised system (possibly a combi). I think the head may be just sufficient for the time being as the existing combination mixer-tap + shower hose gives a usable shower though not power-shower level (obviously). Also the cold bath tap is fed via only 15mm, teed off the cold cylinder supply just before it enters the cylinder - not ideal! I propose to change this to a tapping on the cold tank in the attic (a la John's wiki again) fed horizontally to above the shower, then down the stud wall to the shower and down under the bath to the bath tap. I think it needs to be in
22mm to match the existing 22mm hot tap feed which arrives by an under floor route to the bath tap. The 15mm cold is noticeably underpowered when filling the bath to the extent the hot has to be throttled back 1/2 way. To improve the shower at a later date can I put a mains shower-pump under the bath or do electrical regs require a low voltage one? Alternatively could I put it in the attic if I intercept the cold feed to the DHW cylinder plus the new cold shower feed? i.e. the pump would be before the cylinder rather than after it, this having the additional benefit (perhaps?) of pressurising the kitchen tap which suffers a very long 15mm run.Back to the walls, I'll follow the advise to use WBP ply for the shower end, but what about the side of the bath? Any preferences for just tiling the existing lathe & plaster or hacking it off and replacing with WPB, a nasty mesy job, or is that overkill? All subsequently tiled. I imagine the tiles will (hopefully) reinforce the slightly springy plaster.
What is the best way to seal the tiles to the bath (I know about 1/2 filling it with water)? Simple silicone caulking or use a proprietry plastic seal?
What about 'plastic' walls, what's that called, I have no experience of it.
Phil