I have a 1200mm x 760mm shower tray to install on top of a bed of mortar. The tray is heavy and is to be fitted into the corner of the shower room so it can't be lifted by two of us, one at each end or side.
So, how do I get it into position without disturbing/destroying the bed of mortar?
TIA
Slings and a pulley.
Once the tray is down cut the slings. (The parts below the tray have to be sacrificed.)
Owain
Interesting puzzle - I wonder if there's an approved pro answer?
My nearest guess would be to lay a couple of 'rails' into the mortar, slide the base along them until it's positioned, and then gently slide them out. You could use smooth batten, broom-handles, copper water pipe, or anything else of appropriate dimensions.
The weak spot in this would be if the far side of the base was going to suddenly 'drop' as the battens were withdrawn. You might have to embed something solid in the mortar at the far side to stop it from dropping too far.
Mmmm, yes - You'd need to rig a temporary frame or scaffold for the mounting point, but it's a graceful and accurate solution.
That's what I was hoping for: the professionals' 'trick'!
That was the only solution I could come up with but I was bothered that the void left by the rails might introduce a weak spot in the tray's support. However, I hadn't thought of copper pipe so that might not be too much of a problem.
I do it with a couple of battens set in the mortar. You can either drop the tray's far endge onto them, slide it into position and withdraw them, or, simply rotate them 90 degrees to drop the level of the batten and leave them there. Something like a bit of 3/4" x 1/4" lath works ok. For removeable supports 15mm pipe is fine.
Cast a big slab of ice in the freezer, place on top of the mortar, slide it on, turn on the heater.
Gawd! screw a batten to the wall (so it will take the weight of two people feet resting on it) a couple of inches above the mortar then position yourselves at both ends of mortar with a foot on the floor and other foot on batten, then lower tray onto mortar.
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
I see, how would this sling and pully be constructed?
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
I like it! Seasonal, too.
I did it with removable battens. It was less of a prob than I expected. I dropped it on the roughly spread mortar bed after 'walking' it to the back whilst lifting the front edge only, and wiggled it about until it was sitting on the battens - then lifted again at front edge to drop more mortar into the voids. cheers Jacob
Sorry, I can't see how that's going to work. 1200x760 isn't enough space for two men to bend double towards each other, and there would be no way for them to grip the inner side of the tray whilst it's being lowered (assuming flush to wall). They'd have to 'drop & shove' the last 4" or so, which probably defeats the purpose?
Yes, that's definitely the way - dead easy, and worked like a charm for me, on my own, with no knackered back ensuing!
If you google this newsgroup you'll find the method mentioned several times in the past, in some detail.
David
If it's upstairs:
- Remove plasterboard from ceiling
- Remove slates and sarking boards from roof
- Hire big crane
The same procedure also works for hot tubs etc.
Owain
The slings are simply some webbing of the type used for, er, slinging things by crane. The pulleys are obtainable from the same places as the sling. Garages dealing with commercial vehicle repairs or anyone who uses a hi-ab should have or know of suppliers for things for lifting/slinging/tying down.
Once the tray is down on the mortar bed the webbing slings are cut right back next to the shower and lost in the gap between the shwer and the wall below the tiling.
Owain
Too late to install a Coram 1200x760 instead of the resin? Weighs less than
25kg, so can be lifted by a single person and doesn't need a mortar bed.However, if you're fitting a resin one into a corner, rather than alcove, you can carry it by the corners with just a little weight on the outside corner to keep it from tipping forwards.
Christian.
The advantage of this method is that you can lay the mortar mix dry and not have to make it up first with a bucket!
Christian.
Too late - yes. It's been standing on the landing waiting to be installed for the last 10 months! Three weeks holiday in the west of the USA and then summer got in the way!
after they had emailed me to say it was ready for despatch. They told me they had placed an order with the manufacturer and that I would have to wait for a fresh delivery yet they were able to despatch one the following day. When the shower arrived it had the wrong shower head. My email to them asking for the correct one to be supplied is still waiting for a reply after 7 days (even longer than they took to reply to previous emails). Their standard paragraph in their responses would seem designed to warn off anyone who expects decent customer service: 'PLEASE DO NOT KEEP EMAILING IN WITH THE SAME ISSUE. WE DEAL WITH ALL EMAILS ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, IF YOU EMAIL US REPEATEDLY THEN YOUR ENQUIRY WILL BE GIVEN THE TIME OF YOUR MOST RECENT EMAIL AND YOU WILL PUT YOURSELF TO THE BACK OF THE QUEUE !'
Certainly won't be dealing with them again, especially when I can order from Screwfix at 5:50pm one day and receive the order before 11:00am the next.
The positioning of the waste is different from that of the tray it replaces (ie coincident with a central heating pipe!) and so I've had to put the tray in position a few times. I've found I can straddle a corner and lift the tray by carefully gripping the waste outlet and rotating it. I may be able to use this technique to lower it onto the mortar bed with someone holding the 'lower' end off the mortar until the tray is horizontal. However, I've got a couple of battens ready to slide it on if need be. Tomorrow (today) will tell...
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