Shower trays

[The Medway Handyman]

I've been looking at shower trays in B&Q and Wickes - the cheaper ones, & its not apparent how they are fixed to the floor.

No obvious clips, lugs or anything I've spotted. Can't pry any instruction leaflets loose from the packaging :-)

How exactly are they fixed down?

Second question. It makes sense to me to cover plasterboard with aquapanel, fixing it so that the aquapanel overlaps the shower tray by its thickness, then tiling over it, providing a much better waterproof joint.

Someone has remarked that the plasterboard should be 'replaced' by aquapanel. That would leave a smaller overlap over the shower tray, not to mention more work & mess.

Granted some thought about covering the edges would be required, but I can't see the point in removing perfectly sound plasterboard.

BTW - when they install a shower in a new build, do you reckon they use aquapanel or tile straight over plasterboard?

[Phil L]

foam usually

But putting AP over PB is a bodge - the PB becomes nothing more than a packer between the AP and the studding, the PB will eventually crumble away, leaving the AP and tiles wobbling about all over the place....far better to cut out the old PB first and replace it - it takes about 10 minutes with a good knife and a spirit level.

It perishes when it gets wet - and it gets wet indirectly, that is to say, enough moisture can get through a hole in the grout only as wide as a human hair to destroy ordinary PB - I've seen it hundreds of times.

aquapanel, although they do tile over PB in kitchens etc, and even though they are supposed to use AP in showers, a lot of them don't, and these are the ones I've seen loads of, some not even 5 years old

[YAPH]

Do they spend a few quid extra on something that won't show a difference until they've got their money and are long gone? You are having a laff, aren't you? ;-)

OTOH I was pleasantly surprised that the Polish builders on a job I'm working on, who dug a solid floor out deeper to put 100mm polystytene in rather than spend extra on 50mm xtratherm, used aquapanel rather than pb in a shower area without (AFAIK) being prompted.

[The Natural Philosopher]

6 years on and no aquapanel and all 4 showers here are fine.. only problem was one where water was getting in behind the place the shower pipe came out. blew the plasterbaod on the far side of teh wall.

More silicone fixed it.

No tiled plastererboard walls have shown ANY issues whatsoever.

>

[someone]

I'd agree with this. As a naive extension-owner, I tiled my shower enclosure over the builders' plasterboard 18 years ago and it lasted until I replaced the tiles, which were cracking, with white exterior house cladding a couple of years ago, fearing leaks. When I took the tiles off, there were no leaks whatever on the plasterboard, so I needn't have bothered :-( . However the cladding looks nice, very nautical.

someone

[F]

If you're talking ceramic, then onto a bed of sand and cement laid over suitably prepared ply.

Put ours down a couple of years ago and it's not moved.

[John Rumm]

What sort of tray?

The stone resin ones (only sort worth having IMHO) are bedded onto a layer or mortar or plaster. The fibreglass frame sort usually have screw holes in the legs so they can be "fixed")

You get the same effect just by having the tiles overlap the tray - that usually gives >= 10mm of overlap. Leave at least a tiles thickness gap below the tile as well and you have a very good key for the silicone (plus the it gives a big enough bead size to accommodate the tray movement).

If you can be sure the PB won't get wet you could leave it there, just remember it will take on the structural integrity of a wetabix if it gets wet!

You can probably guess what the modern box house builders do! (assuming its not against a plastered solid wall)

[Slider]

Easyplumb ones are on legs which are screwed to the floor.

Low level ones on marine ply and mortar.

My house was built in 2001 and I replaced the ensuite last year. Only normal plasterboard around the shower and when I removed the tiles, the bottom 18" of plasterboard was like mush. I cut out upto about 3 feet and replaced with plasterboard again, only because Aquapanel is thicker than my existing plasterboard and I would have had to replace the entire lot. But I did TANK the two shower walls first to make them waterproof.

See above

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My home made cubical is constructed entirely out of plasterboard. And tiled. Assuming there is no movement normal grouting will waterproof the joints between the tiles on the walls adequately - as water will tend to run off these anyway. I've used a silicone fillet for the corners.

I made the cubical rather larger width wise than the shower tray to give more elbow room, and constructed strong plywood 'floors' either side of the tray and about 1" below it. I then cast in place concrete blocks with a slight 'lie' towards the tray so water would run off and tiled those using suitable floor tiles. Again silicone fillets all round those to allow for some flexing. Not had any problems in some 20 years. I do leave the door open so it dries out after use, though.