Shower tray leak

[Mikey D]

Hi plumbers , bathroom fitters and any other non cowboy builder types !

The pictured shower tray has been leaking since I bought this "renovated " house .
It's acrylic and flexes when you put weight on it , its only laid on the original floorboards .

The silicon cracks open up with your weight on it .

I need to.bite the bullet and sort it properly once and all .
Are the stone trays much better ,? I was going to pull it all out and replace the floor boards with a section of 19 mm plywood .

What would the best way of tackling this job and would a stone trays that much better ? Thanks in advance

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Mine is stone resin and I get zero flex....fitted 12+ years ago to a strengthened wood floor using flexible adhesive.

I always use a tanking kit...belt and braces.

 

[rtcosic]

As this is a welding Forum.........................
I had a similarly flexible large cheap shower tray.
I made a supporting framework out of 40x40x3 SHS.

No more flex and the silicon sealant then could do its job undisturbed.

 

[Mark 5]

Hi plumbers , bathroom fitters and any other non cowboy builder types !

The pictured shower tray has been leaking since I bought this "renovated " house .
It's acrylic and flexes when you put weight on it , its only laid on the original floorboards .

The silicon cracks open up with your weight on it .

I need to.bite the bullet and sort it properly once and all .
Are the stone trays much better ,? I was going to pull it all out and replace the floor boards with a section of 19 mm plywood .

What would the best way of tackling this job and would a stone trays that much better ? Thanks in advance

Thin acrylic trays can be a nightmare to achieve a decent seal, thicker or stone resin so much better.

If you wish to use the same tray,

Remove all traces of existing sealant, be thorough with this.

Try to make sure there is at least a 4mm gap between tray and tiles.

Put as much static weight in to the tray as you can, --- like a lot.

Use a decent sealant and pack in as much as you can all round the tray and other vulnerable areas, smoothing as you go.

Leave the weight in the tray and allow sealant to cure for 48 hours, remove weight, hopefully that should do it.

Better still, observing the above, remove existing tray, install a better quality one, more work but will end the agro your having for sure.

EDIT, not forgetting to use a membrane under any new tray or if you remove and reuse the old one.

 

[Gareth J]

My last resin one suggested as complete an underneath fill of sand/cement. Made sense to me with respect to adding stiffness and solidity. Was pretty rigid anyway but more can't hurt.

Also a big fan of upstand shower trays, should be a lot less routes for leakages.

 

[brightspark]

best laying the composite tray on a wooden plywood floor paste with sbr bonding agent and bed on sand and cement

 

[Craig-SM]

Ours is stone resin but laid on a bed of concrete so no flex. I can't see why you could achieve the same with an acrylic tray.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I can't see why you could achieve the same with an acrylic tray.

Should be achievable with a good solid base....if theres any hollow bits that would flex I wonder if they could be filled with PU foam or something like that to stiffen them up maybe?

 

[sg66]

Classi Waterproofing

waterproofyourbathroom.com

Google classi seal, I have installed and repaired leaking showers and not had one leak, as long as you get the bonding right IE stick the stuff properly it doesn't leak, your tray should be stuck to a good base you may need to re do silicone now and again but it's more for cosmetic than a water seal.

I've used pu IE sika to bond plastic or lightweight trays in place, they don't move ever again.

 

[gaz1]

whatever you do it all comes back to the support of the floor if that flexes so will anything thats attached to it

baths are the worst for it you have the weight of the bath then the water then the person so that floor needs to be stable without flexing and then also you need to support the bath as well

shower trays are similer stop the floor flexing when you stand in it and it will stop even the trays cracking as they do crack when not supported properly

pot trays are better then plastic trays

 

[gaz1]

where is that first pic taken on the shower pic ?

as too me that saying that the wall has moved also if its the corner pic in the shower

 

[addjunkie]

Hi plumbers , bathroom fitters and any other non cowboy builder types !

The pictured shower tray has been leaking since I bought this "renovated " house .
It's acrylic and flexes when you put weight on it , its only laid on the original floorboards .

The silicon cracks open up with your weight on it .

I need to.bite the bullet and sort it properly once and all .
Are the stone trays much better ,? I was going to pull it all out and replace the floor boards with a section of 19 mm plywood .

What would the best way of tackling this job and would a stone trays that much better ? Thanks in advance View attachment 481042View attachment 481041

View attachment 481040

Forget trying to fix it, those curved doors were designed by satan…..rip it out, good quality stone tray and bed on a sand and cement mix, or proper bedding compound.

 

[Beanwood]

Am I missing something- Are you all saying a sand/cement mix even if it’s an upper floor shower, likely with a chipboard floor base?

 

[dave h 2]

Beany,
It fills any gaps, it's not really structural just vertical weigh bearing.
Mines on 4x2 with tongue and groove on top all well screwed down, then the mortar as required by the shower base fitting guide. The waste run is about 4M round the walls.
The previous one was from 1988, PVC on feet but the tray extended up under the wall tiles.

 

[Beanwood]

just vertical weigh bearing

Ah - suddenly it all makes sense

 

[fizzy]

Quality fibreglass trays can be good as well if installed correctly. Even just sitting on a flat floor before installation there was zero flex - lots of stiffening ribs underneath.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I used flexible adhesive designed to stick things to wood floors...at the time that's what was recommended.

 

[Gareth J]

Am I missing something- Are you all saying a sand/cement mix even if it’s an upper floor shower, likely with a chipboard floor base?

Yeah. The last one I fitted instructions;

https://www.showerstoyou.co.uk/uploads/documents/Merlyn_Upstand_Fitting_3.pdf

It recommends using a single bit of marine ply. I can understand that logic. I went for a bit of green chipboard though (woah, living on the edge!!)

One recommendation, if your floor isn't dead level, level the board you fit to sit the tray on. So much easier that trying to let the mortar level it. Made that mistake previously.

 

[Mikey D]

Thanks guys for all your suggestions / advice .
I ordered a new stone resin shower tray today , will be in on Monday , so I'll have a couple of days to remove the screen ( which I'll refit afterwards)

I did contemplate @Pigeon_Droppings2 suggestion to use expanding foam to firm it up from underneath I could drill some holes in the floor boards underneath and inject said foam that way

Nooooo don't worry guys I've seen enough hidden bodges from the last owner /"renovated" . Originally the tray was very slow to drain and you showered in a puddle , ripped the ceiling to expose the waste pipes and they fell the wrong way and were held up with cable ties and other bodges FFS
As you can see from.the picture the underside is just old floor boards so I'll prob rip them out and make a level section with 19 mm plywood

 

[Craig-SM]

I'd be more concerned that you ripped the ceiling down and found fairy lights.