Shower tray fitting question
Discussion
I've been rectifying the botch job my bathroom fitter did (see my other thread about leaking shower valve) and I'm more or less finished - just waiting for the tiler.
The thing that's bothering me is, there's slight play in the shower tray when you stand on one edge (guessing <1mm), and this is the edge where the 50kg glass screen will rest. I've taped the joint between tray and wall behind the tiles, so I'm confident it's not going to leak, but it's going to bother me forever more if I can feel this play in the tray when I have a shower, and I guess there's also some chance of the stone resin tray cracking.
I've had two thoughts...
1. When the weight of the screen is on it it will be held firmly in place and won't move.
2. I need to put more support under the edge of the tray. This would mean taking up one of the 800mm floor tiles and I'm thinking of injecting some chemical mortar type product under the edge of the tray.
Any advice on the above? I want the shower to last a good few years this time, but also, I haven't had a proper shower for nearly 3 months now so adding more work to it isn't my top priority.
The thing that's bothering me is, there's slight play in the shower tray when you stand on one edge (guessing <1mm), and this is the edge where the 50kg glass screen will rest. I've taped the joint between tray and wall behind the tiles, so I'm confident it's not going to leak, but it's going to bother me forever more if I can feel this play in the tray when I have a shower, and I guess there's also some chance of the stone resin tray cracking.
I've had two thoughts...
1. When the weight of the screen is on it it will be held firmly in place and won't move.
2. I need to put more support under the edge of the tray. This would mean taking up one of the 800mm floor tiles and I'm thinking of injecting some chemical mortar type product under the edge of the tray.
Any advice on the above? I want the shower to last a good few years this time, but also, I haven't had a proper shower for nearly 3 months now so adding more work to it isn't my top priority.
About 20mm from the outside edge is ideal. The glass should not rest on the tray but be a mm or so above it so the silicone seal sits underneath to take up any movement, i use a couple of soft 1mm spacers when fixing the glass which i carefully cut out after the screen is fixed to the wall.
You should put a silicone seal between the floor tile and tray which should prevent any flexing in the future.
As long as the whole tray is not moving it should be OK.
You should put a silicone seal between the floor tile and tray which should prevent any flexing in the future.
As long as the whole tray is not moving it should be OK.
I followed the manufacture instructions to the letter which meant dabs of 5:1 sand cement at 200mm centers, starting 50mm from the tray edge.
It's on a ground floor concrete base.
For the first few days after laying it, it was solid everywhere but then developed this tiny bit of play on one edge.
It's on a ground floor concrete base.
For the first few days after laying it, it was solid everywhere but then developed this tiny bit of play on one edge.
billbring said:
I followed the manufacture instructions to the letter which meant dabs of 5:1 sand cement at 200mm centers, starting 50mm from the tray edge.
It's on a ground floor concrete base.
For the first few days after laying it, it was solid everywhere but then developed this tiny bit of play on one edge.
Normally it’s a full bed of sand and cement, I always bond the tray to the wall also. It's on a ground floor concrete base.
For the first few days after laying it, it was solid everywhere but then developed this tiny bit of play on one edge.
When you silicone that edge of the tray to the floor tiles and the glass panel on the tray, plus the weight of the glass then it’s very likely there won’t be much movement left
For anyone interested, I resolved this issue with expanding foam which is apparently a fairly common thing to do if you look on other forums and Youtube, particularly in America, it seems.
The key is to use a good quality low-expanding foam (I used this Soudal product) as it sets very densly and has less risk of lifting the tray, if you're careful.
I made a test rig by glueing together some spare tile backer to get a feel for how much foam to use and see how much outward pressure it would put on the boards.
This is the test, after slicing it down the middle to see how it looked inside.
The boards on the test deformedt by 7mm in the middle, but I used a massively excessive amount of foam.
On the real thing. I reduced the foam accordingly, used a long tube on the foam gun so I could push it to the middle of the tray, between the dabs of cement then withdrew it slowly whilst applying the foam. I also placed 3 large flexi buckets full of water on top of the tray to hold it firm.
The result is great, the tray is now absolutely solid.
The key is to use a good quality low-expanding foam (I used this Soudal product) as it sets very densly and has less risk of lifting the tray, if you're careful.
I made a test rig by glueing together some spare tile backer to get a feel for how much foam to use and see how much outward pressure it would put on the boards.
This is the test, after slicing it down the middle to see how it looked inside.
The boards on the test deformedt by 7mm in the middle, but I used a massively excessive amount of foam.
On the real thing. I reduced the foam accordingly, used a long tube on the foam gun so I could push it to the middle of the tray, between the dabs of cement then withdrew it slowly whilst applying the foam. I also placed 3 large flexi buckets full of water on top of the tray to hold it firm.
The result is great, the tray is now absolutely solid.
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