Replacing a shower - how hard can it be?

[JP_]

Hi

We have a 12 year old square 760cm shower with sliding doors. Area within the shower is tiled, rest of room painted. Show is high profile with waste travelling at floor height in a boxed in bit along the side of the room.

A plumber quoted for totally renovating the room at £2000. Too much for me.

I am thinking of just replacing the shower tray and screens and re-tiling. The shower itself is good, as is the big tap / valve thing on the wall, so all this can stay.

So I am now thinking I could do it myself. Remove old shower, remove tiles, fit in new shower, new tiles, job done.

How hard can it be?

The only difference is that we want a bigger shower, maybe 760 by 1000 or even 1200. It all seems quite straight forward, although I have never done anything like it before.

No real plumbing involved, just fitting new waste. Main job probably is tiling? I could get a pro in to do that, the tricky part is around the large round tap.

Is a shower replacement a good DIY job, or a distaster waiting to happen? We do have a bath with a shower head (no screen) so can use emergency shower!

 

[BertyUK]

I think you'll be fine.

Isolate the shower and the 'tap/valve' should come off (pictures of it would help determine how)
Strip all tiles, remove shower tray. Stripping tiles may damage platerboard/walls but that shouldn't add too much to cost even if you had to re-board.
Tank walls with BAL WP1 kit or similar
Install tiles/tray again

If you're going for a bigger tray, the waste position will no doubt change from where it is now. You may need to adjust the waste pipe slightly but this isn't too difficult or expensive.

I suggest you take pictures of everything and come back for more advice.