Installing a shower screen in a partition wall

[ripperuk]

Hello everyone...

...this is my first post (and one of many to come! ), so please bear with me if I don't seem to make sense.

I've moved into my new home, which is a victorian terraced house, approx 105 years old. The house does need some renovation and has hardly been modernised.

Anyway, I'm trying to install a screen, but because of the silly layout the previous owner has set, the shower is installed in the partition wall, on top of the bath. My problem is that where the bath edge is, (this is where the screen base will rest) the partition wall is hollow and there are no joists to support the screen. The closest joist is about 1/2 a foot away from the bath, so its not possible to install the screen there.

Can someone give me advice please as to the best way of securing a screen? It must be reasonably secure as I don't want my kids having a screen falling on them.

Many thanks for your advice

RiPPeRUk

 

[chrishutt]

Tricky one that. Quite often I cut a large opening in the plasterboard and insert a suitable block of timber, fixed with Grip-fix and screws, refix the plasterboard cut-out and polyfill the cracks/gaps. If the bathroom wall is tiled, you could cut the hole from the other side.

 

[Expertboy]

Tricky one that. Quite often I cut a large opening in the plasterboard and insert a suitable block of timber, fixed with Grip-fix and screws, refix the plasterboard cut-out and polyfill the cracks/gaps. If the bathroom wall is tiled, you could cut the hole from the other side.

Agree with this one, make a hole as suggested large enough to place a timber behind the studding then screw away.

 

[geoff@cetltd]

Is that what's known as a glory hole ?

 

[ChrisR]

Noggins are the trad method. Make holes in the p board where you want the frame fixings to be, and put whatever by 2" timbers horizontally between vertical studs, held in by long skew screws unless you're adept at nailing so the nogs end up flush. Then cut bits of plasterboard to patch where your holes are, and fill.

I prefer to cut back the pboard both sides to the studs and half way across them, and replace the lot with WBP ply nearly thick enough - 9mm or 12. SO you'll have a sheet of ply 3ft tall and 16" wide or whatever. Then if you're going to tile, you can just prepare it suitably and put tiles on top. Or you can skim plaster over it. Then use a lot of screws into the ply from the screen edge. Even if its only 9mm ply it won't pull off the studs. That's how I hang boilers on stud walls anyway!

 

[ripperuk]

Many thanks everyone for your replies...its much appreciated.

The answers you guys gave are what I was dreading as the job will become very complex and messy IMHO. Also did I forget to mention that this is a victorian house? There is no plasterboard behind the wall...Just pieces (1.5cm wide) of this wood, which they used to use before plastering. One side of the wall is wallpapered (hallway) and the other is tiled (bathroom).

I'm sorry, I'm not much of a DIY man, but is there no way that I could screw a shower rail to the ceiling, which is cladded instead?

As mentioned before, this is one of many topics and I'll move onto the next topic if we can't solve this.

Thanks again

 

[ChrisR]

Not a problem, you've got lath and plaster that's all. That would be the original "stud" wall construction.
The ceilings will be the same, probably with the plaster hanging off the laths though. It's common to find that cladding is mainly about trying to hold it up.

It isn't as easy to cut back to halfway across the stud with L &P, so I'd cut the laths flush with the insides of the nearest studs, and fix vertical wood inside the those studs by screwing sideways, then fix plywood to that. Sure you'll have a rubble bag full by the time you're done, but it isn't difficult. An hour or two's work perhaps to cut out the l&p and screw plywood in.
If you're working on a Victorian house, plaster dust is going to be a feature of your life for a while.
It might seem daunting but once you've got a way, or a person, to deal with it, it's no big deal.

 

[ripperuk]

thanks very much chrisR...i'll give it a try and let you know how i get on.

thanks again!