installing tray with concrete ??? sharp or soft sand ?

[2ptjoe]

Simople question i know but unsure which as this will be my first.

thanks

 

[Bahco]

I would say sharp sand myself.

 

[smiffyuk]

Do you intend to concrete a shower tray in or do the instructions say bed the tray on sand. If your fitting an acrylic tray onto a plywood base then to bed it on builders sand is the answer.

 

[2ptjoe]

it says it needs to be set in concrete on a marine ply 18mm base.

It's on a suspended floor

 

[Goldspoon]

I just did one and used a sand/cement mix (1 cement to 5 sand) as per instructions with shower. All went fine.

 

[2ptjoe]

I just did one and used a sand/cement mix (1 cement to 5 sand) as per instructions with shower. All went fine.

but did you use soft or sharp sand ????????????????

 

[Goldspoon]

sharp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sheslookinhot]

I just did one and used a sand/cement mix (1 cement to 5 sand) as per instructions with shower. All went fine.

How wet was your sand /cement mix ?

What did you do at the outer edges of the tray to stop the mix oozing out ?

Cheers

 

[JPC]

silicone

 

[ChrisR]

Concrete? If it's thin the last thing you need is stones!
Bricklaying mortar, I'd have thought maybe a tad more cement in the mix - soft=builders sand or it won't spread as well.

 

[Goldspoon]

Mix was just thick enough so it would not run. I had the same questions as you... but it all went okay.

 

[Softus]

Simople question i know but unsure which as this will be my first.

Cement with only soft sand as an aggregate is strong in compression but weak in all other ways, so if there is any minute flexing of floor, or platform, or tray, or all three, then it might crack. For this reason sharp sand is a better choice. A dryish mix won't ooze much.

For shower trays, some people swear by silicone. The trouble with that method is that you can easily use two tubes of silicone to get decent coverage, and since I only ever buy and use 785 it's hard to justify an SP of about £14 against the 50p that a cement-based mix would cost. On the other hand, silicone is so much quicker to apply - no mixing, no cleaning up afterwards.

Ya spins the wheel and ya takes yer choice....

 

[DCPlumbing]

Plasterboard bonding compound. Mix straight out of the bag with water to a consistency where it just holds on the trowel without falling off (not too sloppy) Sets like bell metal and never let me down!

Used this method with resin trays onto a plywood base and timber frame.

 

[Jasonb]

I usually have some rapidset flexi tile adhesive knocking about, that works well or if its on a raised timber platform I tend to use a couple of tubes of solvent free gripfill.

Jason