Leaking shower, how screwed am I?

[Ivor Windybottom]

Shower trays are available in loads of different sizes, just browse the various suppliers to see if there's one that would "slot in" (with lots of grunting!).

Hard to tell just from a photo, but those pipes look to be...

1. In the way
2. Botched with lots of unnecessary corners and fittings
3. Crustily corroded

I'd be thinking about blowing the lot away and starting the entire bathroom again from scratch. Potentially with a new layout if it can be improved.

 

[mrrusty]

Jeezuz wept!

Sower trays are meant to be as low to the ground as you can possibly get them. I've lost count the amount of trays we've dropped for grateful customers. Raising them up is lazy cowboy stuff, meant only for those that do not give a hoot. Shower wastes are designed to be cleaned from above.

Each to their own. I prefer the tray on a riser with accessible plumbing, ever since I had a tray (not one I'd put in, but one in a new house) split around the waste area. What a PITA that was to put right because the plumbing was buried...

 

[noseall]

Each to their own. I prefer the tray on a riser with accessible plumbing

There is not a shower tray on the planet that benefits from being high off the ground. Stepping in and out of a wet shower is no fun, even when they are on the floor and shallow access. Lifting them higher is utter madness especially if the folk are elderly.


All plumbing ends up buried if the plumber is any good.

 

[mrrusty]

There is not a shower tray on the planet that benefits from being high off the ground

...except the one where you are picking up an existing waste above the floor, and there is no simple route to create a new waste outlet below. Yes, if I was designing new, I'd go for a flush tray too, but practicality on the ones I have done has meant a riser has been the best option. Thinks:- riser kit, or lift the flooring and notch and/or drill the joists? hmm....

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

We have two, one I've fitted and another that was fitted by a pro.

The one I fitted is sunk below the floor, so the surface you stand on is the same height as the floor. The waste cover pulls off, you can pull the centre out and wash out or rod if ever needed. I used 50mm pipe, I thought why the heck not. All plumbing below the floor and invisible, connects directly into the sewage pipe.

The other professional one sits on old bricks as the waste pipe arrives via a horrible boxed in contraption behind the loo. It has victorian effect skirting boards glued round it with half a gallon of sealant. Was once painted, now a flaking rotten mess.

I know which I prefer getting in and out of, and cleaning. The latter one won't be around much longer, replacement will involve breaking out the entire concrete floor and starting from scratch.

But... refitting bathrooms is vastly easier when you have two. We had just one at the last house, which was desperately in need of a refit. But I never tackled it as there's no humane way of living without one. Someone should do portable bathroom hire, some sort of module you could plug into a spare bedroom, or in the back garden. Then you could actually do a complete refit properly instead of the quick botch most have to end up as.

 

[stuart45]

someone should do portable bathroom hire, some sort of module you could plug into a spare bedroom, or in the back garden. Then you could actually do a complete refit properly instead of the quick botch most have to end up as.

You can hire mobile bathrooms.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Oh yes...

Temporary Bathroom Hire - Temporary Solutions Group

Our temporary bathroom solutions offer a bespoke range of products that are suitable for any home. Speak to the team today!

www.temporarysolutionsgroup.com

I'd have done that if it had existed 15 years ago, if it had been a reasonably sensible price. Pretty sure it didn't back then though.

I saw £90 a week for one. That's pretty sensible, if the delivery/collection isn't horrendous.

It could make more sense to lash something up from the old suite in a spare bedroom. Or even to buy new cheap stuff just to throw away after.