Metal stud wall

[GARYF123]

Hi,
Hope i am on correct forum, if not, apologies.
I am in the process of fitting a new wc, sink, and shower cubicle in an en-suite. The house is only 15 months old. I am swapping a exposed shower valve for a concealed valve. I removed the tiles and cut some plasterboard away to make a support for the new valve but couldnt find any studs! I put my hand in the hole and about 50mm to the right was the soil pipe and to the left (about 450mm) was the end of the wall (plasterboard). When i delved around i found a piece of vertical metal channel to the left but it was only connected at the top so was just swinging about! My question is how do i build some support to secure the shower valve and what is the best method to repair the wall prior to tiling?

Thanks,

Gary.

 

[Richard C]

You’re going to have to remove a lot more of the plasterboard in order to see how the studding is constructed (or not!) & gain access to the supports. You will need to build up a cross structure between the studs & a support frame or plate to which you can secure the shower valve, pipe work & head. If the shower is lined with just plasterboard, personally I would rip it out & start again, re-lining the shower area with Aquapanel. PB in a shower or around a bath will have a limited life, moisture will inevitably get into the grout & the PB will disintegrate. By coincidence, I’m building a new en-suite with a concealed valve at this very moment but have not yet done the plumbing; did a similar thing in the bathroom last year though.

 

[IJWS15]

Modern building methods ! ! !

We have a similar house. The builders installed the shower valves by mounting them on a floor to ceiling piece of 4"x1" screwed top and bottom tot the steel channels - worked fairly well.

What they probably did when they fitted the shower tray is "wreck" the bottom end of the channel so the tray would fit - ours did!

Looks like you will have to strip the plasterboard and work from there.

The wall cavity will not be very deep (ours are 50mm) so your valve may not fit in the cavity. Also if there is another bedroom the other side of the wall it would be worth putting some sound insulation in while you are busy. Beware if the back of the shower valve touches the plasterboard it will transmit noise though the wall.

 

[joe-90]

What they probably did when they fitted the shower tray is "wreck" the bottom end of the channel so the tray would fit - ours did!

I think that is absolutely spot on! I wouldn't have thought of that.
Lot's of good info in your post. (sound insulation etc)