Resealing leaking shower

Fitter error. They should refit the whole enclosure, tray and all, and be very apologetic about it. Hope that's how it plays out for.you. Good luck.

Just to back up what you've said - it looks like on one side they've fitted the tray onto the walls studs. Then done plasterboard and tiles, meaning too much of the tray is lost behind them, obviously leading to the enclosure not having enough space.

He'll no doubt blame the two workmen he had working for him who did most of the work, he later told me he'd sacked them for botching stuff... but he should have noticed this himself. Having said that he probably did. He said he did the sealing after the enclosure was fitted, so surely any competent fitter would have noticed that the enclosure was sticking out from the tray! He probably just prayed I wouldn't notice and there would be no issues.
 
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It makes you wonder how many more botched jobs they've done between them. At least you're problems have started sooner rather than later and it's not damaged any other parts of your house.
 
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I'm so naive lol, what does it usually mean when they say that?

I once started with a company and visited a property with numerous ongoing issues. I was told to tell the owners that the people who caused the issues were found out to be not very good and sacked. Just an excuse and lies.
 
I once started with a company and visited a property with numerous ongoing issues. I was told to tell the owners that the people who caused the issues were found out to be not very good and sacked. Just an excuse and lies.

Oh yeah, wouldn't surprise me. Well I guess my response would be 'my contract is with you so I'm not interested who's to blame. You can sue your sacked workers if you want but it's nothing to do with me.' :D
 
I'm so naive lol, what does it usually mean when they say that

To me that means they are blaming the workers who can't defend themselves and then using the excuse of 'crap work and sacking them' to divert attention. Ultimately that doesn't mean anything to your job.

If the tray is recessed too far under one of the tiled surfaces then the enclosure will never fit properly. The tray needs moved to sit square into the corner so the enclosure sits square to the tiles and centrally on the tray edges.
The outside edge of the tray also need to sit on a flat surface to ensure it can be sealed to it properly and not just butted up against the studs, the plasterboard should have been run all the way down to the floor. If it's not then the tray can't ever be sealed properly and over time the seal will go and everything behind it will get wet.

I'd say it's beyond the point of easy repair now though. The bottom course of tiles need taken off, the tray taken out, the walls need to be squared up, tanked (if it's plasterboard) and the tray re-fitted and re-sealed in properly and then the tiles re-fitted.
 
To me that means they are blaming the workers who can't defend themselves and then using the excuse of 'crap work and sacking them' to divert attention. Ultimately that doesn't mean anything to your job.

If the tray is recessed too far under one of the tiled surfaces then the enclosure will never fit properly. The tray needs moved to sit square into the corner so the enclosure sits square to the tiles and centrally on the tray edges.
The outside edge of the tray also need to sit on a flat surface to ensure it can be sealed to it properly and not just butted up against the studs, the plasterboard should have been run all the way down to the floor. If it's not then the tray can't ever be sealed properly and over time the seal will go and everything behind it will get wet.

I'd say it's beyond the point of easy repair now though. The bottom course of tiles need taken off, the tray taken out, the walls need to be squared up, tanked (if it's plasterboard) and the tray re-fitted and re-sealed in properly and then the tiles re-fitted.

Thanks for your advice. I'm a little confused now as to what's been done as possibly the tray isn't against the studs after all (I am clueless about what's studs and what's plasterboard). On the side which seems to be too far back, underneath the tray is a brownish material which does go to the floor (photo attached under view underneath the tray), but as you can see from the other photo I've included (same side), there then seems to be another layer of grey material which is what the tiles are attached to. I'm not sure what the difference is in those two things. I can't touch the back of the tray on this side, only the bottom of it.

Then the other side is different. On the other side I can put my hand against the back of the tray and then there is some kind of material above the tray which is flush to its edge (possibly the grey stuff again). With the other edge I can't touch the back of the tray at all as it seems attached to the brownish material.
 

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Ok I think *maybe* I've found out a bit more.

On the left side the shower tray is definitely butted up against wall studs. I assume they added plasterboard and then placed the tray under that, which is why I can touch the back edge of the tray on this side, and the plasterboard is on top (running my finger down the back of the plasterboard and then down the back of the tray is totally level - one isn't behind the other). I'm guessing I can touch the back of the tray because my hand is in the area between the wall studs.

On the right side it's different; there aren't any studs that I can see so the tray has gone straight up against the sandy-coloured material. I assume then plasterboard has been added which is on top of the tray again, but this time we've lost more of the tray because the plasterboard isn't flush with the back of the tray on this side and the tray goes further behind it - explaining why it's too short for the enclosure on this side. On this side there is a lot of pipework underneath the tray but no studs that I can see, although from the photo I just posted it looks like there was some old plasterboard directly behind this piping (you can just see on the floor where it's all been cut off if I'm correct).

Also included a couple of pics from when it was being done although I have no idea if something went wrong during the works and that's not how it actually ended up with those grey boards...
 

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If you look inside the tray, is the width of the raised lip of the tray the same on both sides at the tiles? If so then the tray is probably too far back under the tile and wall covering, if the enclosure wall plates are sitting off the front edge of the tray.

An enclosure will happily adjust to sit in the middle of the tray's raised lip, if the tray is sitting square against the same wall surface that the tiles are on. If the tray is slotted into the original wall surface and then that's tiled on top of, the enclosure will struggle to fit correctly as it too far 'in'.

The brownish material behind the waste pipe looks like the backside surface of the plasterboard on the other side of the wall, or plasterboard that's been put on backwards. Take another pic of that further out/angle up to show what the tray is is actually sitting against if you can.

The other thing I always never use is a riser kit, longer term I find they will always move.
 
If you look inside the tray, is the width of the raised lip of the tray the same on both sides at the tiles? If so then the tray is probably too far back under the tile and wall covering, if the enclosure wall plates are sitting off the front edge of the tray.

An enclosure will happily adjust to sit in the middle of the tray's raised lip, if the tray is sitting square against the same wall surface that the tiles are on. If the tray is slotted into the original wall surface and then that's tiled on top of, the enclosure will struggle to fit correctly as it too far 'in'.

The brownish material behind the waste pipe looks like the backside surface of the plasterboard on the other side of the wall, or plasterboard that's been put on backwards. Take another pic of that further out/angle up to show what the tray is is actually sitting against if you can.

The other thing I always never use is a riser kit, longer term I find they will always move.

By width do you mean where it lifts up to where it meets the tiles? If so seems to be approx 30mm on both sides... or if you mean along the tiles until it meets the wall channels? That's about 730mm on one side and 740mm on the other (and the wall channel itself is about 30mm thick).

Looking at the pics when the old shower was ripped out and the tiles were taken off (see 2 posts back) it does look like that wasn't plastered down to the floor either so maybe they just followed the old arrangement?

Attached a couple more pics of underneath. You can see the wall studs on the left side (on the other side is another bathroom, same apartment), but the side without the studs with the wastepipe, it's another apartment on the other side.

I am also noticing more scratches on the tray as time goes by - I'm not sure if that's just me noticing stuff that was always there, or if it's a sign something isn't right with the positioning of the tray?
 

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By the looks of it the tray is sitting tight against the metal framing on the left? If so and the other edge is tight to the older plasterboard then the tray will be sitting too far back, at least on one side, in relation to the final tiled finish, ergo the enclosure can't adjust down that far.

The old plasterboard looks like it was fitted back to front, always best to tile on the grey/coloured side.

That flexi for the waste should be replaced too, that's a blockage/leak waiting to happen. Seems the height of the waste pipe run wasn't taken into consideration. Should really be on a purpose made plinth.
 
By the looks of it the tray is sitting tight against the metal framing on the left? If so and the other edge is tight to the older plasterboard then the tray will be sitting too far back, at least on one side, in relation to the final tiled finish, ergo the enclosure can't adjust down that far.

The old plasterboard looks like it was fitted back to front, always best to tile on the grey/coloured side.

That flexi for the waste should be replaced too, that's a blockage/leak waiting to happen. Seems the height of the waste pipe run wasn't taken into consideration. Should really be on a purpose made plinth.

Yes it looks like that's the issue.

I suppose it's the fitter's problem but I'm just not sure what to tell him other than 'fix it'. What's the solution? To start again and this time don't sit the tray against the plasterboard on the right side, but rather bring the tray forward? But as you can see in the photos it doesn't seem possible to put separate plasterboard down to the floor because of the piping underneath. :/
 
Another thought... if the plasterboard does have to be flush with the tray, do I need a tray with an uplift rather than what he's given me? I've attached a pic of the type that it was installed previously (it's my neighbour's but pretty sure identical to my old setup)... the tray was quite a bit higher before I notice.
 

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Nope no need for a raised edged deep tray, but the wall board does need to be down past the edge of the tray so when you run silicone along both tray edges and then push it against the wall it fully seals along those contact edges.

All they needed to do was run the board on the left down to the floor and the tray would then fit to that and square to the right hand wall. All that could have quite easily have been avoided by a 200mm piece of plasterboard!

If the tray doesn't have that complete wall seal then I can just about guarantee the shower will leak at some point in the future. It also ensures that if the wall is square then the tray will be too.

I'm sorry to say that I wouldn't accept that if I was the gaffer, I'd have it pulled and re-done.
 

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