Shower tray cracked after 4 months

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Just thought I'd share to give someone a laugh and hopefully stop others from doing so as I'm practically crying lol.
Here's the situation
1200 x 900 stome resin shower tray level sitting on cement.
Victorian plumbing shower screen (2 sides glass) which requires 2 screws to be screwed into shower tray.
I now have a crack from one edge where a screw is to the centre of the shower tray.
(This is the opposite side to the waste so I'd imagine it's not a shower tray problem).
Any thoughts to the culprit? I'd imagine it's bad design of the shower screen and have sent Victorian plumbing an email saying as much, but I imagine they'll try to blame the shower tray or the workmanship. Underneath the cement is 18mm marine ply. Drilled in to joists with 400mm spaces.
Any views of the fault be it workmanship or otherwise. I've put it down to bad design flaw of shower screen just don't want to make the same mistake again as im going to have to replace it sooner rather than later although it's only been in situs for 4 months!
Thanks all.
 

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That'll be operator error. UNLESS the screen was supplied specifically for the shower tray you've used and the screws really did have to go into the shower tray and there were predrilled holes in the tray and you used the screws supplied. TBH not done it myself but I'd assume you would drill and plug as if you were drilling into tile (ie not hammer)- just riving a screw straight in wouldn't be my first instinct. Think you'll end up wearing the cost for that little oopsie :)
 
Many ( if not all ) cast items have internal stresses created when the resin cures. Those stresses balance each out, if they didm't then the item would crack or distort as the resin was curing.

Anything that disturbs that balance can allow the internal stresses to crack or othewise damage the item.

I would say that a small hole should not disturb the balance enough to create that crack and if it were my basin I would be seeking a replacement on the grounds that excessive internal stress had developed during manufacture. I would add that that amount of stress was too high. If it not be exposed by the drilling of a small hole then it might have caused a sudden fracture of the basin while in use due to un-even heating of the basin by shower water or some other normal activity in the shower.
 
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Are you 100% certain the instructions stated you had to drill the tray. This seems totally out of order as the screen manufacturer has no control over what type of tray is used (irrespective of the fact that whoever sold you the equipment might make such claims) Normally screen bases are simply bonded to the tray using silicone sealant. The channel fittings are usually used to hold the vertical edges in position
 
Please see below image. Pretty sure that shows drilling and inserting raw plug into shower tray.
Screenshot_20171221-142435.png
 
Drawing is a bit ish but yes I'd agree. Are there any words with the screen about what sort of thing not to drill? And anything with the shower tray telling you either where to drill or that you musn't drill into it? Did you buy the shower tray and screen from the same supplier at the same time- if so you MIGHT be able to get some redress on items not fit for purpose. Thin ice I know and their response will probably be 'if you'd used one of our authorised installers then we'd cover it but we don't know what you did to it so do one' and in any case unlikely you'd get any recompense for the labour to replace the tray etc but might be worth a try. Hopefully you've got somewhere else to wash- might be a long wait :)
 
Haha yea tell me about it. I've siliconed the crack up not pretty but water tight. See if it holds for a month if it does I'll consider repairing the crack but more than likely the crack will go all the way through and it'll be a replacement.
Separate suppliers for tray and screen. My problem isn't with the tray quality it's the instructions of the screen. Might be worth a punt at the small claims court just for shots and giggles.
 
Have come across this design a few times whilst fitting for customers who had purchased them. Can't be sure from memory but think Vic plumb were suppliers. Any way the Important thing to note is the diameter of the drill and the diameter of the plug that are being used , in conjunction with the screw size. Plugs expand when the screw goes in , so making the pilot hole too small can easily result in stress fracture on the tray. (Same as when you do this on a ceramic tile ,the plug should always go past the tile and only expand into the brick ). If you refer to the fitting instructions ,you will most likely find a phrase along the lines of ....should be carried out by a professional / tradesman or words to that effect. Risky thing to do drilling holes in a tray and I always advise the customer that in my opinion it is not wise , and I will only do it if they insist and wholly at their risk not mine.
 
I would imagine that the tray manufacturers will just tell you that drilling in to the tray voids the warranty (which in my opinion is fair enough).

You might have a chance if you pursue VP through the small claims court. To begin with, I doubt that they will want to pay to send a member of staff to the court hearing. They may try to spin the "it should have been fitted by a professional" but they sell products to the general public and (seemingly) didn't inform you of the need to pay a third party to fit it. You may be able to argue that it is negative misrepresentation- the retailer is aware that you might not have purchased it if you know that you would have to pay someone else to fit it but they didn't inform you.

Increasingly, I find that smaller/independent retailers are selling products that say "trade only" to the general public. I can only imagine that the manufacturers are happier to sell "trade only" products because they don't have to provide manned support lines and get to dodge shed loads of consumer safety regulations. (Sorry, slightly off topic).
 
ive not fitted that many shower enclosures but ive stripped lots of them an never come across a bottom rail drilled into a bath rim or shower base rim. it defeats the purpose as far as i can tell.
 
Yea I know. I have to admit I'm probably going to let the big bad company win. This battle. I knew when I was doing it, it was a bad idea but still did it because of the instructions and if I had pushed the raw plugall the way through the shower tray and into the concrete/ wood below this may have prevented the crack... Still I'd suggest others avoid this type of shower screen enclosure.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. However the shower tray is 30mm thick, then concrete around the same thickness. then marine ply. The part the screw goes into rests ontop of the shower tray. And patrudes a few mm. So you're looking around 63mm of thread before you get to wood. This wood is 18mm thick marine ply... Now I'm in drainage by trade not a carpenter but that just doesn't seem a grand idea. But hey neither does putting a raw plug into a stone resin shower tray and I did that so perhaps if I did that and siliconed the bugger out of the screen and the part it may have held but that's simply bodging in my book.
Anyways if a moderator fancies closing this thread. Hopefully it will help prevent some other Muppet from doing the same.
 
was it a s/s screw if not it could have started to rust, rust expands "snick goes the tray"
 

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