Walk In Shower (wetroom), Trying to build one - Looking for some tips

[Lee@emctiles]

Heres a good Wetroom video @wau5 that worth a watch

 

[Ajax123]

I am doing precicely the same thing at the moment. I too have bought all the materials and stuff I need which includes

timber for studwork
waterproof backer (marmox) and sealing gunk
screws and washers for securing it
plywood 18mm for the sub base for the shower tray
1200x1200 shower tray
one bag of adhesive and one tub of primer
pipes and stuff for drainage
tanking kit for corners (a bit over engineered
nuance board for the walls plus adhesive
Slate mosaic tiles for the floor
Mira surface mounted thermostatic shower with rain head and diverter
Shower door

I buy very aggressively in general and don't pay retail for anything.

My budget for the whole room was £5.5k and the shower itself £2200. My spend so far is just under £2k so have done really well IMO. I looked at getting someone in and that doubled the price so I had to decide to do it myself... it is well underway.

If you have a budget of £500 and have no flexibility to buy an essential item like the shower floor former then I wish you the best of British luck as it is a virtual impossibility. If you tile direct to ply wood on a shower floor you deserve all you get and what you will probably get is a shower floor that lasts 6 months and then goes mouldy and fails.

a good installation is as much about what you can not see than it is about what you can see

Up to you though....

 

[wau5]

thanks 😀 well..I'm still in a planing process for a week before I get some time off to actualy get on with it, It's not like I don't want to make it perfect and make it to last- I actually do hence doing my research on how to actually do it.

I have watched some more YT videos ( again USA ones, as seems like everyone in UK just uses the already made formers or the plastic tubs) and I see they use a mortar bed which they just make themselves making the level as needed instead of a former.
I guess I could up my budget if i had small/standard size area which I want to convert and buy the cheaper formers not those branded ones, however due to odd size of it It would cost me an arm and a leg to do it that way..

 

[Dumbo]

I used to watch a programme called Holmes on Homes bit like that programme with nick Knowles. Can't remember what it is called . Anyway always going around fixing

 

[Dumbo]

Didn't even finish that .
Any way he is Canadian and always uses schluter formers . I personally took out a failed ply wet tray 2 years ago . Wasn't very pretty .

 

[wau5]

Thank you guys, at least you told me straight up that making it from ply is total crap, not like other guys who just who will say- try and see and think to themselves- that idiot is in for a surprise 😀

 

[Ajax123]

thanks 😀 well..I'm still in a planing process for a week before I get some time off to actualy get on with it, It's not like I don't want to make it perfect and make it to last- I actually do hence doing my research on how to actually do it.

I have watched some more YT videos ( again USA ones, as seems like everyone in UK just uses the already made formers or the plastic tubs) and I see they use a mortar bed which they just make themselves making the level as needed instead of a former.
I guess I could up my budget if i had small/standard size area which I want to convert and buy the cheaper formers not those branded ones, however due to odd size of it It would cost me an arm and a leg to do it that way..

I don't see why it should cost you an arm and a leg. My shower is 1200x1500 and I am designing a seat into it so her indoors can sit and shave her toes... I could no find a standard centre drain former at 1200 x 1500 so have gone for a 1200x1200 former and will use an extension piece using 20mm construction board. I am also going to extens it slightly to the side under the door so the tiles extend beyond the shower door. Deffo not standard. That plus 16 10mm construction boards (marmox) cost me less than £300. The nuance boards were the most costly bit at just under £100 each but they are cheaper than the tiles we wanted and for me much faster to install. If you decide to build your own shower base with sand and cement make sure you put fibres and a water reducing plasticiser in it to help avoid cracking.

As I said the whole thing, bear in mind for me this is a back to brick renovation...I forgot to include the cost of a new window in the list above... the shower is just under £2k which I think is pretty cheap.

buy aggressively, buy sensibly and don't skimp on quality e.g. use 18mm plywood for the base not 12mm as I was advised would be sufficient in topps tiles... LOL... I haven't bought anything from them in the end.

 

[Dumbo]

I don't see why it should cost you an arm and a leg. My shower is 1200x1500 and I am designing a seat into it so her indoors can sit and shave her toes... I could no find a standard centre drain former at 1200 x 1500 so have gone for a 1200x1200 former and will use an extension piece using 20mm construction board. I am also going to extens it slightly to the side under the door so the tiles extend beyond the shower door. Deffo not standard. That plus 16 10mm construction boards (marmox) cost me less than £300. The nuance boards were the most costly bit at just under £100 each but they are cheaper than the tiles we wanted and for me much faster to install. If you decide to build your own shower base with sand and cement make sure you put fibres and a water reducing plasticiser in it to help avoid cracking.

As I said the whole thing, bear in mind for me this is a back to brick renovation...I forgot to include the cost of a new window in the list above... the shower is just under £2k which I think is pretty cheap.

buy aggressively, buy sensibly and don't skimp on quality e.g. use 18mm plywood for the base not 12mm as I was advised would be sufficient in topps tiles... LOL... I haven't bought anything from them in the end.

I wouldn't ask anyone in topps for advice as I don't expect they have ever done the job . Just regurgitating what they've heard somebody else say .

 

[Ajax123]

I wouldn't ask anyone in topps for advice as I don't expect they have ever done the job . Just regurgitating what they've heard somebody else say .

the buy who used to run my local Topps where I used to live owned a car parts shop previously... used to make me laugh. I guess everyone has to work somewhere eh.

 

[Dumbo]

If a better job came up pc world he would probably be there next week