Hi All

I need to seal a shower tray but the tray is 0.5"-1" away from the wall at
the back (the wall facing you as you walk into the cubicle). I have filled
the hole with plumbers mate putty and now I'm not sure what to do next.

I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap along the length of
the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by half an inch or so,
then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the shower tray with no more
nails or silicone or something where the ply meets the tray, then tile over
the ply and seal with grout. Does that make sense? I assume nothing will
stick to the putty I have used. Would someone walk me through the process of
what I should do / not do to seal a gap like this?

Thanks

Haymish

Haymish Pupkin wrote:

I need to seal a shower tray but the tray is 0.5"-1" away from the wall at
the back (the wall facing you as you walk into the cubicle). I have filled
the hole with plumbers mate putty and now I'm not sure what to do next.

I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap along the length of
the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by half an inch or so,
then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the shower tray with no more
nails or silicone or something where the ply meets the tray, then tile over
the ply and seal with grout. Does that make sense? I assume nothing will
stick to the putty I have used. Would someone walk me through the process of
what I should do / not do to seal a gap like this?

What's the overal status here - is this an existing tiled shower in
which you're trying to repair a hole, or a completely new installation?

IMHO flat areas within showers are to be avoided like the plague; yes
they can be sealed but they are inevitably the first place to leak.
*If* it's a new install, I'd be looking at battening out the wall and
applying aquapanel board to that, then tiling the aquapanel so the tiles
can be sealed directly to the shower tray, thereby eliminating the flat
strip.

David

I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap along the length of
the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by half an inch or so,
then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the shower tray with no more
nails or silicone or something where the ply meets the tray, then tile
over
the ply and seal with grout.

Should be fine. Plan the tiling so that you don't rely on sealant/grout for
the majority of the sealing. Basically put the "horizontal" tiles down first
and then tile down the wall to them, so that water running down the wall
hits the horizontal surface. Obviously, you want a good fall to the
horizontal surface. 45 degrees is good. ;-)

Also, I'd use some screws in there. I'd cut some triangular brackets from
some pine, screw these to the wall and screw the WBP to these.

Christian.

Lobster wrote:
Haymish Pupkin wrote:

I need to seal a shower tray but the tray is 0.5"-1" away from the
wall at the back (the wall facing you as you walk into the cubicle).
I have filled the hole with plumbers mate putty and now I'm not sure
what to do next. I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap
along the
length of the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by
half an inch or so, then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the
shower tray with no more nails or silicone or something where the
ply meets the tray, then tile over the ply and seal with grout. Does
that make sense? I assume nothing will stick to the putty I have
used. Would someone walk me through the process of what I should do
/ not do to seal a gap like this?

What's the overal status here - is this an existing tiled shower in
which you're trying to repair a hole, or a completely new
installation?
IMHO flat areas within showers are to be avoided like the plague; yes
they can be sealed but they are inevitably the first place to leak.
*If* it's a new install, I'd be looking at battening out the wall and
applying aquapanel board to that, then tiling the aquapanel so the
tiles can be sealed directly to the shower tray, thereby eliminating
the flat strip.

David

Hi David

The shower cubicle has been in place for a good long time and it seems rock
solid apart from this issue. There are tiles on the walls so if I put a
piece of wood over the gap if would have tiles to the rear and sides, putty
below oh and bit of the shower tray and nothing in front of it.

Help

Christian McArdle wrote:
I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap along the
length of the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by
half an inch or so, then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the
shower tray with no more nails or silicone or something where the
ply meets the tray, then tile over the ply and seal with grout.

Should be fine. Plan the tiling so that you don't rely on
sealant/grout for the majority of the sealing. Basically put the
"horizontal" tiles down first and then tile down the wall to them, so
that water running down the wall hits the horizontal surface.
Obviously, you want a good fall to the horizontal surface. 45 degrees
is good. ;-)

Also, I'd use some screws in there. I'd cut some triangular brackets
from some pine, screw these to the wall and screw the WBP to these.

Christian.

Thanks Christian

Sorry, I should have stated that the shower subicle is already installed and
has tiles in place already. The problem is that whom ever installed it
didn't do a great job with their tape measure so I'm left with this gap to
re-seal when in fails every year. If I put some WBP ply in there it will
have tiles to the left, right and rear and putty / shower tray below it so
I'm not sure if it's a good idea or how to secure it in place.

Haymish Pupkin wrote:
Hi All

I need to seal a shower tray but the tray is 0.5"-1" away from the wall at
the back (the wall facing you as you walk into the cubicle). I have filled
the hole with plumbers mate putty and now I'm not sure what to do next.

I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap along the length of
the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by half an inch or so,
then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the shower tray with no more
nails or silicone or something where the ply meets the tray, then tile over
the ply and seal with grout. Does that make sense? I assume nothing will
stick to the putty I have used. Would someone walk me through the process of
what I should do / not do to seal a gap like this?

I had a similar problem with a shower tray that didn't fit a shower
cubicle. In my case the gap was about 3" all round. To add to the
problem, the floor joists underneath were old and flexed. (The house
was nearly 300 years old and replacing them wasn't a realistic option).
The previous owners had built a wooden frame around the shower try and
tiled onto that. The tiles had cracked as everything flexed. That let
water onto the wood which eventually rotted making matters worse.
I ended up filling the gap with expanding foam, cutting the top to a
slight fall and tiled on top of that. In order to maintain flexibility,
I grouted the tiles with silicone. I used 4" tiles cut to overlap the
shower tray by about 1/2". If the tiles didn't seal, the foam provided
a secondary seal. After 6 years, the structure was still perfect.

John

John wrote:
Haymish Pupkin wrote:
Hi All

I need to seal a shower tray but the tray is 0.5"-1" away from the wall at
the back (the wall facing you as you walk into the cubicle). I have filled
the hole with plumbers mate putty and now I'm not sure what to do next.

I could fit a long thin strip of WBP ply over the gap along the length of
the back wall so that it over hangs across the tray by half an inch or so,
then I could seal / stick it to the walls / the shower tray with no more
nails or silicone or something where the ply meets the tray, then tile over
the ply and seal with grout. Does that make sense? I assume nothing will
stick to the putty I have used. Would someone walk me through the process of
what I should do / not do to seal a gap like this?

I had a similar problem with a shower tray that didn't fit a shower
cubicle. In my case the gap was about 3" all round. To add to the
problem, the floor joists underneath were old and flexed. (The house
was nearly 300 years old and replacing them wasn't a realistic option).
The previous owners had built a wooden frame around the shower try and
tiled onto that. The tiles had cracked as everything flexed. That let
water onto the wood which eventually rotted making matters worse.
I ended up filling the gap with expanding foam, cutting the top to a
slight fall and tiled on top of that. In order to maintain flexibility,
I grouted the tiles with silicone. I used 4" tiles cut to overlap the
shower tray by about 1/2". If the tiles didn't seal, the foam provided
a secondary seal. After 6 years, the structure was still perfect.

John


Top marks for a practical solution to an otherwise almost insoluble
(haha) problem.