Hi,

just removing an old foam filled shower tray which has started to crumble
internally.

I have a whole world of grief waiting anyway because all the drainage is
solvent welded together and comes out of a hole cut in the side of the tray.
It also disappears into a wall and is located so there is no room to get
behind it. Yecht!

However my first problem is to undo the shower trap which will in turn (after
some butchery) allow me to lift the remains of the old shower tray out.

Does anyone know how these traps are usually fixed?

I have probed down the centre and there is no sign of a retaining screw.

I have tried a bit of uncsrewing but nothing seems to want to move.

I have a vague hope that if I can get the trap apart I can fit the new tray
over the old pipework, so I want to get the trap apart without breaking
anything.

Any information gratefully received.

Dave R

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
...
Hi,

just removing an old foam filled shower tray which has started to crumble
internally.

I have a whole world of grief waiting anyway because all the drainage is
solvent welded together and comes out of a hole cut in the side of the
tray.
It also disappears into a wall and is located so there is no room to get
behind it. Yecht!

However my first problem is to undo the shower trap which will in turn
(after
some butchery) allow me to lift the remains of the old shower tray out.

Does anyone know how these traps are usually fixed?

I have probed down the centre and there is no sign of a retaining screw.

I have tried a bit of uncsrewing but nothing seems to want to move.

I have a vague hope that if I can get the trap apart I can fit the new
tray
over the old pipework, so I want to get the trap apart without breaking
anything.

Just answered my own question - trap is fixed from below with a screw collar
(much like sink and bath fittings).

This means that the installation I have just dismantled had the trap and
under pipe work fitted with a stub out of the side of the shower tray, and
then the tray was fitted.
After that the whole shooting match was joined to the external pipe works by
a number of solvent weld bends with minimal pipe work between them and so no
chance of cutting off a joint and having enough pipe left to fit a new
joint. The pipe work disappeared under the tiles presumably to get round the
edge of the bath panel.
Talk about putting something in you can't get out again!

How did I get it out?
I realised that I was not trying to preserve the shower tray and so I cut it
up with a power saw, cutting round the trap so I could lift the tray out and
leave the trap behind.
Underneath I found the only screw up compression joint in the pipework
joining onto the trap where I couldn't get to it.

The shower tray was well and truly shagged - the particle board under the
plastic and inside the foam was completely waterlogged and smelt strongly of
mushrooms.
I have photos of what happens when a shower tray goes bad - I may get round
to posting them.
Meanwhile we wait for everything to dry out before fitting the new hard
tray - which has to be on a plinth because the old shower tray was very deep
and we don't want to move the shower cubicle (hang on - we probably
could.....perhaps not...ummmm) but anyway on something of a plinth to allow
the pipework to exit using the old route.

We'll just stay down wind of people for a couple of days :-)

Cheers

Dave R

On 2 Oct 2009 15:24:26 GMT, David W.E. Roberts wrote:

Hi,

just removing an old foam filled shower tray which has started to crumble
internally.

I have a whole world of grief waiting anyway because all the drainage is
solvent welded together and comes out of a hole cut in the side of the tray.
It also disappears into a wall and is located so there is no room to get
behind it. Yecht!

However my first problem is to undo the shower trap which will in turn (after
some butchery) allow me to lift the remains of the old shower tray out.

Does anyone know how these traps are usually fixed?

I have probed down the centre and there is no sign of a retaining screw.

I have tried a bit of uncsrewing but nothing seems to want to move.

I have a vague hope that if I can get the trap apart I can fit the new tray
over the old pipework, so I want to get the trap apart without breaking
anything.

I guess it rather depends on the make, mine is a MacAlpine.

http://www.mcalpineplumbing.com/productlist.asp

Working from the top down....

First there is a simple grid at the very top. This is held in place with a
series of grooves at the top of the body and just lifts out.

Next there is a removeable seal. This has a single cross piece at the top,
and you have to grip this and turn anticlockwise, then the whole thing
lifts out.

Put the top grid back in place, and locate the removeable seal over the top
of the grid using notches on the bottom of the seal. Then use the seal tube
as a spanner to undo the flange.

Have a look at the illustrations on the product page and you can see the
grooves for seating the grid and the notches at the bottom of the seal.

Be warned, though. If you've got years of crud built up around the flange,
there's a very real risk you're going to bugger the trap anyway.

--
The Wanderer

It pays to buy things you dislike. They last much longer.

David WE Roberts wrote:

Meanwhile we wait for everything to dry out before fitting the new hard
tray - which has to be on a plinth because the old shower tray was very
deep and we don't want to move the shower cubicle (hang on - we probably
could.....perhaps not...ummmm) but anyway on something of a plinth to
allow the pipework to exit using the old route.

That might be your answer - if you raise the plinth on some 4x2" or
similar, then you could leave yourself access under the base board to do
up the waste fitting.

We'll just stay down wind of people for a couple of days :-)

Up wind might be better ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

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"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
David WE Roberts wrote:

Meanwhile we wait for everything to dry out before fitting the new hard
tray - which has to be on a plinth because the old shower tray was very
deep and we don't want to move the shower cubicle (hang on - we probably
could.....perhaps not...ummmm) but anyway on something of a plinth to
allow the pipework to exit using the old route.

That might be your answer - if you raise the plinth on some 4x2" or
similar, then you could leave yourself access under the base board to do
up the waste fitting.

On general principles I would prefer a shower trap where you pulled it up
with a central screw instead of pulling it down with a collar - because it
should be easy to put the tray in and take it out without resorting to
raised paltforms etc.

In this particular case I am planning to have a plinth of 2 * 4 (or even
more) and ply to support the tray and bring it up to the original tile and
shower enclosure level to avoid having to do any major alterations, extra
tiling etc.

I think I will include ventilation under this plinth so that if there are
any minor leaks in future the floor does not get waterlogged (as it is at
the moment).
This would also allow me to have a large enough aperture to have a screw up
fitting to release the last run of pipe.

At the moment we are waiting to see how long it takes for the floor to dry
out and are also checking that the wet has not caused any major damage.

This could mean several days of avoiding anyone with a keen sense of smell
;-)

David WE Roberts wrote:

How did I get it out?
I realised that I was not trying to preserve the shower tray and so I
cut it up with a power saw, cutting round the trap so I could lift the
tray out and leave the trap behind.

I was goint to suggest that :-)

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...


Meanwhile we wait for everything to dry out before fitting the new hard
tray - which has to be on a plinth because the old shower tray was very
deep and we don't want to move the shower cubicle (hang on - we probably
could.....perhaps not...ummmm) but anyway on something of a plinth to
allow the pipework to exit using the old route.

Fitted 2 new cast stone bases in my build ... pre-built 100x50 support frame
with 20mm ply on top.
I used HepVo traps as they are perfect for under showers ... no S/U or P
bend to worry about. (they also serve as AAVs)

I bedded the trays down on a 4:1 semi-dry cement mix.

The shower waste outlets were proper shower ones ... i.e. the centre lifts
out and has a 'hair' trap for stopping bits going going pipework.