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Discuss Help regarding leaking shower tray pretty please in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Hi I hope I'm in the right place to ask a question about a shower problem. We have moved into a house with what I think is called a low profile shower tray (pictured). Anyway when we use it, we've noticed the water runs down past the screen and spills over the top of the lip of the tray, basically flooding the floor. The drain/hole (trap?) has been cleaned and water does drain down it.

Long term our plan would be to remove the whole thing, but in the interim we have limited funds to do much would you guys say this is a fixable problem (fixed by a pro obviously) without being too costly, or are we going to just have to wait until we can have it replaced?

Any advice gratefully received

IMG_20190516_124243.jpg
 
Easy way to fix is to get a solid peace of plastic to glue from the screen to the tiles to give you extra height
 
Easy way to fix is to get a solid peace of plastic to glue from the screen to the tiles to give you extra height
Thank you I was wondering this, something to make the lip higher. Any ideas on what adhesive I could use that wouldn't be affected by the water?
 
Sticks like sh£t clear and then seal around after that’s set with some dow 785 clear or white
 
If it's water getting past your shower screen then a deflector panel may help in keeping the water in the tray.
Kudos Ultimate2 300mm 8mm Glass Hinged Deflector Panel - Chrome at Victorian Plumbing UK

You also say water does go down the waste, does all of it go down or does it slightly back up? Another thing to check is if the shower tray is actually level. If it slopes away from the waste then this isn't going to help your problem.
 
If it's water getting past your shower screen then a deflector panel may help in keeping the water in the tray.
Kudos Ultimate2 300mm 8mm Glass Hinged Deflector Panel - Chrome at Victorian Plumbing UK

You also say water does go down the waste, does all of it go down or does it slightly back up? Another thing to check is if the shower tray is actually level. If it slopes away from the waste then this isn't going to help your problem.

Oh very good points thank you. Tbh I've only used the thing a couple of times so will need to double check. If the water gets backed up slightly (I'm thinking it might) does that indicate a problem with the trap? I was also wondering about whether it slopes the wrong way - I'll check that out. Thanks for the link I'll take a look.
 
Oh very good points thank you. Tbh I've only used the thing a couple of times so will need to double check. If the water gets backed up slightly (I'm thinking it might) does that indicate a problem with the trap? I was also wondering about whether it slopes the wrong way - I'll check that out. Thanks for the link I'll take a look.
If it backs up a little then it's either the trap or the waste pipe that may be partially blocked. You should be able to clean the trap out from above and depending on the route of and what material the waste pipe is made of, it shouldn't be too difficult to clean this out either.
 
If it's water getting past your shower screen then a deflector panel may help in keeping the water in the tray.
Kudos Ultimate2 300mm 8mm Glass Hinged Deflector Panel - Chrome at Victorian Plumbing UK

You also say water does go down the waste, does all of it go down or does it slightly back up? Another thing to check is if the shower tray is actually level. If it slopes away from the waste then this isn't going to help your problem.

Oh very good points thank you. Tbh I've only used the thing a couple of times so will need to double check. If the water gets backed up slightly (I'm thinking it might) does that indicate a problem with the trap? I was also wondering about whether it slopes the wrong way - I'll check that out. Thanks for the link I'll take a look.
If it's water getting past your shower screen then a deflector panel may help in keeping the water in the tray.
Kudos Ultimate2 300mm 8mm Glass Hinged Deflector Panel - Chrome at Victorian Plumbing UK

You also say water does go down the waste, does all of it go down or does it slightly back up? Another thing to check is if the shower tray is actually level. If it slopes away from the waste then this isn't going to help your problem.


Okay I just had a look at the link and a think about it and I don't think the deflector would help. The current screen sits on the raised edge of the tray, so anything attached to it will also have a gap underneath. The water seems to make a stream which travels down the edge of the screen and then spills onto the floor, rather than the floor getting wet from splashes if that makes sense. So water will seep under any deflector panel I think
 
Sounds like the tray isn’t level left to right
 
I would not right off your shower tray at all, unless you want a bath in its place.
1. Check and clean out the shower trap, and often ..hair etc
2. check its level using a good level ..even a few mm with these shallow ones makes a lot of difference ..if not just push a flat head screwdriver in and adjust and push in a plastic wedge
3.get some sillycon and make it
water tight in the short term

centralheatking
 
I would not right off your shower tray at all, unless you want a bath in its place.
1. Check and clean out the shower trap, and often ..hair etc
2. check its level using a good level ..even a few mm with these shallow ones makes a lot of difference ..if not just push a flat head screwdriver in and adjust and push in a plastic wedge
3.get some sillycon and make it
water tight in the short term

centralheatking
 
Don’t follow the above advice (2) .

I’m sorry but if you push in a screwdriver and lift it with a plastic wedge : a) probably break off a chunk from the bottom skirt of the tray,
b)the tray will probably snap in half, as if you lift one end you will have the tray unsupported over most of its length - these trays need full support ( solid bed if flat to floor, or at least a dozen legs if raised)
 
Don’t follow the above advice (2) .

I’m sorry but if you push in a screwdriver and lift it with a plastic wedge : a) probably break off a chunk from the bottom skirt of the tray,
b)the tray will probably snap in half, as if you lift one end you will have the tray unsupported over most of its length - these trays need full support ( solid bed if flat to floor, or at least a dozen legs if raised)

Thank you for the advice. I don't think we would do that in any event. Don't mind a bit of DIY like adding a door or some kind of riser, but wouldn't mess with the fitting of anything as we don't know what we're doing.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but how do I check whether the tray isn't level? I got my spirit level out and it suggested it was slightly sloped, but on the side of going towards the drain.. isn't that how it should be?
 
You want to use the spirit level across the flat outer rims of the shower tray. Length and width ways. This is where the tray should show level.
 
Ahh okayyyyy thanks I will do that tonight if it shows as wonky is there any way to fix it? Is it a big job?
Pretty big job yeah. If it's out of level then the only way to put it right is to pull the tray out and start again. You could remove the fixed glass panel and replace will a full enclosure to keep the water in, or as Shaun suggested, some sort of plastic upstand but these are only masking the problem, not curing it.
 
With the bigger trays, over 1400mm, when fitting them you need to get them level on the flat rim but also check the fall on the base of the tray as it is very common for the tray to be bowed, either from transit or when being manufactured.

It is a fairly easy fix if you have spare tiles, you need to remove the shower screen, bottom row of tiles and lift the tray out which should be easy if laid on sand and cement, not so if bed down on tile adhesive.

Re-fix tray, tiles and door.
You will be looking at 2-3 days labour.
 
With the bigger trays, over 1400mm, when fitting them you need to get them level on the flat rim but also check the fall on the base of the tray as it is very common for the tray to be bowed, either from transit or when being manufactured.

It is a fairly easy fix if you have spare tiles, you need to remove the shower screen, bottom row of tiles and lift the tray out which should be easy if laid on sand and cement, not so if bed down on tile adhesive.

Re-fix tray, tiles and door.
You will be looking at 2-3 days labour.
Could be wrong but it looks like shower panels to me, also depending on how the tray is set, it could easily crack when taking it out.
 
Thank you so much for your input, it's appreciated. Been up with my level and it all looks level on the rim, perhaps ever so slightly out with a slope towards the wall rather than towards the rest of the room, so I'm not sure if the tray is the problem or not o_O As for whether the base is flat, would I tell that just by plonking the level inside the tray at various points? I did that before and it seemed to slope in the direction of the drain.

I think I'm going to have a good clean of everything this weekend in case there's gunk that needs removing, and might look into the suggestion above of sticking some kind of additional riser between the screen and the wall...will be an eyesore to to be sure but the whole room is tbh. Luckily it isn't our main bathroom and not used super regularly..though it might be if we could get this fixed and the room spruced up a bit. I'm waffling.

Oh, yes it is ugly plastic panelling all around.
 

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