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

[wau5]

I will be doing full bathroom renovation, and the plan is to build a walk in shower due to the layout of the bathroom to give more open space and I don't want any nasty plastic stuff in my home so want to build something nice from scratch.
I have changed few toilets/sinks in past where I have needed them but that's where my plumbing/bathroom expertise ends so I want to try my hand in this 🙂

The plan is to build something like this, where there is only 1 glass panel hanging, and a tiled curb on the floor to keep the water inside.
however I have got a few questions maybe someone could answer

1. I understand you need to waterproof everything, I saw some videos where they either put against wall/floor some special panels + tape-join the corners and paint with some special solution to waterproof everything or either attach some membrane and just tile over it, I have no idea what products are available in UK as those were some USA videos I watched, so maybe anyone can link to a stuff what is needed to do this to line & waterproof everything?

2. I want to make a soap box in the wall, how do you go about creating that, just a few small studs to make the box I would have guessed, waterproofed and tiled over I guess? What would be the best way to go to create such soap box and waterproof it after that?

3. How do you go about creating the sloped base for the shower so the water can run in to waste line? Again I saw in some USA videos people already using some ready-made panel which is specially made for this, but the only similar stuff I found here for sale is something way different than what I saw or just insanely expensive, is there any DIY way to create the sloped panel? Or you can just make the level un-even with extra tile adhesive when tiling over everything to create the slope needed?

4. How do you make the Curb on the floor to keep the water at one place+ to attach the glass panel, I suppose the carcass of it could be made from timber, waterproofed and than just tiled over?

Thank you for reading all this & If you got any other tips what would be helpfull would really appreciate them as well 🙂

These are the pictures of the stuff that I want to re-create:

 

[Chalker]

Hi
Obviously diy. So if I were you, spend money on the substrate and waterproof everthing.
Not the cheapest, but again diy. So price up "Aqua 4 ma" very easy to fit. Do the walls, floor and tray with it. Then tile .

 

[wau5]

Thanks Chalker,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-EVBAQSKIT45-Aqua-Seal-System/dp/B00862ZW34
would this be a good kit for the waterproofing? Or there's something better for the same price or less?


So after you create the base from plywood I would guess? you just paint it with that waterproofing liquid and that's it you are ready to tile over it? ( I would be making it myself as the ready made solutions aren't in the size I want and they are bloody expensive as well)

Also on the walls I currently got the regular plasterboard (under the old tiles which I will be taking off) , would it be worth to take the old plasterboard out and replace with a waterproof one or not worth it? And do you also just paint that waterproofing liquid right over the plasterboard and you are ready to tile over? (and of course sealing the corners/joints with the tape as well before that)


and what about:
4. How do you make the Curb on the floor to keep the water at one place+ to attach the glass panel, I suppose the carcass of it could be made from timber, waterproofed and than just tiled over?

 

[Chalker]

Sorry , but you will need a tray former. Expensive , but the best way. Ply is a no no! Don't scrimp on the stuff you can't see, it will come back to haunt you.
If you can't afford to do it properly, don't. Or save up until you can.

Like I said Google aqua4ma. It's a complete system.

 

[One Day]

Good tiling (especially in wet areas) - like real beauty, is much more than just skin deep.

 

[wau5]

I have tiled few floors/ some bits in kitchen so got some very small experience but that's about it, however I think that will be enough for this 🙂

I would love to use the tray former, but that would literary push my budget probably by 60% up on the whole bathroom budget + I Need a custom large size as well anyways. I have looked at the designs, I'm 100% sure I can make it probably even better than already made solution from wpb plywood and properly sealing it ( have been doing joinery work for few years so doesn't seems anything hard to do 😉 )

I guess you will laugh if I will tell you that my full bathroom rebuild budget is £500 😀 I have bought more or less all materials already and think will be able to do it within £50 range.

6.5m2 bathroom,
that includes:
nice £20/m2 tiles for floor/walls all over ( bought on ebay auction for more or less nothing)
-new top of the range sink , toilet, all very nice mira mixers/heads etc ( again probably around £1200 worth of stuff bought on ebay for £130
- 2 towel radiators
-will need to re-do the ceiling fully
-some new pipes for plumbing
-all the adhesives/grouts/little bits & bobs
-everything for the wetroom build

Probably around £5-£7k build If I had to hire someone/pay the full prices for everything and use the standard already-made solutions, so you can see that even that formed tray is very huge expense for this 😀

 

[Rich Midge]

Surely this is a wind up!?

 

[Chalker]

Crack on mate
But let's see some ( genuine) before, during and after pics.

 

[One Day]

I think i can guess where this one will end up about 6 months after it starts to be used... 🙄

 

[Dumbo]

I don't and I am sure most tilers on here do not Tile directly to ply and that would include tanking as over the years most failed Tile installations that I have seen have been tiles fixed direct to ply

 

[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

 

[Old Mod]

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 😀

Whilst we enjoy enthusiastic and passionate posts
@wau5 , this is a family show!
Language Timothy!!

 

[Rich Midge]

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

Holmes on Homes, great show! If ever anyone was belt and braces it's Mike Holmes.

 

[Dumbo]

Holmes on Homes, great show! If ever anyone was belt and braces it's Mike Holmes.

Watch him strengthen a floor once . Pretty British standards . Also did you ever see that heat Matt that was templated for and it was pretty much cable between 2 sheets of scrim. Stuck down with c2 then latexed over. No cables coming up through latex there .

 

[wau5]

ok what do you guys say about building the frame/everything from 18mm wpb plywood as my floor is on wooden joists so I'm not really sure how stable a cement pour/shape would be, but laying all the plywood construction in a fiberglass so it's more stable and totally waterproof?

 

[Chalker]

Just make sure you get a good waste.
Google Harmer drains.

 

[Paul Bleasdale]

Buy low level resin shower tray and save yourself a great deal of trouble