Shower built from reclaimed tiles?

[joidevie]

Hi everyone.. I hope there are some bathroom gurus or experienced shower creators out there.. ?

We have a large bathroom on the first floor of a 200 year old house and wish to create a 'walk in' shower..

The floor is currently a tomette on 'joists' type, a bit shaky but has two solid beams below - so we plan to lay some chevrons and create an additional tongue & groove floor to help support an iron roll top bath and spread the load (the bath will conveniently sit between the two beams). This will raise the floor around 7-8cm..

In the corner, we want to create a 'walk in' shower made with some kind of old tiles (floor and walls).. The plan is to rail the wall there and hydro placo (poor walls, and hide pipes), but the questions/issues I guess we have are:

- What to build the shower 'onto'? Lay some blocs on the tomettes, tile on top and treat with 'imperméabilisant'? (a little worried about this, directly on to iffy tomettes?). Or on to ply on top of the new tongue & groove floor (perhaps with an additional  layer of ply?)

- Lay a 'receveur a carreler' (polystyrene type) and carry on from there? (quite expensive to buy, and will it allow for tiling with say 20mm old tiles with the generically available outflow siphon?)..

- 'Pour' our own 'cast' cement 'receveur', then tile, then treat with imperméabilisant? Any tips to this (cement additives, what surface to do this on [marine ply?] and how?). Or is this a nightmare waiting to happen?

We are just a little worried about the 'strength' of the floor, the 'how to' build a walk in shower (wet room floor?).. My other half's dad has dabbled with this in Scandinavia, but there they have complex 'tanking/waterproofing' liquids not readily available here (South).. So not a big help..

Any simple solutions or suggestions would be hugely welcome!

Many many thanks in advance..

[Anton Redman]

I would buy a ceramic shower base and build the shower round it. Experience of wet room showers is you can never use WC / basib without foot prints into next door.

[just john]

Perfect diagram here  Wetroom-Shower-Tray-Base-Kit-

installation guide here  ImpeyWetrooms

[quote user="Anton Redman"]  Experience of wet room showers is foot prints into next door.[/quote]

I've reduced this problem with duckboard  -showers-wooden-duckboard- and door  Wetroom-Front-Panel-door

Usual disclaimers etc . . .

[LesFlamands]

The strength of the existing floor is an issue but if you can overcome it then I would suggest that the most reliable way to make a waterproof unit is to use the wedi board 'receveur' and wedi board for the walls and seal all the joints using the proper band. We've used these trendy pebble type 'mosaics' which are too thick to fit under the edge of the conventional trap supplied so you end up forming a bevelled edge with grout which is not ideal and would almost certainly crack if there was any movement at all

[joidevie]

The kit looks much like the ones sold in Bricodepot.. And as I suspected, issues with the height of the outflow... (!)..

Any thoughts on 'what' to place the tray kit on? Maybe I was a little unclear about our plans? We are going to lay down a joist 'frame' (63mmx75mm or 63mmx38mm any suggestions?) over the existing tomette tiled floor in order to 'spread' the weight of the bath (and people using the bathroom) over a larger area.. Then cover this in pine tongue & groove (sanded, painted & marine varnished) as the finished floor. We also want to take out the old ceramic shower tray (which currently sits directly on the tomettes..) and the plan was to do something a 'bit different' than to simply put in another tray.. Not a 'wet room' as such, more like a 'bespoke' shower.. Some cellulose blocs directly onto the tomettes and position the joist around the shower rather than beneath it? A little extra height might in fact be a bonus with the outflow (egout) as it's a fraction high..

Maybe I'm making life a little too complicated? The thought of maybe using an 'off the shelf' tray and concentrating on doing something different with what's around it would be much easier, but perhaps a little unadventurous?

Some systems on the net use a rubber membrane? Looks easy here.... Or am I really going way off the 'complicated/asking for trouble' radar... ? Or is this possibly an outdated method? Only €100 odd for the 'kit'..

Thanks again for any feedback..

Maybe I'm making l

[Cousteau]

Hi - This is my first post here - One of my other hobbies is converting an ambulance to a motorhome and the same waterproofing issues crop up when making custom shower cubicles. One of our issues is weight saving - which doesn't apply here - so you could construct in 18mm plywood (marine if you can get it and cut diagonally to the outlet) and then line in heavy duty plastic (Pool Liner?) or use tanking paint.

The specialised tanking stuff is available on

eBay UK if you give them a call you might be able to pay extra postage and get it couriered across.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NORCROS-WET-SEAL-TANKING-KIT-bathroom-wet-room-shower-/250670130539?pt=UK_Flooring&hash=item3a5d1aa56b#ht_1576wt_763]

For the outlet itself I would look at using a single larger tile (200mm sq) and drill a hole in it

[Gyn_Paul]

There is a wonderful German system - and just as soon as I find the link I'll post it - which, as you would imagine, is Tutonically thorough, with bases, and joins and panels and everything which fit together and interlock and overlap to such an extent that no drop of water would DARE escape its clutches. It was, however, eye-wateringly expensive, which is why I didn't pursue it further.

The Yanks are great ones for making showers out of corners of their bathrooms (vis "This Old House") and they seem to lay thick ply over substantial joists, then about 100 mms of screed on top, then tile directly onto that. I don't remember how they seal the sides to the floor, but it seemed that the key to it was to have a sub-floor sufficiently butch for it not to flex, thus less of an issue.

Personally I don't see the attraction: I've always found walk-in showers to be cold (once you're wet) and draughty. Give me a cubicle with a lid any time!

p

[LEO]

[quote user="joidevie"]Hi everyone.. I hope there are some bathroom gurus or experienced shower creators out there.. ?

We have a large bathroom on the first floor of a 200 year old house and wish to create a 'walk in' shower..

The floor is currently a tomette on 'joists' type, a bit shaky but has two solid beams below - so we plan to lay some chevrons and create an additional tongue & groove floor to help support an iron roll top bath and spread the load (the bath will conveniently sit between the two beams). This will raise the floor around 7-8cm..

In the corner, we want to create a 'walk in' shower made with some kind of old tiles (floor and walls).. The plan is to rail the wall there and hydro placo (poor walls, and hide pipes), but the questions/issues I guess we have are:

- What to build the shower 'onto'? Lay some blocs on the tomettes, tile on top and treat with 'imperméabilisant'? (a little worried about this, directly on to iffy tomettes?). Or on to ply on top of the new tongue & groove floor (perhaps with an additional  layer of ply?)

- Lay a 'receveur a carreler' (polystyrene type) and carry on from there? (quite expensive to buy, and will it allow for tiling with say 20mm old tiles with the generically available outflow siphon?)..

- 'Pour' our own 'cast' cement 'receveur', then tile, then treat with imperméabilisant? Any tips to this (cement additives, what surface to do this on [marine ply?] and how?). Or is this a nightmare waiting to happen?

We are just a little worried about the 'strength' of the floor, the 'how to' build a walk in shower (wet room floor?).. My other half's dad has dabbled with this in Scandinavia, but there they have complex 'tanking/waterproofing' liquids not readily available here (South).. So not a big help..

Any simple solutions or suggestions would be hugely welcome!

Many many thanks in advance..

[/quote]

Hi joidevie,

I don't want to sound unkind however , I type with one finger so the easiest way for me to get my point accross is;

First; remove your head from your bottom.

Second; buy a complete shower cubicle of the shelf!

Job done!

ps. remember you are not renovating Buchingham Palace!

[BIG MAC]

Rather than criticise.....have you considered a disabled access shower tray? not as disabled access per-se but as a means of having a very shallow but 'laid to falls' shower tray? I think a company called 'phlexicare' do them in the UK and theres bound to be a French equivalent...remove floor boards and fasten to joists to create a 'level' access