Where is the nearest brico depot to 87

[cowoman]

Can anyone tell me where the nearest Brico Depot is to Limoges?

We want to buy one of these all enclosed jet shower units,and know they are a good price here.Has anyone bought one of these...and if so are you pleased with it?????

Thanks in advance

[cooperlola]

See:

http://www.bricodepot.com/en/magasins-france.php

[cowoman]

Thanks for that you are my guiding star.

[cooperlola]

Not me, good old Google![:D]

[TefkaC]

Hello cowoman, I've not bought anything from brico depot but a mate did buy a shower from them got it home and found it had obviously been opened, pieces missing etc. They returned to the depot (Poitiers) who basically didn't want to know.

Not knocking brico depot as this may have been a local attitude, just passing on info.

 

Regards

 

Charlie

[Chancer]

The showers are quite good if put together with a bit of intelligence, I have done 3 so far, 2 were "cabin" specials and one was by purchasing the base, back panel and frame seperately.

I found that on both the "all in one" cabin types the fibreglass back panels had distorted or "sprung back" and did not have the same profile as the base or top, this was solved by using ratchet straps and sikaflex instead of silicone to seal the top and bottom joints. They both had slight leaks which were difficult to trace and turned out to be where the end caps fitted into the bottom aluminium track profile.

It is very difficult to connect and seal the flexible waste pipe and due to the design the tray drains very very slowly, if I were to do another one I would elevate it on a plinth to aid drainage and leak finding. Dont make the mistake that I did by "building it in" amongst other units as you will probably have to drag it out at least once to chase a leak.

The shower built from components went together very easily, the biggest difference being a proper ceramic tray with adequate drainage although the door frames are only helkd to the tray with the silicone sealing bead but no leaks yet.

All the showers are superb from a user point of view[:$]

i saw a very sexy one on special the other day, all the usual bells and whistles including radio and coloured spotlights, what I liked was that the back panels were green tinted glass, sounds awfull but looked very cool.

[LEO]

Plus points;

You don't need a tiler, or have to buy tiles.

The complete package is incredibly cheap in France

The downside is they are very time consuming to  keep clean.

 

[krusty]

I bought mine from Mr Bicolage north side of  Limoges just off the motorway , will be fitting it in a few weeks so will let you know how it goes .

You can also check Castorama at Feytiat.

Thanks for the tips JR .

[cowoman]

If you dont mind me asking how did the prices compare?

Or are you so flush with money that you dont check out such things.

[Cat]

And if you don't mind me asking, does anyone actually use those little side jets after the initial novelty has worn off? 

[krusty]

We paid 550e , but just checked their web site and they now have one for 250e.

The one we got is a bit wider (110mm not 90mm).

Not sure if the side jets are going to be the steam input (I should be fully cooked after 30 minuets [:P])

http://www.mr-bricolage.fr/super-promos/cabine_hydromassante_1_4_de_cercle_armonie.html

and cowoman congrats on the avi    [Www]

[cowoman]

Thanks for info. That looks really good for the money.

That avi drove me mad but I got there in the end.I dont know why it worked in the end......it is one of lifes little mysteries

[Weedon]

Sorry to come in a bit late to this discussion but I would like to give you just a little to think about before anyone decides to buy a shower cabin with side jets.

We installed one of these showers with side jets (not my decision as I wanted a bog standard one, if you will excuse the expression).  First of all, it had a leak from the pipes behind which meant the whole thing had to be removed to fix it.  You might think it would be an obvious thing to do but it meant fixing up a temporary water supply with the cabin not in position just to test it.

The biggest problem is that you have to get inside the cabin before turning on the water as the twin doors are directly opposite the horizontal jets.  If you turn on the water with you outside naturally the bathroom gets flooded.  So, in you climb and turn on the water, wait a few moments for the hot water to come through and then have your shower.  That's all very well for the overhead shower because you can avoid the the few pints of cold water, but what about the horizontal jets?  I can tell you that the ice-cold water coming out at force from a dozen horizontal jets is at best, shrivelling[:$] 

[cowoman]

Thanks for that

Can I ask if you liked the shower once it was set up and hot????

[Gyn_Paul]

I agree with you Weedon, there's no way to avoid being in the cubicle with the side jet on without having to endure the run-off of the cold in the pipes. Even if you go through the rigmarole of turning the handset (?) on and running that to get the hot through the system, there's still a surprising quantity of cold contained in the internal pipery at the back. brrrr !

On the subject of leaks; surely it isn't beyond the wit of man to make a shower tray with a lip ALL ROUND ?

Actually, they did exist once. About 8 - 10 years ago I bought a shower tray+panels kit from Brico Depot. Being particularly poor at that time, it was the cheapest available. It had one plastic back panel, one whole 'glass' side and 2 sliding sides making a corner entry. In fact none of it was glass, it was all rather nasty transluscent plastic. However the square shower tray had a hole for a proper waste, and a lip all round. The instructions recommended that the panels were fixed but not sealed to the base so that the water from any slight leaks in the panel joints could make its way back into the bottom of the shower tray. It worked (and continues to work ) a treat!

Clearly, far too practical a solution for other manufacturers to adopt, instead we have trays like my current (1/4 curve, corner) one with a lip around the front, but not on the other two sides - which one would suppose would be against walls - thus ensuing that leaks are unreachable in situ.

p

[Weedon]

Perhaps I should make it more clear about the leak.  The leak itself came from one of the pipes at the back of the cubicle which was not accessible with the cubicle in place.

Another point about the side jets.  There is a knob that you have to pull out in order to get the side jets operational.  I found it impossible to pull the knob out with the water running, I had to pull the knob out first then turn on the water.

Actually that particular shower is in a separate building that we renovated but have subsequently never used except for that first try.  In my house (sounds grander than it is) I have an ordinary shower with glass sides which I am quite happy with.

So to sum up, if I were to have another shower built I would not have one with side jets.  As an aside, a friend of mine has got one of those baths that has jets that make the water swirl about everywhere (I have forgotten what you call them) and if the turbo thing isn't used for some time there is some disgusting gunge that comes out when it is first used so god only knows what will come out of my shower when I get to use it again.

[Gluestick]

Also bought a wondrous shower cabin from Leroy Merlin (circa € 500) four years ago which has side jets

Concur with all said thus far.

It has to come out - again! - this year, despite being fitted by a professional French plombiere, to sort out leaks. IT has wonderful semi-circular doors which slide inside a track. And it's impossible to clean properly.

We are going to install a small en suite in our bedroom in the near future. This will be a simple ceramic tray and tiled walls, with a standard glass sliding door from Brico Depot or whoever and again, a simple thermo controlled shower mixer and simple shower head.. In the aid of simplicity I was even tempted to use a simple shower curtain but her indoors said no!

KISS.

 

[Pierre ZFP]

Crikey it sounds exactly like the one I bought at about the same time as you - did you get it from the L.M. near Berck ?

Mine leaks too!  it will have to come out this year because apart from the leaks, I can't get hot water out of the mixer.  The boiler produces hot water to all the other taps so its either a blockage in the hot pipe or the mixer is faulty.  Another one for the 'To Do' list I suppose

[Gluestick]

Leroy at Merlimont, Pierre; which of course is right next to Berck Sur Maire.

Until I can find the spare time to rip it out, it leaks from the bottom where the sides join the base: despite re-sealing it from the surface twice.

Still, I have to completely gut the shower room and this pesky object will either be re-fiitted -correctly - or sold at a local brocante!

It also means cutting the waste pipe (as J.R. stated earlier) since it's impossible to dismantle without doing this as the waste pipe is all glued.

[:@]

[Gyn_Paul]

Actually, mine was

worse than I described. My first and biggest mistake was to buy it and not

install it for nearly 14 months  (it was on offer: what can I say?) so I

had no recourse when I found faults with it.

The two curved panels which form - with a smaller straight panel between them -

the back, should butt up together, be made waterproof with some mastic, and

held in place with small bolts. However, they don't. When dry-fitted the curve

they made was so tight that either one end or the other would overhang the

inside of the tray. Thus a compromise had to be reached between fitting the

panels together in a tight enough to be watertight, yet loose enough to follow

the curve of the tray.

The upshot of this was that over the following 3 months the air was punctuated

with the occasional gunshot sound of chunks of plastic snapping off the backs

of the panels.

Having battled with these cheap-and-nasty wastes before, I elected to bin it

and (after reaming out the hole to a decent size) fit a proper waste, which has

been the least troublesome part of the whole thing.

Getting the doors assembled was a nightmare in that the long thin self-tappers

which secure the top and bottom corners of the frame managed to turn the

threads of the very meagre tappings and secure nothing particularly until new

inserts were fashioned from available resources - probably a handy piece of

wood and some araldite !

This whole project now had such an air of disaster about it, that I thought I'd

better 'soft-wire' the plumbing before putting it in its final place. It was

just as well that I did, as it turned out that the mixer (after endless trials

with various combinations of fibre and rubber washers to try and eliminate the

slight but persistent leak) had a pin-hole in the brass casting. Fixable with a

bit of solder once it had been dismantled.

All this is emblematic of poor-quality workmanship, which I could have accepted

had it cost buttons and come from Brico Depot;  however it hadn't and it

didn't!

Wish I didn't love a hot shower quite so much !

p

[Gluestick]

Another interesting - free! - feature of ours, is after a few days of use when in residence, the base (foam filled for rigidity) fills up with water!

As one walks around it can be heard squishing.

 

[cowoman]

Oh all this is putting me off buying one.

If you were to put a new shower in,what sort would you put in for efficiency and ease of keeping it clean?

[Gluestick]

Hydrofuge board used to make stud walling: tiling; ceramic or V good quality resin/plastic tray. Simple thermostatic mixer; simple shower head. Standard width sliding or hinged shower door. A flat one; no clever sexy curves!

That's what's going into our new en suite.

 

[Benjamin]

[quote user="cowoman"]

If you were to put a new shower in,what sort would you put in for efficiency and ease of keeping it clean?

[/quote]

Something like this maybe?  [:D]

[Benjamin]

[quote user="Gluestick"]

Hydrofuge board used to make stud walling: tiling; ceramic or V good quality resin/plastic tray. Simple thermostatic mixer; simple shower head. Standard width sliding or hinged shower door. A flat one; no clever sexy curves!

That's what's going into our new en suite.

 

[/quote]

I saw something similar in a Leroy Merlin/la Peyre catalogue and it looked the bees knees for a bespoke shower.