Shower Tray-Leak & Re-Boxing In All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[ronnoc]

A plumbing novices first post! Tried doing a search and although there are quite a few answers there is nothing quite the same as my problem

I have got a leak from the shower waste. It's coming from the gap between the shower tray and the waste outlet. Does this need plumbers mate or is the wastepipe/tray connection usually secured by washers? I cannot get the top of the waste and the pipe seperated. Do I really need to seperate them?

It's taken the last couple of hours to get at the underneath of the shower to find where the leak was coming from.It was boxed in with wood/plasterboard and tiles. Is there an easier way of boxing shower trays in?

[htg engineer]

Try a bead of silicone around the waste grate, it'll have to be clean dry and any old silicone removed. if this doen't work - then yes you will need to take the waste grate out.

An alternative to wood, platerboard and tiles would be PVC cladding or similar. It can be screwed with white or chrome screw caps to give a good finish.

htg

[ronnoc]

Many thanks for your help I will give it a go with silicone.

My waste has a detachable centre section which lets me clear out hairs ect.

I think I must have dislodged the silicone when I last cleaned it out which makes it even more important to ensure you can get under the tray easily.

[nitro23456]

^^^ leave your silicone 24 hrs to set as well.

If you need to remove the grate they are usually screw in from the top or back nutted in fromt he bottom (with an additional washer from underneath)

[chris_on_tour2002]

i recently fitted my shower tray with the same or similar trap - the one where you can remove the inner cup for cleaning out.

the instructions that come with this waste state that they need to be siliconed in top and bottom even though they are supplied with the rubber washer.

you can unscrew it but it might require a bit of force (and care!) but it should come undone. i know this to my cost as i siliconed mine on before installing the tray then realised that i'd got the orientation of the trap wrong so had to undo it.

remove all traces of the old silicone before reapplying.

[ronnoc]

[quote="htg engineer"]Try a bead of silicone around the waste grate, it'll have to be clean dry and any old silicone removed. if this doen't work - then yes you will need to take the waste grate out.

An alternative to wood, platerboard and tiles would be PVC cladding or similar. It can be screwed with white or chrome screw caps to give a good finish.

htg[/quote]

Thank you to everyone who gave advice. The leak has now gone after using silicone around the grate.

I have left under the tray open for the last couple of weeks to allow the floor to dry out completely and to ensure the leak has been cleared.

I now want to buy some cladding to ensure I can get under the tray without as much hassle as last time! It will need to be flexable as the tray is rounded. Has anyone got any ideas where I should buy it and tips on fixing it?