The Lemon Fool

I hope there's some experience here regarding bathroom shower trays.

We have lived in the same house around 27 years. Including the original, we have had four shower trays in the bathroom in that time. All have cracked and leaked water.

The last two have been a fairly premium brand, Kohler. The present one is one supplied by Kohler about 8 years ago under warranty because the previous Kohler one cracked after a similar time of around 7 or 8 years. As have the ones before that.

All four shower trays we have had are your regular acrylic construction. The last two Kohler trays were very carefully installed to a high standard by an excellent plumber. We went to great lengths to make sure the trays had extra supports and ensured no obvious flexing of the tray when stood on.

Alas, despite the original 25 year guarantee from Kohler, we have just discovered a 5cm crack in the shower tray. (As far as I can see, Kohler no longer exist as a separate company. I don't intend talking to them even if I could).

Question is - We obviously subject the shower trays to excessive wear and tear. All four of them. Does anyone know of plain white 76cm square shower trays made from steel or ceramic or something? Something that unlike acrylic, will actually last?

Thanks very much for the help. Now I am off to try Google.

BD.

Ours hasn't cracked in 27 years. It's ceramic. And because it's a double size, the bugger weighed upwards of 150 kilos. Took four men to get it up the stairs.

BJ

I would look at the tray, the support for the base of the tray and the way the tray edges are mounted as one system, and fix the system, not just the tray.

If the floor is flexing enough below, and the tray is held securely at the edges, the tray will eventually crack.

If this is the case either let the whole tray flex as one, or secure the tray as one, and the cracking should stop.

Otherwise choose another material which will accept the flexing loads without damage (as suggested by a previous poster with their suggestion of a ceramic tray).

pochisoldi wrote:I would look at the tray, the support for the base of the tray and the way the tray edges are mounted as one system, and fix the system, not just the tray.

If the floor is flexing enough below, and the tray is held securely at the edges, the tray will eventually crack.

Indeed. It might be telling you that your floor could do with some localised reinforcement. (And much more so if you were thinking of using ceramic!) I'd surmise that some heavy blockboard under the base would provide the necessary support to the centre of the tray.

The 19th century floor joists at Bungee Towers are ten inches deep, so no worries on that score. They didn't mess about in those olden days.

BJ

It may be irrelevant for your particular tray but don't use bleach to clean.
We had two that both disintegrated; the cause was eventually traced to a particular bleach-based cleaner.
We currently use Viakal which seems ok.

BullDog wrote:I hope there's some experience here regarding bathroom shower trays.

I have fitted a few hundred in my previous life as a bathroom specialist.

Question is - We obviously subject the shower trays to excessive wear and tear. All four of them. Does anyone know of plain white 76cm square shower trays made from steel or ceramic or something? Something that unlike acrylic, will actually last?

Thanks very much for the help. Now I am off to try Google.

BD.

If these really are acrylic shower trays I have to say, there is something odd going on. Are you sure they are acrylic and not cast resin 'stone' trays? Acrylic is generally very durable but the cast resin 'stone' trays are much more fragile and susceptible to cracking. Back in the day Mira Showers (owned by Kohler) used to sell cast resin trays.

For steel trays look up the German manu "Bette". They have loads. For ceramic trays, most of the UK sanitaryware manus make them. Ideal Standard, Twyfords, Armitage Shanks, Johnsons. Try a proper bathroom shop, they will be able to find you several I expect.

Thanks all for the interest.

Yes, all four shower trays we have had are definitely acrylic.

Thanks for the comments about the floor potentially moving under the tray. Given that extra care was taken on installation for the last three shower trays to make sure there was more than adequate support, the floor could well be prime suspect.

And thanks too for the warning about stone resin trays. Googling last night, they looked attractive. I will now avoid them.

That leaves enamelled steel or ceramic for the job. On the face of it, either will be suitable.

Thanks again folks. Well worth asking the question.

Bette shower tray 750 x 750 x 65 seems fit the bill perfectly. We have a trusted plumber calling round as soon as he can to have a look, so hopefully, the shower will be back in service again shortly.

Thanks all.

The installer that does work for me only uses MX Group trays:

https://www.mx-group.com/products/shower-trays/

Beseeinyou

Any ceramic tray will not break under normal usage. In fact it will last indefinitely in my experience.

Dod

BullDog wrote:
We have lived in the same house around 27 years. Including the original, we have had four shower trays in the bathroom in that time. All have cracked and leaked water.

Four trays in the same location over 27 years (as opposed to multiple locations)?

Sounds like you have movement issues causing the cracking, not normal wear and tear of bathroom use. I wouldn't be looking at the shower trays but elsewhere - which could be a bigger problem.

dealtn wrote:

BullDog wrote:
We have lived in the same house around 27 years. Including the original, we have had four shower trays in the bathroom in that time. All have cracked and leaked water.

Four trays in the same location over 27 years (as opposed to multiple locations)?

Sounds like you have movement issues causing the cracking, not normal wear and tear of bathroom use. I wouldn't be looking at the shower trays but elsewhere - which could be a bigger problem.

I reckon, as suggested up the thread, the upstairs floor is likely flexing under the tray. Having taken great care at installation to ensure very good support, a repeat of the same failure in the same place in the bathroom suggests the floor is an issue. It's your typical mid 1990's house with chip board floors and I think it's very likely that flexing of the floor is the root cause of the repeated issue. Thanks.