shower tray - easy plumb kit or not?

greggp_2

I am looking to purchase a Cooke & Lewis Cascata Shower Enclosure from B&Q.
These come supplied with an Ultra Low profile shower tray (27mm depth) & a high flow 90mm waste that apparently removes water at a rate ofover 24 litres per minute.

We are going to be installing this tray above a plywood based floor – I am in two minds wether or not to purchase the easy plumb kit and raise the tray to accommodate waste or put the tray directly onto the plywood and bury pipe-work beneath the floorboards? Our current shower enclosure has an easy plumb kit installed which makes the depth of tray quite deep and spoils the look (this includes an S bend trap below before it reaches the waste pipe). This has also recently been getting clogged up with hair so I like the idea of using an easy plumb kit again in case the blockage occurs again! The C&L tray is not very deep (27mm O/A deep and not much depth inside the tray) even if the high flow waste can remove 24 litres per minute – surely not with a blockage!! Unless the supplied 90mm high flow waste supplied prevents hair build up?

Looking at the Easy Plumb kit this does looks quite discreet in terms of depth but it doesn’t say anywhere what the O/A depth is once installed.

I have also seen the HepV0 Self Sealing Waste Valve and also thought this may be a good idea because I could then remove the S-Bend waste currently installed beneath my shower tray!
Is there anything I could install onto the waste to stop the build-up of hair clogging up?

I really like the look of the ultra low tray directly onto floor but then my head keeps telling to go for the easy plumb kit as it would be a better option in case I needed to get at the waste.

grizzly1911

We have the same dilemma at the moment.

I guess their is a reason they are called easy plumb kits. Imust admit that is the way we are leaning.

No what you mean about style though.

Does the way your floor joists run under the floor, or amount of fall available, or number of bends needed pose any problems?

I did see in one brochure the idea of putting an access panel, in the floor outside of the shower, to allow access to the trap - not sur ehow that would play out though.

I await response to your OP with interest.

greggp_2

Thanks for the reply

Until I actually remove the original enclosure I am not sure really if the joists etc will cause much of an issue! From looking underneath the existing tray and waste arrangement I don’t think it will cause me too trouble – We are replacing a 760mm x 760 mm with a 900mm x 900mm square enclosure but I know from experience of doing our bathroom on the floor below that nothing is ever as easy as it 1st appears!

I did also think of an access panel also but it may prove difficult in concealing this in with the floor finish and position of joists but again until I remove the existing enclosure I won’t rule this out ! We are thinking of using a Karndean type floor and not ceramic/stone tiles.

The easy plumb kit on our existing enclosure doesn’t look that great as it lifts the shower tray quite a lot but this was done in the early 90’s so maybe the more modern version ones are slightly slimmer. It’s not clear from the website what the dimensions are, I would image it is adjustable but no idea of the tolerance.

I am just concerned that if shower waste/trap did get clogged up again it wouldn’t be long before me stepping into the shower and turning it on that I would be flooding the ensuite. Maybe I am worrying too much about this – I have read that these high water flow 90mm diameter wastes are designed not to clog not sure how set in stone this.

grizzly1911

I will have a look at karndean.

First impression looks good, will be interesting to see the pricing.