wall around shower tray

[helix]

Just had a thought, could I use a mortar render instead of plaster? would this go off quicker?

 

[dextrous]

Have never used membrane, so can't comment on it. Was basing my baton and aquapanel based on the placement of the tray in the picture - the corner stud currently in place is 2" wide, and demonstrates sufficient depth for baton at 1" and aquapanel at 0.5". However, since you have the membrane there already, then the point seems academic.

We will bow to Richard's advice and recommend "proper" plaster then.

 

[helix]

Or maybe expanding foam?

 

[Richard C]

the walls are not plasterboarded apart from the bit at the bottom where the plasterer repaired the area where the skirting was removed.

Sticking bits of PB to the bottom of the wall & skimming over is nothing less than a bodge & totally unsuitable around the base of a shower. As its being tiled, all the plasterer needed to do was prep & bring the bottom of the wall out level with the rest using Bonding or a any other gypsum base plaster; I just use whatever I happen to have at the time. If the rest of the original wall was basically sound, it probably didn’t even need skimming, you could have just rough filled any problem areas locally & tiled over it.

If I remove the plasterboard and plaster properly then could I avoid using WP?

Yes. You can use render but a base plaster will be easier for you to use; it won’t make any difference but it must be thoroughly dry before you tile it, 2 weeks minimum. Don't use expanding foam.

This is just an academic question as I think I may as well water proof seeing as I have the stuff for it already. It the homelux stuff really so bad?

Never used it or any other membrane but I can see it may be a problem if the walls aren’t perfectly flat; brush on application is quick & easy.

Can't really afford the space to baton and aquapanel because there is a door to the right of the shower area so cannot really move shower out further.

As Dextrous points out you probably do have enough space to batten out for Aquapanel. If not, you can dot & dab to save space as long as you fix through the dabs into the wall behind to provide a secure mechanical fixing after the adhesive has gone off. It’s not recommended by the manufacturer but is a method I & quiet a few others frequently use.

The 300mm area will be tiled on wall and floor. Nothing else will be there. Will definitely do this before shower enclosure goes in

Not clear; are you going to tile between the tiled wall & the edge of the tray creating a shelf? What are you going to fix the tiles to? Any sort of shelf between the wall & the tray directly exposed to a constant stream of water is not a good idea; differential movement between the wall, floor & tray inevitably cracks the grout allowing water in & then it won’t be long before you have problems.

The room is already a bathroom, there is an extractor fan and the electrician connected all the lights up. I just pulled the wires through the ceiling and got the parts in.

To comply with Building Regulations he should be Part P certified, have tested the installation & given you a minor electrical works certificate, BS 7671 recording the test results he obtained. If not he's probably broken the law!

 

[helix]

Thanks for the detailed response Richard. I think I'll bite the bullet and just use base plaster and wait two weeks.