Walk in shower trays - advice needed!

[bodgerthebadger]

Hi, I have seen threads about shower trays but they don't answer my question so I'm hoping someone on here can advise. I've seen that Matki, Kaldewei and Better shower trays are recommended but they are so expensive. Does anyone know why they are so much more than, say, walk in shower trays from Victoria Plumb or Bathstore? I'm so confused! Thanks!

Are they extra slim? Made from a more robust material? More aesthetic design? Much thicker and robust glass, hinges etc? Do you mean Bette or Better? I have a Bette Floor shower "floor" and it is completely flush with the floor, not a tray at all. It is also metal and comes in a variety of colours. It depends on the look you want. The expensive bit of the shower is the plumbing and shower itself.

I have seen the completely flat ones but I've been told that even the slimline trays (which are 40mm thick) can be set so that they are flush with the floor. So I am confused as to why the flat ones are more expensive if 40mm ones can also be set flush on the floor? What we would like is a wet room look but with a tray. So an tray that sits (ideally) flush with the floor. But we have a tight budget so not sure we can spend hundreds on a tray. Definitely do not want an entirely acrylic tray. This will be for the loft conversion so we've been told that an acrylic capped stone resin based tray would be better. Not too fussed about having the tray made out of stainless steel etc.

I mean Bette :-)

enamel steel(Bette,Kaldewei ) is the superior material but always take
your builders advise

kaldewei are made of 3.5 mm enamelled steel and considered very durable. Matki is like the Armani or Gucci of the shower tray world. Bette again just another premier brand. As longs as you buy an abs capped stone resin base and securely bed it in you will be fine with a cheaper tray. '... Hubby used to work for bath store so he knows his shower trays.

I wanted a totally flat shower tray but there was a lot of tooth sucking about the direction of the joists.
I went for Roman, which seems fine. Once the tiles went down it was flush.

Oh, thanks everyone! This is helpful (the man at the posh bath store was biased). I don't think we need the Rolls Royce of shower trays :-) Our builder did suck his teeth in when I gave him my "vision" but says he can do it. Truelymadlysleepy do you mind me asking what depth your Roman was to sit flush? Was it a 40mm and you were able to get it to sit flush? Thanks!

www.roman-showers.com/shower-trays-shower-heads/solid-stone-trays/infinity-trays/
It's this one bodger. I liked the concealed drain

We've got limestone so with the depth of the tile it's flush.

Look at Impey or AKW for level shower trays.

Thanks -- will look tonight. Our builders need us to start buying stuff so they can start installing and we haven't bought anything yet. Pressure. I didn't realise there was so much to know about shower trays! Truley I like that tray! One more question, the man at the posh bath store said that any glass shower panel would be compatible with a shower tray but I have read otherwise. Was the bath man right? I would hate to buy a panel and not have it fit. Sorry for so many questions! I can only do most of the research once the kids are in bed but my brain is mush by that point :-)

Not sure bodger I bought the matching screens.
Have you got a local builders merchants or plumbase that could give you more realistic advise?

Our builders on the jobs are doing the shower room but are not plumbers by trade and never fit shower screens so can't advise. Yes, I think I will need to go back to plumbase (massive queue today and baby getting grumpy). Man in the posh bath store said all panels would fit but as I clearly doubt his response, it would be good to go get a second opinion in another bath room store!

I think we had a saga with making sure the glass was the exact right size & thickness and also something to do with fixing lost the will.
PigletJohn might come along to advise.

PigletJohn help please? :-) I didn't think I could read SO much about shower trays. Slowly losing the will to live.

I'm currently looking for fittings for our bathrooms and I think we'll get this shower tray or similar. I can't imagine there would be much difference between an expensive branded shower tray and a cheaper one. Our current shower tray was cheap and so far has lasted 8 years with no problems.

It's 40mm which in our bathroom will not sit flush with the vinyl tiled floor but I think will look ok. So far I have found Victoria Plumb, VictorianPlumbing and QS Supplies to have a good selection of reasonably priced bathroom fittings.

I don't know the answer about the shower screens either, on Victoria Plumb it recommends a screen when you chose a tray but I'm going to check with the plumber.

msmorgan thanks for sharing those tips. Having officially lost the will to live, OH and I have decided that we need to accept that the shower tray won't sit flush unless we pay extra to have the builder make this happen (won't explain in detail but suffice to say it can be done but involves extra labour hence more money). We have already seen our budget growing as it is and this isn't our forever home. Like you, we are going to go with a 40mm one as we couldn't find a 25mm or 35mm that met our needs.

Our builder is also doing the plumbing but isn't fitting our shower screen. We need to find someone to do that so don't have a plumber onsite to consult yet!

We popped into a Bathstore.com show room today. We're probably not buying anything from there but I found the store staff quite helpful with a couple of general queries we had .

I've been looking at our current tray and screen and can't see why any screen wouldn't work with any tray as long as the size is right.

I have a list of questions for our plumber tomorrow. I'll ask about trays and screens.