Do showers always end up leaking?

[ScaredSceptic]

We are getting quotes to have our small bathroom refurbed. It currently has a bath with shower over, but we never take a bath, we always shower. We would prefer to remove the bath and have a large shower tray, either walk-in, or with sliding doors between the walls which currently bookend the bath.

However, I have a concern that showers always leak at some point. I remember when I was a child, water dripping through our living room ceiling from a shower leak, and I have been in so many houses where you see a tell-tale stain on the ceiling below the bathroom or ensuite where they've had a leak. I mentioned to my neighbour that we're thinking of swapping the bath for a shower tray and he immediately said "but they always leak", reinforcing my worry!

Is this a legitimate concern, or given that so many homes have showers am I just overthinking it?

I have heard abour shower trays with a lip so that water doesn’t end up leaking between wall and tray. I guess the other weak spot is between tiles but you can buy those wall sheets that are instead of tiles. Then would only have four lines of weakness (the corners where each wall sheet joins the next?)

i came across this after one of ours leaked. Will be taking a belt and braces approach next time we have one installed.

www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/info/tanking-a-tiled-bathroom-is-now-mandatory

god i hope not we have just taken our bath out and put a walk-in shower cubicle in

I've never known a shower leak in four decades of life. We had a leak round the taps on our bath, though!

Our wet room never leaks so No

Way back in the very early 80s, we replaced our bath with a shower cubicle. My then husband put the shower tray in and he recessed it slightly into the wall before tiling it. It never leaked.

My brother fitted a bath and did a similar thing, fitted the bath into a small recess he chipped out in the walls and then tiled right down onto the bath edge. Again, never, ever leaked.

TOP TIP: Our regular plumber was bemoaning people who wonder why their showers get leaky when they don't maintain the mastic seal. He said it's nearly always to do with perished mastic and that the mastic should be maintained at least annually. Either pulled out and replaced or checked and maintained.

I felt like a bit of an idiot because it totally makes sense and it had never occurred to check the mastic seal.

Thanks all, I'm still undecided. I'm not sure yet what the cost difference will be between simply replacing the existing bath and shower, and installing a shower tray etc. Maybe that will help me decide once the quotes come through.

Weirdly this was mentioned in our survey when we bought the house, that shower trays were prone to leak. It did leak when the sealant failed. I’ve never really thought about it before.

We've been in this house 15 years. When we moved in, one of the first jobs was to refurb the en-suite. As you say, there was evidence on the dining room downstairs ceiling that it was or had been leaking.
we removed the shower tray and floor and all tiles. The room was "tanked", ie, fitted floor and wall to ceiling with waterproof boards, and tiled over. No tray, no sealant. A wet room effectively.
it hasn't leaked since, despite being used at least twice a day most days in all that time.

im wondering now if I've scudded myself 😄

I know nothing about plumbing, but, anecdotally, yes, I have experienced showers leaking through to the room beneath in several houses (not all mine - ) but not baths.

Oh. I didn’t know this. We have a corner shower cubicle that seems to be leaking. I don’t know how to go about getting it sorted. A plumber?

In our last two houses, the showers over baths have leaked. The shower rooms (with shower trays) never leaked. As others have said, I think this is to do with sealant etc.

@MidnightConstellation Luckily it's not rocket science and you can do it yourself if you're up for it. My DH does it (because he now knows it's easy and of course it feels like a manly job because it involves a thing that looks like a gun).

Look it up on YouTube (how to mastic round a shower) or ask in your local DIY place.

The way I see it - if you can paint your nails you can definitely do mastic.