With  the tray installed, waste pipework installed & tested & floor screwed firmly down we were able to make a start on the final bits & pieces of building work needed along with installing the shower.

Working on the basis that without it, fitting a concealed shower would basically need most of the blockwork wall to be chased out leaving next to nothing to secure the shower valve to, we opted to construct a stud wall on the shower wall – both concealing pipework & providing a smooth surface on which to tile.

Here’s one snap during its construction – nothing special… vertical pieces of timber down each side, with plenty of additional horizontal pieces across the width of the area to provide support for the plasterboard surface.

This is the end result – complete with pipework & shower plumbing.

Once this was complete, the rest of the shower area was then boarded out and studwork constructed on the window wall as needed along with re-boxing in the soil stack as most of the original woodwork was in fairly poor condition and came away when the old tiles were removed. Although not strictly necessary took the opportunity to tape & skim any joins in the plasterboard to gain a little practice before attempting the ceiling…!

The previous owners had installed a DIY suspended wooden ceiling in this bathroom, and as a result the original plasterboard ceiling was in far from a usable state. We didn’t really want to take this down due to the amount of mess it would leave us with (think 30 year old loft insulation sat above… along with all the associated dust, dirt & mess you’d expect to find in a loft) so we opted to overboard it with fresh plasterboard after sealing the old ceiling first.

As you’d probably expect this was far from a simple task….. Needless to say, the ceiling joists didn’t line up with the dimensions of the new plasterboard sheets  so nearly every board required the installation of new noggins and/or non-load bearing sleeper joists between the existing joists to ensure sufficient support for the new ceiling!

As it was to be replaced by a heated towel rail we also removed the original radiator & took the opportunity to conceal the new feed/return pipework in the wall…