Back in the groove

What with one thing and another, the replaced tiling around the new shower tray wasn't grouted up until Saturday, which meant New Plumber had to call back yesterday to seal the tray and the door, which in turn meant we had to wait until today to try it out. But you can bet there was a queue for that bathroom once the sealant had dried.

Since the whole problem was caused by the tray being set too low and with insufficient support, I expected to have to step up into the new tray. As it turned out the extra couple of centimetres makes hardly any difference to the "entering experience" which has definitely got my subconscious confused. My "exiting experience" came with an in-built assumption of a step down with the result that I stubbed my foot on the bathroom floor. Kind of like when you're walking downstairs and there's one less step than you expected. I'm sure I'll get over it.

Sadly I must admit to being not entirely happy with the result. Compared with the old tray, this one doesn't have much of a fall, so the water runs away much more slowly and also pools in the tray and around the edges rather than disappearing completely. It's also significantly shallower, so we'll have to be ultra-diligent about keeping the trap clear or else we'll be flooding the bathroom floor. At its highest point, opposite the trap, the tray is less than one centimetre deep.

Still, if I was to accentuate the positive I'd have to say that after three consecutive showers (Nat's been staying with us on study leave for a few weeks) there's no sign of a leak, and as that was the whole point of the exercise I think we can tick that box.