DIY assembly and installation of a shower cabin

Recommendation points

• We study in detail the passport of the cabin
• Cab pallet installation
• Assembly of the guide rail system
• Rear walls of the cab and technical equipment of varying degrees of complexity
• Installation of walls, doors and tops
• Electrical installation

For the most part, shower cabins cannot be talked about as standard designs. However, the main stages of their assembly are quite simple and generally do not differ much from model to model. We invite you to get acquainted with the assembly and installation instructions and recommendations for solving possible problems.

We study in detail the passport of the cabin

Almost all shower cabins and boxes are supplied with an individual passport with graphic assembly diagrams. It is possible that the instructions explain only a typical assembly diagram common to a whole model range. The form factor of the cabin itself may differ significantly from those shown in the example images or not to scale, but the order and type of fasteners between the parts, as a rule, are the same.

Any cabin is always supplied with a complete set, including piece products for fastening to the floor and walls, and in the most expensive imported sets there are even quite suitable sealants and additional chemicals for installation and further operation.

A detailed list of parts is included in the datasheet, which you use to check the newly unpacked kit. The absence of any items from this list, as well as dents, scratches on the profiles, pallet and glass, are considered a marriage, and the cab set itself must be returned with subsequent replacement with a new one. It is not worth delaying the replacement, even if the inconsistencies or defects found seem insignificant. Still, a shower cabin is equipment that has been installed for many years..

Cab pallet installation

The installation of the pallet will seem familiar to many – acrylic baths are installed in the same way. It is recommended to first fix on the walls a line of support rails or corners for booths attached to the walls. In freestanding boxes with a deep pallet, it is recommended to replace the screw feet with a rigid foam block pedestal, tiled.

It is also necessary to insulate the cabin, but only from the bottom side. Enough 30-40 mm polyurethane foam or 50 mm EPS. At this stage, there is quite useful “know-how”: lay 1.5–2 m of low power heating cable under the bottom of the cabin. It will warm up the bottom in seconds and maintain a comfortable air temperature.

It is worth mentioning separately about low-set pallets without a screen, the height of which does not exceed 200-250 mm. Usually, difficulties arise with their installation due to the inconvenient location of the siphon and the small slope of the drainage pipe. In this situation, the podium also saves, but it is hollow. And do not forget that it must be laid out not only along the perimeter (under the sides), but also to provide support in the central part of the pallet.

Install the siphon and overflow system before the final installation of the sump. The edges of the drain cutout in the pan are first treated with acrylic sealant (not silicone), if the neck is threaded, seal with Teflon tape.

Turn the drain pipe of the siphon to the drain point, use a corrugation of variable length for connection, it is recommended to install as high quality as possible. When putting the pallet in place, generously apply sanitary silicone to the ends of the sides, and then remove the squeezed out excess.

Assembly of the guide rail system

The cabins can be classified as corner, attached and insulated boxes, the number of walls, respectively, varies from two to four. The frame will have a different number of guides. Corner cabins have only two vertical posts that are attached to the walls, and two horizontal profiles that follow the shape of the pallet. The frame of such a cabin is assembled separately, and then installed on a pallet, leveled and attached to the walls with standard elements.

It is more difficult with attached and free-standing cabins: there are two intermediate ribs in the frame, and the elements themselves are usually more massive. The risk of damage to a heavy assembly when shipped on a pallet is quite high, so the rails are assembled on site, starting with attaching the uprights to the walls and then adding the side walls and door rails.

In each case, any abutment of the profile to the walls, pallet or to each other should be sealed with a layer of sealant, and then remove the excess from the joints to form semicircular dimples. Don’t underestimate the role of sanitary silicone: it not only protects against leaks, but also serves as the main element of securing the cab after drying.

The assembly of the frames of free-standing boxes begins from the rear wall, on which the entire hydraulic piping is mounted, the branch pipes of all outgoing and incoming connections are prepared. Boxes are often assembled from modules 40–60 cm wide, framed in a docking frame. Profiles are assembled around the walls and fastened with standard screw connections at the ends or overhead docking inserts.

Rear walls of the cab and technical equipment of varying degrees of complexity

We will conditionally divide the cab equipment into external and internal parts. From the inside, the cabin is like a separate bathroom. The walls are equipped with mirrors, dispensers, towel holders and other accessories. Fastening is simple – with bolts from the wrong side of the walls under the silicone washer according to the markings indicated on the walls.

A headrest, a waterfall gander, a seat and a handrail can be attached to the pallet. Plumbing and hydromassage elements may be present both in the pallet and on the walls. In corner and attached cabins, they are mounted inside the walls even before the tiles are laid. In the boxes, you will have to carry out all these work manually: connect the pipes of the sanitary components with the outlets of the dispensing and filtering unit with flexible hoses, provide the connections with pressure reducers and other fittings according to the assembly diagram.

The diameter of threaded connections does not exceed 3/4 inch, so you can safely pack them with FUM tape. Faucets and flexible hoses for connecting watering cans and a foot massager are mounted on the inside on fluoroplastic glands.

Installation of walls, doors and tops

To install the walls of the cabin, a water cut-off side is provided in the pallet, the walls are exposed along it from the inside. The rigidity of the structure is achieved due to the angular fastening of the sections, abutment against the side of the pallet and strapping with upper guides or a cap.

If the cut profile has hollow channels, their edges must be damped with silicone. Roller grooves in horizontal profiles are often designed so that the rollers and stops in them must be run before they are fastened to the vertical posts. After installing the walls, make sure that the drainage channels on the pallet are not covered with sealant..

Sliding doors are hung after fixing the fixed walls with the upper and lower horizontal profiles. Each of the rollers has a protruding threaded pin; they need to be strung on a small tag made of thick cardboard. It will help guide the roller into the door opening, after which the strip can be simply torn off.

The glass walls are fixed either by means of a metal frame or through wide openings with an insert of soft metal bushings. After hinging the doors, fix the cut-off seals on their edges and the edges of the walls, then bring the doors in the closed position and fix the stopper plugs.

The assembly is completed with the installation of the top, which for boxes is made in one piece and simply covers the walls like a cap. It can accommodate lighting, rain showers and other equipment that can be connected from the inside. Corner and attached cabins are simply fenced off to the ceiling with a light plastic screen fixed to the upper horizontal and vertical rail.

Electrical installation

And finally, it is important to remind you of the rules for the correct and safe connection of cabins with a power grid on board. They can have any type of load – from power supplies for LED strips to a simple active element in a flow heater. At the output, a combined SPD of class III is preferred, in the shield the line is protected by a voltage relay and a residual current device (RCD).

1 – introductory machine; 2 – SPD; 3 – grounding bus; 4 – counter; 5 – RCD; 6 – voltage relay; 7 – socket with grounding contact

The socket for connection should be a three-pin for a Schuko molded plug, the cord from which is inserted into the booth power supply. All outgoing connections are connected with standard conductors. Do not forget that the metal parts of the booth must be grounded, with the exception of parts that are structurally separated from the electrified area (for example, metal handles on polymer or glass doors).