Problems with shower niches??

A builder told me they dont reccomend these as they cause maintenence issues (ie they leak)

has anyone else heard this? Should I take it out of my quote?

Penny I'm answering all your questions.

I heard the same thing that's why I didn't bother with them. Also, even though they are supposed to be slightly sloped they do apparently tend to gather grime in the corners. I decided I'd rather buy something that can be removed for thorough cleaning!

Jo

I have not heard this penny. I hope it's not true! There are a few people here which have already got them - vanderlay I think you have some? maybe they can comment...

It may depend on how good your builder/tiler is. will be interested to read responses also.

I don't know if it's actually true, but I thought there's probably 1 in 10,000 that leak and it'll be mine.

DOH! ......I'm having them in all 5 ensuite showers......let's hope we get a good tiler!

I initially had a feature tile in the niches, then decided that would be a nightmare to clean, so I changed to just having the plain tile that's in the shower in the niches as well, so I'm glad I at least did that!

I'll let you know if we ever have problems!!!

Out of the 3 builders we had dealt with, only one was against putting shower niches.

Same reason.

When I asked our builder, they said it depends on the tiler.

I still prefer niches than the shower cuddy... so we'll be having it in the ensuite.. but not in the other bathroom (wall could not accommodate a niche).

We are building with PD and are having one niche in the kids shower with feature pebbles. We were told that there would be a "slight" slope to allow run off, we also have to seal our niche due to the pebbles so hopefully that might help with any leaks

We had a niche in our last house that we built. Just sold the house after 3.5 years.
No problems , and yes it did have a slight angle in it. We will definately be having one in the next house but it will be bigger.. This time it will be 2mtrs long! ( the length of our shower)

We have them and they are fine!

No more build up than normal for grime etc and the water just runs out...

We have one in eacheshower with a pebble feature and have no problems. The water runs straight out. IMO they look a lot better than all the manky shower caddies I have tried in the past.

This is one of our showers:



The whole inside around all the walls is coated in a fibreglass seal to stop any leaks etc

This is a sore point for us also
After browsing many display homes, we had decided on a shelf-type niche running along the length of our showers (similar to that in VJ's home).
Our builder however, informs us that the largest niche they can build is approx 45mm X 45mm!
I am so disappointed as this is not what we are wanting and I think that this small 'box' will look out of place in our large double shower in the ensuite
I just don't understand why we can't have what we want? Others have done it, why can't we?
This question is on the top of the agenda for our pre-site meeting with the builder at the end of the week!!!

This was a must have this time around. A 1m x 300 in our ensuite and a 600x300 in the other shower. I will be keeping an eye on the tiler.

How much extra are your builders charging you for these niches?

I said I wanted to put them in our bathrooms, but wife said no. Said it was an unnesessary expense. I agree, it's not necessary, but it sure does make the shower look nicer.

Greg

No extra, I had them put in the initial plans, that was that.

If they are done properly like Matts are there should be no problem with leaking!

I truly think it depends on the builder, and if he can be bothered forming them up and mucking around with them as to wether you get them or not.

gpierce, from memory we paid $200-300 for the two (can't remember how much exactly) both 600x300 mm

Greg, we paid about $300 for each of the two showers. They are both about 1.25m long as the little box size was not going to cut it. We have girls, can you tell??

I noticed with Matt's bathroom that the bath hob had not been waterproofed in accordance with the Building Code of Australia. A lot of builders are missing this area - splash water on the area around the bath and water will penetrate through tot he supporting timbers.
I'll try and attach a diagram of how the waterproofing should be done - not sure how to do this.