Shower Niche help- single brick; can it be done?

Can it be done and how? Have prestart in 5 days and I MUST have shower niches!

nvm

Brick vaneer??- the niche is within the frame, bricks won't affect it.

yeah you just need a double layer of waterproof plasterboard I think, which accounts for the cost.

It an definitely be done because we have one in our main bathroom that is on an external wall, which is just single brick.
Here's a picture of ours at frame stage:
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/u509/kjw7/img25.jpg
As far as I can tell they haven't done anything special. The niche is just built into the actual frame, they've then applied a plywood backing to the frame, which then had the foil wrap stuff followed by bricks. This was then just plastered straight over and now looks like this:
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/u509/kjw7/img86.jpg
Hope this helps!

Awesome! My sales guy said it can't be done, I really hope the guys at prestart don't tell me that too. I'll demand it and show them those pics. Can anyone shed some light on how much it cost?

$600 ish for us with Beechwood is what they said. I haven't actually got that in writing.

For just one? Farrr out!
Beechwood? Is that for the insert?

thats for like the double layer of waterproof plaster and the extra feature tiles etc

I don't see why you need double layer of plaster for.

You're better off using thinner but stronger ply behind the ply.

The niche would prob cost no more than $100 to do... The other $500 is profit

I'll take em up on that one. good to know!

We are having them in all 3 of our bathrooms. Our builder, Rawson, does them for free.

Macdonald Jones charges $190.00 for them.

$600 is a massive cost.

turtleschell you are in WA aren't you? I'm not 100% sure but don't think you can put a niche in a single brick wall. We don't have frames like they do over east so I think the only way to do it is to make the wall double brick/cavity wall.

Putting it into a brick veneer wall is no great problem, and the $190 Jen1977 is being charged sounds about right.
If its single skin brick/block then the sales guy would be correct. It can't be done with out running up another entire wall.
Save your money and get a 300mm wide soup shelf.

Sorry Turtleschell, I didn't look at where you're located. But if you're in WA and they don't do the timber framework then your build won't be the same as ours and those photos won't be much help..

This is devastating. The external walls are double brick, my ensuite uses one of these external walls, perhaps I can have one there.
Sigh. I'm crushed, I absolutely love those shower niches. I can't stand glass shelves. THe other alternative is a tile corner shelf, but I'm worried that having that will make the next row of tiles sit too high and there will be an extra thick grout line, if you know what I mean? Can't see how it wouldn't.

Not quite sure what you mean about a tile corner shelf..

So cut a tile diagonally in half and wedge it horizontally between two wall tiles so it forms a shelf.
http://floorelf.com/building-a-corner-s ... our-shower See in those pics.
My shower is pretty small I think, that's why a niche would have been perfect.

Oh okay I get it now! It's a good idea if you're not into the glass shelf, but doesnt seem like it would really hold much (and you couldn't make it too big or it'd take up too much shower space). What a bummer about the niches! I'm assuming that making the wall thicker so that you could have a niche would cost a bit more and therefore not an option? Is it possible to do that? Or if you didn't want to double layer one entire wall just to add a niche, you could possibly just double the wall up to a certain height, forming a shelf to put shampoo etc on? Of course you will lose some shower space doing this, so may not be a very good option either. Sorry, I hope you can find a solution!

Is the wall you wish to put this niche located on an internal (wooden stud frame) wall or a double brick external wall. If so it is possible on either.
If internal it is lined with villa board or similar, strong, waterproof, and thin for maximum depth etc.
If d/Brick it needs to be lined with similar and a rear support in place to hold he rear panel. It may need a small lintel in the brickwork for support as well.

All of the niche's have to waterproofed like the relevant areas of the showers so 2 layers of WR board is not required.

If it's an internal wall then $600 is over the top, if it's on the D/B there is a bit more involved, so would cost more, but as the wall has not yet been built, it is not that hard or that expensive.