False wall in walk in shower - current best method?

[Del-inquent]

Building a false wall to hide some plumbing and add some recessed niches in the shower. Couple of queries on it.

1 - Last time I did this was about 15 years ago. Treated 4x2's (just in case) into shapes required with recesses framed and then cement board cladding all over. Is there any newer, improved way/materials I should be doing it instead?
2 - ideally I'd like an access panel to behind the wall at the bottom, is there an off-the-shelf solution that can be tiled over but create a decent waterproof seal, simple to remove when needed? Only ever tried one and it was utter crap and leaked water like a sieve. 

Cheers!

Edited 11 hours ago by Del-inquent

[Nickfromwales]

47 minutes ago, Del-inquent said:

Building a false wall to hide some plumbing and add some recessed niches in the shower. Couple of queries on it.

1 - Last time I did this was about 15 years ago. Treated 4x2's (just in case) into shapes required with recesses framed and then cement board cladding all over. Is there any newer, improved way/materials I should be doing it instead?
2 - ideally I'd like an access panel to behind the wall at the bottom, is there an off-the-shelf solution that can be tiled over but create a decent waterproof seal, simple to remove when needed? Only ever tried one and it was utter crap and leaked water like a sieve. 

Cheers!

#1 rule in a wet area, is, “don’t make any feckin holes in a wet area!!”.

 

I never use treated timber as fixing don't hold well, screws just go in one side and out the other due to the moisture, it dries and shrinks back, just horrible stuff to work with indoors basically.

 

Currently doing 5 bathrooms / wet rooms in a clients new (timber frame) house and am using kiln dried regularised CLS only. If water gets to the wood then you have MUCH bigger problems.

 

I only ever use plasterboard, and tank the living daylights out of it, and in over 25 years never had a single complaint or failure (same phone number for about 27 years btw, and I’ve worked for some proper moaning gits over the years who would DEFO have called me if their 1st floor wetroom was leaking into downstairs  ).

 

What do you need access for? I’ve never added this or ever needed to, just leak test the plumbing before boarding over, finish the job, and go to the pub.

 

Isolators can be located elsewhere, like under the floorboards outside the room, or above in the attic etc, and most modern mixer showers are bombproof (if you don’t buy cheap crap blind from  AliExpress et-al).

[Del-inquent]

6 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

#1 rule in a wet area, is, “don’t make any feckin holes in a wet area!!”.

 

I never use treated timber as fixing don't hold well, screws just go in one side and out the other due to the moisture, it dries and shrinks back, just horrible stuff to work with indoors basically.

 

Currently doing 5 bathrooms / wet rooms in a clients new (timber frame) house and am using kiln dried regularised CLS only. If water gets to the wood then you have MUCH bigger problems.

 

I only ever use plasterboard, and tank the living daylights out of it, and in over 25 years never had a single complaint or failure (same phone number for about 27 years btw, and I’ve worked for some proper moaning gits over the years who would DEFO have called me if their 1st floor wetroom was leaking into downstairs  ).

 

What do you need access for? I’ve never added this or ever needed to, just leak test the plumbing before boarding over, finish the job, and go to the pub.

 

Isolators can be located elsewhere, like under the floorboards outside the room, or above in the attic etc, and most modern mixer showers are bombproof (if you don’t buy cheap crap blind from  AliExpress et-al).

😅 Yeah I would usually agree, hence having only done an access panel once before!

Only reason is there is literally nowhere else to put isolators and I need them ideally in one location for more than just the shower, it's a bit of an odd layout and rather restrictive. The panel wouldn't be within the "really wet area" - tray is 1700mm  and the access panel would go at the end furthest from the head.

Interesting on the treated, never had that problem myself but I'm all for making life easier and I've got plenty of untreated here that'll save a trip to the shops 👍. 

When you say "cheap crap"... Budget isn't huge (is it ever) and the only mixer that meets with approval from She Who Must Be Obeyed AND within budget is from Victorian Plumbing - Chatsworth 1928 version to be precise. The closest I've managed to find elsewhere is more than 4 times the price. Any opinion on VP's offerings?