Which shower tray should I buy — acrylic, stone resin or low profile?

Two decisions are hiding inside 'which tray'. The material decides how the tray behaves under load and what has to support it. The height decides whether you can get at the waste afterwards and whether the step in is manageable. Of the two, the height causes more regret, because a low tray on a solid floor with no access underneath is a genuinely difficult thing to service.

Step by step

1. Understand acrylic-capped trays.A vacuum-formed acrylic skin over a resin or board backing, sometimes with a moulded plastic support base. Light enough to carry one-handed, warm underfoot, quiet, and cheap. They rely completely on their support — adjustable legs, a supplied frame, or a full bed of mortar. On legs, they flex between the legs, and that flex is what breaks the silicone at the wall.
2. Understand stone resin and composite trays.Cast mineral filler in resin, solid all through. Heavy, entirely rigid, warm-ish underfoot, and quiet. They can generally be bedded straight onto a flat floor rather than needing a frame, which removes the flex problem at source. They are also the trays that survive a dropped shampoo bottle. The weight makes them a two-person lift and the cutting of one to fit is a job for a professional.
3. Understand ceramic and other rigid trays.Ceramic trays are rigid, hard-wearing and cold, and they chip if something heavy is dropped on them. They are less common now but appear in older bathrooms and in some designer ranges.
4. Decide the height before the material.A standard tray sits around 80 to 110mm high and leaves room underneath for the trap and access. A low-profile tray is roughly 45mm or under and is much easier to step into, but the trap has to fit in that depth and you have to plan how anyone will ever reach it. On a timber floor you can drop the trap between the joists; on a solid concrete floor you often cannot, and the access has to come from a removable side panel or from the room next door.
5. Check the shape and handing against the enclosure.Trays and enclosures are matched. A quadrant tray needs a quadrant enclosure of the same radius; offset quadrants and some rectangles are handed. Buy the tray and enclosure together or at least confirm compatibility before either arrives.
6. Look at whether it has an upstand.Some trays are moulded with a raised lip along the wall edges. That upstand, tiled in front of rather than above, is a second line of defence behind the silicone and it is the single biggest difference between a tray junction that lasts and one that does not.
7. Check the waste position and the fall.A tray's waste can be centre, corner or offset. The waste position has to line up with where the drain can actually go, and the fall is moulded in — you do not create it. A tray fitted out of level fights its own moulded fall and holds water.
8. Think about the anti-slip finish.Most trays are available with a textured anti-slip area. It is worth having, particularly for older users, and it is slightly harder to clean. This is a real safety trade-off rather than a marketing one.

Common mistakes

• Buying a low-profile tray for a solid floor without planning waste access — There is no space under it and no way through the floor. The only access afterwards is from the side, and that has to be built in at the start.
• Fitting an acrylic tray on adjustable legs and nothing else — It flexes between the legs, and the flex is transmitted straight into the silicone joint at the wall. A frame plus the manufacturer's specified support, or a full bed, is the answer.
• Choosing the tray after the enclosure — Enclosures fit trays, not the other way round. Get the tray shape, size and handing settled first.

Alternatives

• Wet room former and tanked floor: No tray at all — a sloped former set into the floor, tanked and tiled. Fully level access and nothing to crack. Requires proper tanking and floor build-up, and a failure is a much bigger failure.
• Tiled tray / tileable former: A rigid former you tile over so the shower floor matches the room. Looks seamless, needs the tanking done properly and the grout maintained.
• Rectangular tray in place of a bath: Where a bath is being removed, a full-length rectangular tray uses the existing footprint and the existing waste position, which is usually the cheapest route to a decent shower.

Questions people ask