ᐅ Shower base or floor is sinking – What could be the cause?

Hello,

we have a problem with our bathroom, specifically the shower. Some time ago, we noticed that the floor around the shower is sinking.
The bathroom flooring is PVC (or a similar material), and in front of the shower there was a noticeable dip.
Now the entire shower tray has sunk by at least 1cm (0.4 inches). This is clearly visible due to the gap that formed between the shower enclosure (which is firmly attached to the wall) and the shower tray.

Does anyone have an idea what could be causing this?

My current solution would be: remove the shower, retile the wall, level the floor with self-leveling compound or something similar, and install a new shower. Afterwards, replace the entire floor covering as well.

But what if there are more serious problems with the floor? I would of course like to know before removing the shower tray. Because then it would probably be a much more complicated issue that requires planning more time and money accordingly.

We are naturally worried that the floor underneath the shower might be rotting. We don’t know what is beneath the shower or the flooring.

This is in the attic of an older building.

Thank you very much for your assessment!

The house is easily around 80 years old, so this is normal. Remove everything and rebuild from scratch.

What does "everything" mean? If possible, I would only renovate the area around the shower.

And what exactly is sinking there? Assuming I level the floor again with self-leveling compound, it could sink again after a year. Some material must be disappearing somewhere?!

Perhaps the attic floor is not strong enough to support this load. If the floor is sagging, I would personally consult a structural engineer first and then redo the work. It’s possible that the substructure on the wooden beam ceiling is not stable enough (the layer beneath the tiles and above the wooden beams) or that the entire construction is simply too heavy. Has the attic always been finished? How old is the house? It already looks like it needs significant renovation anyway. I would therefore seek professional advice and then completely redo it.

Winniefred schrieb:
in need of renovation

Cleaning would already help a lot... Sorry, but I would never post photos of tiles with 3mm (0.1 inch) of dirt on them. Just looking at it gives me cold sores!

Bruderhertz schrieb:
What does "everything" mean? If possible, I would only renovate the area around the shower.

And what exactly is sinking there? Assuming I level the floor again with self-leveling compound, it could settle again within a year. Some material must be disappearing somewhere, right?!

You want it to look nice too, don’t you, or do you prefer the retro bathtub?