wetroom wisdom

[nankypeevy]

I have my heart set on a wetroom.

We're about to start an extension (!) and what is my kitchen will be turned into a wetroom and teeny, tiny, utility room.

I am revelling in the vision of being able to hose down puke-covered-teenagers and worse-covered-elderly rellies as required.

However, i am all bemused about how to do it. I have drooled over catalogues and websites - and our builder is happy to install it, but I remain clueless.

After reading the kitchen threads, I thought I'd tap you for more info!
TIA

Watching with vested interest... in a v similar situation

There seems to be a type of shower tray you buy which goes under the tiles to make them slope towards the drainage point - can this work under big tiles?
And do you still need a shower screen?

I think there's a couple of ways of doing the sloping floor.

Either it's done with poured concrete over the drains and moulded to the required shape, or you get a plastic insert that's tiled over the top.

Main bit seems to be the membrane lining of the floor/walls to stop the wetroom from leaking and ruining your whole house...

Yes, as far as I can see, you can finish the floor/walls with whatever you like.

I'm hoping to source that lino stuff they put on the floors in hospitals that comes up a couple of inches round the wall - easy to clean, hard wearing and i'll detract from the ohmaigawdshe'sgotthefuglyfloor with a purtee bathroom rug.

You don't need a shower screen - but without one the water might splash your loo roll. And, we all hate a soggy loo roll.

I'm going to get a plain glass screen. One sheet - so there's plenty of space for getting a wheelchair/hoist in (I should point out that my parents and IL's are in great nick just now - am just forward planning!) but the splashing is kept under control.

It seems y ou can spend A Lot of money on wetrooms. Which is amusing, as we are spending A Lot of money on the extension and will have no money left very shortly...oh, how we laugh.

No, no, no.

EVERY time a client of mine has had a wetroom installed, it has leaked.

They are honestly more trouble than they are worth. So difficult to keep clean, so difficult to keep the non-shower part dry, and you will spend more on repairs and water ingress redecoration into other rooms than you will save on not having a shower tray and screen or ideally (design sacrilege!) a self-contained shower unit.

And people who install wetrooms in flats need shooting. I believe there are now buildings insurance companies who will refuse to cover you if you leak into downstairs. Too bloody right.

Don't do it. More trouble than they are worth, and even if the water doesn't splash the loo roll it will get wet with condensation and nobody likes that moment when your finger goes through the loo roll as you're using it.

Just remembered - there is a sealed shower unit on the market (cannot recall the manufacturer, possibly Daryl? Any plumber's merchant will be able to tell you) that is itself almost the size of a wetroom. You could certainly ease yourself into it if you were in a wheelchair, but it looks so fabulous you could also install it in a five star hotel. One thought for elderly relations?

I've got one. It's necessary but a PITA. The floor never dries out unless you have the window open all day so it's either freezing or wet feet. The toilet roll is always damp. The floor has leaked and the process of having it replaced took over a bloody week!

Well that makes depressing reading!
Think DH will just have to read the thread to save me doing the hard sell on a 'normal' shower tray.

We have a wet room in one bathroom and a custom built shower tray in the other. Both have glass screens

The wet room is great. It is on the first floor, but with a thick cement base below. It hasn't leaked yet (we had it done over a year ago). The main thing is to have a really good waterproof membrane. And I think the thick cement underfloor helps.

It is absolutely great. Much prefer it to the shower tray, where we need to take a step down after bathing. We didn't have an option as the pipework was a bit high, otherwise we would definitely have a wet room there as well.

Had a wet room in our previous house. It was amazing. That said it was done by the architect who designed and built the house so the wet room wasn't retro fitted into the house so to speak.
It never ever leaked and was great.
That said I have been waaaaay too chicken to do a wet room in our new ensuite and family battooms I decided instead to get bespoke limestone shower trays cut to match the limestone tiles in each bathroom. It's the look of a wet room without the leaks

I was thinking about a wetroom for a flat I am developing. I sought advice on MN and the consensus was that it needed a specialist: I called up a couple of local companies and they both came in with guestimates north of #6k - this is for a miniscule space.

I have now rethought the layout and gone for a conventional shower room...

Holy shit!

6K?

See, I don't want to have a shower tray - I really, really want the house to be future proof. The point of the wet room is to accommodate ageing parents' needs.

A bath or a shower tray just isn't accessible - and I really want it to be fully accessible.

Mine will be put in by our builder, who's done a couple of them that I have seen.

6k. Blooming heck. I need a wee sherry now, that was quite a shock

You can get accessible walk in shower trays - I think. Off for school run so v brief.... but am fairly certain tis an option - they are v low level - try googling walk in shower and maybe accessible too.

Ours was a lot less than 6k. Labour ?1750 and materials ?2000 The pipework was already in place, so this is for walk in shower, suspended toilet and fitting a stone sink we had purchased separately.

The price included waterproofing, making the shower tray with cement, installing the shower and screen, tiling the shower area and another wall, installing the toilet and the sink/taps.

A really good option given ageing parents situation would be the flat trays which sit completely level with the floor. Like a wet room both in look and function but with out cost or leaking potential.

There is one system made by Bette (called Bette Floor). And a variety of flat trays in many sizes made by Kaldewei. The tray system comes with a base which you tile up to and it has a special channel surrounding it so if there was any failure of the grout, water would be collected and funnelled into the waste. It can be used for both concrete and timber floors.
The tray itself is then inserted afterwards to prevent damage during tiling. They are steel enamelled trays and have a 25 year warranty. You can get a non slip coating applied. A tray and system will set you back circa £800 (more if you want a massive one). Plus installation etc. Available online just google and you can see cost in relation to the size you are after.

Here: www.kaldewei.us/products/shower-trays/avantgarde/

Don't know so much about Bette floor but here; www.bette.co.uk/index.php?productid=6522091
They are not as flat as the Kaldewei and that they dip down iyswim
Hth

thanks for that, skandi.

Much to learn. Sigh. I really want to sit and watch corrie and knit, not faff about figuring out the wonders of taps....I do not have a future as a property developer!

Right, going to read more, chat to the builder and mull over.

Of course, he's costed for the fitting of a wetroom into our quote. Not for the loo and shower etc, but the labour and the built in goods like the membrane, is included.

Sigh. It all seemed so simple in my pretty little head...

Is your builder offering a warranty in relation to the wet room installation? If not then I would go for either the bette Floor or Kaldewei.

The tray systems for both work with a frame which is placed first and then tiled up to it and very last comes the insertion of the tray. This also means it can be lifted out again if say the waste or trap wasn't quite fitted properly and leaked.
With a wet room you don't have that option. It would all have to come out again (inc tiles to repair. Very costly if you didn't have a warranty from your installer.

Not trying to put you off wet rooms as I think they are fab. Just trying to be realistic in terms of downfalls etc.

With the flat tray system, there will be a substantial saving in terms of labour and materials against a wet room. Tray and system is circa £1000 depending on which one and which size tray etc and labour for installation will/should be no more than installing a standard sit on the floor shower tray (waste connection etc).

Money you can then blow on naice fancy taps

Don't think he is - but, having said that, he does a lot of work round here and I know of a couple of wetrooms he's fitted.

However, I like your tray thingie - the fewer potentials for things to go wrong the better. We are blessed with skingofourteeth luck, no point in pushing that!

I do feel a bit like I've been dropped into Oz. All these terms and notions that Everyone Else understands, and I do not...

thanks so much for your advice, I really appreciate it.

away to think about taps...

So you think a purpose built wetroom may be less problem prone than a converted on Skandi?
That gives me hope, as ours will (fingers crossed) be going into an extension

We live in a council house (we are v.v. lucky, I know) and the lady before us had the bathroom converted to a wetroom, because of mobility and health issues, by the council. The very nosy helpful next door neigbour came to see us the day we got the keys to gossip tell us that the surveyor had told her that the bathroom conversion cost the council £5000.