Thinking of installing wet room - pros and cons

[candlelight22]

Having the loft converted and will be having en suite. I really like idea of wet room. OH is not so convinced.

Do the towels and loo roll have to get wet?

Would get a glass panel for shower and aim to position it so it’s not opening up into the room but set up against two corner walls iyswim.

Does the whole floor have to get wet? Don’t fancy wet feet when need to go to loo.

Think it would be stylish and easier to clean. Definitely got wow factor.

Got a walk in shower downstairs and it’s a pain to keep clean.

Love our wetroom, it's on the ground floor so less worries about movement and leaking. Ours is very small but has a screen between the shower and toilet and a decent extractor and underfloor heating means the floor dries quickly.

If you have a low power shower, sloping to the drain, and to the floor show screen it should be okay in terms of the whole room getting wet. Personally, however, I need by high powered shower and so wet rooms aren’t for me :)

we made a platform for our floor for the shower areato cater for the waste and created a section for the shower so the water didnt splash out to the rest of the bathroom, works well
needs a good tanking though

Daft idea in the UK climate unless disability mandates. If you must, install serious extra heating (costs to run) and yes, you will get wet feet all the time unless the room is huge.

And make sure the floor slopes the right way...

Thanks everyone. Still undecided.

We've just done this and I love, love, love it.

However, I would only recommend a wet room if you have underfloor heating that you leave on all the time: our floor only takes a few minutes to dry after showers; plus, the heated floor dries our towels too. It's blissful.

Just be careful of boxing/ tiling in all the pipes. We had drainage problems and the only way in to the pipes was to rip up tiles to get access.

I hate wet rooms with a passion. As someone with Long, thick hair I have never big managed to flood one when showering and the floor is wet for aaaages. That being said, I’m pretty sure no underfloor heating in the ones I have used.

We have one. No underfoor heating. There’s a bit of splashing. We have a squeegee and scrape the water from the floor into the drain. Also a microfibre bath mat frommikea which dries really fast. Window open and floor is dry within minutes. Make sure the room is properly tanked: there are preformed trays to go beneath the actual shower part which will create the correct fall towards the integrated waste. Joists must be free of movement to avoid floor tiles loosening. Get the biggest glass screen that will still allow you into the shower.

A friend had one created for disabled partner. I don't know if the design was wrong but the water went everywhere and the loo was covered in water after every shower. It put me off because it was literally a 'wet' room. Perhaps the room was too small?

It’ll definitely be properly tanked etc. Builder does them all the time and has come highly recommended.

If we’re building it from scratch I should be able to design it. Underfloor heating seems way to go. There will be large windows for ventilation. Really interesting to hear your experiences.

We have one which was put in for the previous occupant who was disabled. It is great and the floor only gets wet within the shower curtains and just a tiny bit outside. The room is narrow so shower is at one end.

I would not have anything else now.

Can anyone recommend a builder/plumber to install a wetroom in South West London (Battersea). Thank you

My architect was very against putting one in due to leaks being an issue over time.

We have just had our bathroom done. Originally we were going to get a wetroom. Had quotes etc and it was very expensive so we looked at alternatives. We settled on an oversized black slate effect low profile shower tray with a 1200mm wide shower screen, dark slate effect floor tiles with the floor raised up using ply board so there is less than a 1cm height difference between the floor and tray. It looks great and we didnt have to get underfloor heating. We got LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiling) and its brilliant and warm under foot. Saved about £2500 on a wetroom but we do have a very large ensuite.

We’ve got something between normal shower and wet room in that we’ve got a large walk-in shower behind a stand-alone glass screen. The concept works really well but the previous owners buggered up the execution so the water overspills on the floor instead of down the drain (effectively giving us the downsides of a wet room). It is a pain having water all over the floor so I’d never do a proper wet room. I had a tiny wet room at uni and found it a pain but it was a good use of space.

We have a walk in shower with a Bette floor “tray”. Except it’s flush with the floor. If you have a deluge shower you need a 1400mm
Long screen to keep the water in that section. You need a good drain. I think the Bette product is the best compromise as they don’t crack and come in loads of colours to match tiles.

Yes to underfloor heating. No, if you have a minimal glass screen, the water doesn’t go everywhere. Yes to tanking. Yes to big format floor tiles that must not move! Ours isn’t really a wet room but we love our big glass screen and the Bette floor which matches the floor tiles in colour. We have a heated towel rad at the exit of the shower for warm towels every time.

unless needed for disability, a big NO to wetrooms in the UK. As you see they only work with constant underfloor heating. Are we bothered about climate change or not?