Planning a Wet Room

[PermanentlyDizzy]

We are planning some major changes to our house, including an extension and potentially a loft conversion as well.

We’re still at the very early stages of deciding what we want/need, but are sure we need to incorporate a wet room into our plans. (We have an adult dc with ASD and OCD who showers excessively and floods the floor in our current bathroom every day and another with a mobility issues who needs to be seated to shower, so a wet room makes sense for both of their needs.)

The location will be ground floor, in what is currently the back lobby area and downstairs loo. It has solid floor, with the original 1930’s quarry tiling on the floor. (Plans are for a bathroom upstairs as well and potentially an en-suite in the loft-conversion.)

We want to keep things simple, but smart and although it has to meet the needs of our dc, it will also be our only downstairs loo for visitors so, while it needs to include some elements to ensure their safety, we want to avoid making it look too much like a disabled access room, iyswim.

I have zero experience of wet rooms personally, but can remember, years ago, reading about people having also sorts of issues with them not being properly sealed leading to damp build up. Is this still an issue or have things moved on since then?

Any advice on where to start with planning it and things we need to consider would be appreciated.

There are a number of ways of dealing a wet room costing various amounts of money. We used (very sticky) membrane and a tray both made by Impey. Feels rock solid with no leaks. I think they provide very lengthy guarantees if fitted according to instructions.

Thank you, I will look them up.

Been reading up today and it seems you can either go for a full wet-room with angled shower base or a recessed tray, so there’s no lip/step. Ds1 manages to flood the whole room daily, regardless of all the methods we have tried to contain it, (currently it’s a shower over the bath) and he’s wrecked the bath panel and skirtings as a result - so I’m thinking, realistically, we need the whole room to be sealed.

We have a ground floor wet room. The floor is angled down, so no tray or lip. Make sure you get a good tiler. The way the tiles are cut is very important.

Lots of wet rooms don’t have a shower tray at all. They are tiled all over but you can get a shower floor and it’s integrated into where the floor tiles would have been. I strongly suggest you look at a Bette Floor system. They are German and come in a huge variety of colours. They simply replace the floor tiles. Make sure you get a really big one. We contain the water with a glass screen. Are you having a screen? It stops the whole room being wet and I would recommend one. Make the shower area is at least 1600 long. 1m wide if you can and build in a shelf for toiletries.

The other issues are heating and drainage. You need substantial drainage. So you must make sure it takes a lot of water and drains efficiently. So a good slope is needed! You need to get someone to help with designing the drainage in a ground floor project. Under floor heating is absolutely vital. You must dry the floor quickly or no one else can use it. You don’t want a wet floor around the loo or basin. Then make sure you have a large heated towel rail where you exit the shower. You don’t want to be hunting around for warm towels. We find this has all worked for us.

I would definitely separate the shower area which is often not done and den make the rest of the room very wet! All walls must be tiled and you must ventilate. A mix of cosy warmth and ventilation works in my experience.

Have a look at AKW website. They do all sorts of options for wet rooms from formers that go into the floor , or from what you say shallow trays that have all sorts of bi fold screen options, sell seats etc. I install these for our local council ( work for a builder ) it may be worth speaking to the aids and adaptations dept in your local council to see what contractors they use and go direct ( we have worked directly for clients before ) then you know you using a trade person that is used to this type of install

I think it depends whether you want it to look like a really nice bathroom or a bit institutionalised. Choose really nice tiles and non slip tiled floor and high quality fittings.

Having lived with a previous owner's wet room design, I suggest keeping wet room and loo separate.

Together, spray from the shower will ensure loo roll is always slightly damp, so are towels. Wash hand basin never looks clean if you are in a hard water area.

Go for smooth, easy clean tiles in the shower area and invest in good quality waterproof lighting.

So many replies, thank you everyone!

@TizerorFizz I’m hoping we might be able to retain the wall dividing the loo and lobby and have the shower one side and the loo and sink the other. So effectively we would remove the door and threshold and tile everywhere leaving the opening as an entrance to a fully contained shower area. Both the main toilet waste pipe and drain run along that side of the house anyway, so it’s not like we need to redirect underground drains or anything that major. (Ultimately all the new plumbing upstairs will be being built over the new wetroom, so all the bathroom/toilet plumbing will be aligned.)

We definitely want it to look like a nice room, rather than a hospital bathroom. I was thinking of a built in seat and recess for shampoo/shower gel etc. I’ve had a quick look today and you can get some nicer looking silver grab rails, that don’t look too intrusive, which is a relief because I was thinking we may end up with the white/clinical style ones, which really would make it more of hospital than home look.

@Inmyvillagetoo thank you, I will go and have a look at their website. Ds2’s OT was keen to get the council involved in doing our room, but there were complicated reasons meaning we had to wait before we could make changes to the building and we would rather the end look was smart family bathroom than the focus being purely on disabled access. Ds1 is fiercely independent and has already refused the offer of a hospital bed and specialised seating. He is very accepting of his disabilities, but determined they won’t dominate his life - or his style. I think he would prefer it if the downstairs loo room doesn’t highlight his disability any more than it has to. Ds1 doesn’t care either way, as long as he can carry on having hour long showers on a daily basis! I doubt he will even notice what the room looks like.

As mentioned above, ds1’s hour long showers (45 minutes on a good day) which are driven by his OCD, necessitate really good ventilation, so we will be really careful with planning that. We currently have an extractor that he has running while he showers, then leaves on and we keep checking till all the steam has gone before switching it off. We leave the window open the rest of the time, to maximise air flow. It’s far from ideal though, as the bathroom is directly below my bedroom at the moment and that means the fan is just a few feet below my pillow, which doesn’t go down well when I have a migraine!

As I said, it’s going to be part of a much larger renovation, including an extension, although we are rethinking our original plans, as we’ve watched prices go up massively in every area from materials to labour and I’m not convinced they will ever go back to where they were. So I am just trying to wrap my head around what we really want and need, whether it’s physically possible, what’s involved and if we can within our budget.

We have waited years to be able to do all this and had a really good budget for it, but in the context of Brexit and the pandemic, realistically, that budget is not going to go as far as we had hoped and we need to be realistic about what we can and can’t do. It’s our forever house - that we’ve already lived in for 18 years, several of which it has been totally unsuitable for our needs - so we’re comfortable with investing in it, but would really like to get the big changes done all at once, to minimise disruption to the family. Ds1 is already struggling with the idea of us making changes (ASD plus OCD phobias around building work and building materials) so we can’t really do it in stages as more funds become available, it’s going to be a move out and rent somewhere job, then move back in when it’s all done and even that will be challenging for him.

To be honest, the whole things terrifies me, it’s so huge, so many things to think about, such a lot of money and there are so many ways it can all go horribly wrong, but our lives will be so much easier once it’s done, as everyone will finally have their individual housing needs met.

@PermanentlyDizzy
Gosh. That’s a lot to deal with. I can see this project will be stressful. If you can move out I probably would.

Yes. If you can retain a wall to help form a cubicle, this could work. I like my glass screen because it lets in light from the window. However your room might be better with walls but the shower won’t feel as spacious. You can get wall mounted seats but a built in tiled seat is a nice idea. If you have 3 sides enclosed, water should be contained pretty well so no wet loo. Make sure you have underfloor heating and a big towel rad. These items really do make a difference.

We did an extension as a granny flat for my mum. And we put in a wet room so it's easy to shower her if she ever became disabled. We have the shower head in one corner facing the basin. And the toilet is in the diametrically opposite corner. The water never reaches the toilet and actually there is very little splash. I'd have wall hung basin and toilet, for ease of cleaning round and it makes the space feel bigger. Tons of chrome grab rails around and there are lovely zigzag ones that don't look like grab rails at all.
The membrane that goes underneath seemed very straightforward. We had underfloor heating just in the shower area as well so it can be aired out.
Our biggest worry was the floor being slippy and mum falling. We put porcelain down as we were told they were the keys,slippy than ceramic, and put ceramic tiles on the wall. Porcelain tiles are less porous too. No one has ever slipped there. (Quickly looking for wood to touch!) You can get vinyls to go down but they do look a bit nhs.

We avoided tiles on the floor in the shower. I don’t like cleaning grout in a shower! The Bette floor is so much better.

Thanks to an unfortunate cock up by my plumber, we reconfigured a stainless steel shower curtain rail, to curve around a tall, slim radiator thus doubling as a grab rail for tottery DH and a towel rail for everyone else. That's the only thing I can add OP.

Voila!

We moved in to a house with a wet room that never drained properly so my only advice would be to make sure yours does. It always had a puddle on the floor and was a nightmare!!!

Also-on the plus side it had underfloor heating which was very nice!

We have a wet room, the previous owners' daughter was in a wheelchair.

It's got a grippy floor all over that goes up the walls about 6 inches. It's all angled to go down the drain in the middle of the shower.

I understand why the floor is grippy but it's impossible to clean. It's very spiky like lots of tiny bits of gravel. I don't know if there is a better non slip option that doesn't feel like the surround of an outdoor pool!

I can only offer what not to do from the one in the house when we moved in.
Don't be tempted to use light grey grout in your tiles. It constantly looked dirty and you couldn't bleach it!
Don't skimp on underfloor heating. Standing on freezing tiles is not fun and they don't dry.

Was bloody handy after my husband had back surgery though so done well it could be great.
I think the warmer stone colours are nicer on walls at least. It's harder to soften them with accessories so all grey was quite depressing

Porcelanosa do THE best wall and floor tiles. Choose huge ones that need a darker grout. Ours are made to virtually butt together so not much grout on show. All these design considerations matter.

Altro Pisces and Aquarius have the correct slip rating for a wet room. Those that mention a puddle the former in the floor has not been set correctly, or if a tray there is not enough fall to take the waste away. a Gulper Whale or AKW equiv ‘gulps’ the waste away. Good luck and honestly find out what contractors your local council aids and adaptation dept uses they will have the answers to your requirements.
Good luck

Just don't get altro flooring. It never looks clean

I beg to differ @inheritancetrack.
My Altro flooring is as pristine today as the day it was laid - approx. 6 years ago.
I do get down on my hands and knees and scrub it though - with a scrubbing brush.

Id start with focus on drainage pipes and system to take excess water away,

Haven't read other replies but perhaps you could consider a walk in shower instead. These seem to be becoming more of a thing.
So there's a shower tray, but it's not raised, it's level with the rest of the floor which you could tile as normal, so there's no step up into it and no shower curtains or doors, it's just a case of walking behind a screen and they can build in a seat on the wall.

I think the OP was intending to have a more enclosed shower by use of existing walls. Personally I like glass because it lightens up the shower space. I wouldn’t recommend a traditional wet room in this country! Containing the water in a big walk in or walk through shower is a far better solution. Wet rooms have died a death!

@Wingedharpy

I beg to differ *@inheritancetrack*. My Altro flooring is as pristine today as the day it was laid - approx. 6 years ago. I do get down on my hands and knees and scrub it though - with a scrubbing brush.

I use a scrubbing brush, a mop, 101 different cleaning products and it's still looks evil haha!