basic explanation of a wet room .....dave..

Wet Rooms

Wet rooms are becoming an increasingly popular way to fit a bathroom into a small space without the cramped feeling of a traditional enclosed shower area.
What is a wet room?


A wet room is a bathroom, where the shower area is level with the surrounding floor.
Building a wet room can be time consuming & difficult, with many complex issues to consider.
Action Plan

You need to draw up a plan of action of some sort. Notes on time, responsibility for action, & costs per action should also be noted alongside.

For example.

1. SITE CONDITIONS. Research the room. Draw & clearly note down, room size & location of doors, windows, supply & waste pipes, joist location & direction etc.
2. BUDGET. How much can you afford, reduce it by 10% (for a contingency fund) & stick to it. Use our handy calculator as a guide.
3. INSTALLATION. Who will fit it. Remember, 50% or more of the total cost can be installation, so if you're on a budget, consider 'Do It Yourself'.
4. AESTHETICS. Consider your 'essential features'. The tiled look across the whole floor is the look most people aspire to, but some will downgrade to a low level tray with a lip. A 1" step into a room is easy live with, & to get used to. But some refuse to consider this option. Mosaic tiles on the floor may be vital to the look you want but they'll allow more water through because the many gaps. Each point is a small, but important issue, with a technical, financial, & aesthetic implication. Now you've done this, you can consider...
5. 5-PRODUCT SELECTION. There's lots of products to choose from, and your choices will be effected by all of the above.

All wet room systems have broadly similar components:
The Shower Base & Outlet
This is a flat base, similar to a shower tray with a built-in gradient to guide the used water to an outlet. Made from a variety of materials & to a range of different sizes, they are finished off with tiles. Differences in construction methodology, existing floor type & available budget, will dictate system choice, along with installer knowledge, skill, experience. Available styles are EUROPEAN, UK, or FLOOR GULLYS & SHOWER CHANNELS.
The Waterproof Tanking System
Used to seal the room, so water doesn't leak causing damage to the building. Usually sold separately from the shower base, as part of an integrated system, although some cheaper systems partially rely on 3rd. party materials. Competing systems offer huge differences in simplicity, installation time, & the tools, skill, & knowledge required.
The Waste & Trap
Joins the shower base, & outlet to the drains. Has a defined specification to meet regulations, the waste & trap should stop smells & should be a simple & secure method of being joined to pipes. Some have complex seals to assemble, and thus can be awkward for DIY installers.

Installation has a number of phases, when different components are fitted together. The system you choose will effect how much time you spend on the frustrating assembly of complex components or simple but time-consuming preparation. Overall, the total time to install one system or other works out about the same, but we would recommend you choose a system that matches your patience, as well as your skill & experience.
NOTE. Water can ruin your home. better to have a fitted a traditional shower tray, than have a leaking wet room. Your objective is to stop water getting in to the fabric of the building, and this is all about how to reduce the risk. Choose well, & you should have no significant problems for years to come.

Great thread DH,thanks for the effort,very informative and accurate,this type of installation will eventually become your run of the mill work,domestically

Just to add that it is important to ensure that the waste outlet / drain / channel (becoming more popular) has the following:


Flange: to adhere the tanking / waterproofing to

Weep gap: In tanking the room you are open to the fact that the floor finish might allow water to seep below it, this means that there must be a weep gap for this water to drain from between the floor finish and the tanking, otherwise ponding can occur and all that comes with having water sat there.

It is also an advantage to have some height adjustability between the flange and the floor finish this ensures that the drain can easily accomodate different floor finish depths.

Finally being able to rotate the top helps (if its square of course) in tiling.


Hope this helps someone


Tim

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just to add that it is important to ensure that the waste outlet / drain / channel (becoming more popular) has the following:


Flange: to adhere the tanking / waterproofing to

Weep gap: In tanking the room you are open to the fact that the floor finish might allow water to seep below it, this means that there must be a weep gap for this water to drain from between the floor finish and the tanking, otherwise ponding can occur and all that comes with having water sat there.

It is also an advantage to have some height adjustability between the flange and the floor finish this ensures that the drain can easily accomodate different floor finish depths.

Finally being able to rotate the top helps (if its square of course) in tiling.


Hope this helps someone


Tim

Thanks Tim,please register soon...your input I see will be very valuable...Gaz

Schluter drains come complete with all the requirements as stated in above post......dave...

Originally Posted by dhceramics

Schluter drains come complete with all the requirements as stated in above post......dave...

Yep they do, for channels I use the waterline channel from Blucher.co.uk

its got all the above too and is made of stainless steel. Nice looking, not cheap but does the job really well.

schluter products are so easy to use.......

One question I have to ask is if the wet room floor is not raised above the timber floor how would you get the waste away concidering the regulations on drilling floor joists? Wha have been your solutions to this?

The outlet should be positioned to run the pipework between joists to outside wall...not across them....Gaz

sometimes you need to drill joists to get the waste out we screw a 400mm 4" x 2" under where the 45mm hole will be and then screw a 400mm steel plate on the top of the joist then we put noggins each side of the joist to the next joist this gives it more Strength than you started with, this is more work but no problems (do it right first time)