Showers - enter at your peril.

[epsilonGreedy]

I am loosing faith in the whole wet-room concept.

1. A friend had a nasty accident this Christmas while showering and this has prompted me to reconsider whether I want a fancy open wet room type shower in my new build. The casualty slipped on hair conditioner that made the shower cubical floor very slippery and has now had surgery to pin a broken bone.
2. A further point of concern is my recent experience of a holiday cottage with a wet room. Having used a shower in a wet room for a week I now comprehend how difficult it is to stop water soaking the whole bathroom floor.
3. Then there was the fancy boutique hotel in Cardiff with a large semi enclosed shower cubicle that necessitated throwing a sacrificial towel on the floor across the open entrance to prevent a large puddle forming.
4. We visited a relative for Christmas and used their wetroom bathroom & shower. I noted the combination of wetroom plus the British climate = nice breeding ground for mold.

 

On the flip side:

Swmbo and I have concluded the snug 80cm square shower in the static caravan is ideal. It is so small there is little risk of a dramatic falling incident. Couple this with a 21kW combi gas boiler fed with exceptional local mains water pressure plus a cheap £30 no brand thermostatic bar mixer sourced from Amazon and we have a perfect shower. The only downside is the step down from the shower tray floor to the main bathroom floor.

 

Are wetrooms a passing British fad best featured in holiday villas in a much warmer climate?

 

 

[PeterW]

1. Could happen in a standard shower tray

2. Decent designed in falls and a screen will stop this

3. See 2.

4. That’s down to poor ventilation and extract, not just a wet room. 
 

If you design it in, there is no step down for a tray. I’ve done one recently with a big 1500x900X35 tray that is recessed into the floor panels and when tiled up to it, there is a nice 5mm transition ledge into the shower. A 1200 screen stops any over spray. 
 

800 square trays are tiny when you try and bend to pick anything up, and 6 or 8mm glass will not stop you falling ..

 

[Declan52]

I left a hole in the floor when the screed was getting laid. Then set a large shower tray so that the tiles and the  tray where the same height. You obviously have a tiny step, 35mm , around the edge of the tray. Much easier than a wet room to install. 

[Temp]

1 hour ago, epsilonGreedy said:

On the flip side:

Swmbo and I have concluded the snug 80cm square shower in the static caravan is ideal.

 

Bit too snug for me.  Minimum I would go for is 100 x 80.

 

Main reason we went for shower trays and screens is I hate getting wet socks.

 

With pre-planning you can recess a shower tray as @Declan52 said so there is no plinth under it. Trays are available with or without anti slip embossed patterns and/or coatings. I recommend ensuring the top of the tray is at least 5mm above the tiles not flush so the door seal doesn't scrape on the tiles when opened.

 

[epsilonGreedy]

1 minute ago, Declan52 said:

I left a hole in the floor when the screed was getting laid. Then set a large shower tray so that the tiles and the  tray where the same height. You obviously have a tiny step, 35mm , around the edge of the tray. Much easier than a wet room to install.

 

 

This is now my favourite option because a minimal shallow lip tray will help corral the water as it lands. The main negative of a standard fit shower tray is the significant step down to the main floor level, whereas a shallow tray as you describe feels like the ideal compromise between a genuine open plan wet room floor and a full classic deep tray.

[ProDave]

No such problems with our wet room.

 

Perhaps the "non slip" porcelain tiles could be a bit less slippy? But we are aware of them so use them within their limits.

 

The whole point of it being a wet room is that it does not matter where the water goes.  If you have a bit where a pubble forms or it runs away from the shower, it has been done wrong. 

[epsilonGreedy]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

2. Decent designed in falls and a screen will stop this

3. See 2.

 

 

The hotel bathroom experience made me appreciate how much the occupant of a shower scatters water beyond the immediate spray pattern from the shower head. That hotel shower cubical was very large but in the absence of a door I had to put down a towel outside the entrance.

 

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

1. Could happen in a standard shower tray

 

 

I have not asked for a detailed explanation of the shower fall incident that led to the broken bone though I think a smaller shower is safer though not completely fall safe, just a matter of degree. As soon as the extra info about hair conditioner triggering the fall came through I thought that explains it, hair conditioner includes some slippery chemistry by design and the casualty is not frail.

[Cpd]

I installed a small 800 or 900mm shower in my cabin, 2 bar water pressure, 10.5 kw electric shower. Guests really like it and even leave positive comments in the  reviews! The step down should have been designed out but it was my first shower build and nobody has complained. I have another 2 showers to build in the next few years and will make then a bit bigger but staying well away from the wet room design, personal preference. 

[Declan52]

21 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

This is now my favourite option because a minimal shallow lip tray will help corral the water as it lands. The main negative of a standard fit shower tray is the significant step down to the main floor level, whereas a shallow tray as you describe feels like the ideal compromise between a genuine open plan wet room floor and a full classic deep tray.

Mine is 1600mm wide and we had only the sheet of glass on one side and nothing on the two other side's. We where still getting splashing out both of these sides and got sick of putting towels on the floor each shower so ended up putting a set of doors on. I do have a fairly big shower head and ready good water pressure to be fair.

[epsilonGreedy]

5 hours ago, ProDave said:

The whole point of it being a wet room is that it does not matter where the water goes.  If you have a bit where a pubble forms or it runs away from the shower, it has been done wrong.

 

 

As with@Temp I do not like water in my socks.

 

The holiday cottage did not have under floor heating and the screen did not contain water bouncing off both the floor and person showering. I can see good design will reduce the problem but now I am wondering why design in a problem that then needs further design to mitigate. Maybe it is a question of room scale, above a certain floor area I guess a bit of over spray does not affect the rest of the bathroom, add in a decent gradient, ufh, mvhr and floor tanking then the problem can be ignored. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by epsilonGreedy

[joe90]

I too don’t like wet rooms, we installed two 1200 x 800 shallow trays, glass on 1200 side with “flipper panel” to stop water tracking off the end of main glass panel and it works well, a little water ends up outside the tray if you are “enthusiastic”. The bathroom floor was then laid with electric underfloor heating in liquid screed so the step up to the tray is only about 25mm. No regrets. We stayed in a hotel with a wet room and toilet etc got splashed.

[Oz07]

An electrician once compared that Elec ufh uses same amount of leccy as a kettle on boil. Is that true?

I don't understand the need tbh I live in a house now with vinyl bathroom floor and never feel like feet are cold. Had tiles on 1st floor bathroom in last place, again never really felt cold feet 

[PeterW]

1 minute ago, Oz07 said:

An electrician once compared that Elec ufh uses same amount of leccy as a kettle on boil. Is that true?

define the space and the cable spacing and “it’s possible”.... 

 

Mat or cable comes in various specs - or watts per square metre - so if you had the 100W/m mat, and a room 5m square then you would have a full load of 2500w on full power, or the equivalent of a boiling kettle .. 

[Oz07]

Yeh we were doing a kitchen job for a woman with probably 7m by 5m floor. Was a garage conversion with timber floor with pir between. I talked her out of that Elec ufh after asking sparks the question. Radiators it was!

[ProDave]

30 minutes ago, PeterW said:

define the space and the cable spacing and “it’s possible”.... 

 

Mat or cable comes in various specs - or watts per square metre - so if you had the 100W/m mat, and a room 5m square then you would have a full load of 2500w on full power, or the equivalent of a boiling kettle .. 

Or enough heat to heat my whole house, squashed into one small room. 

[SteamyTea]

15 hours ago, ProDave said:

enough heat to heat my whole house, squashed into one small room

That is because you need to turn liquid water into vapour.

So not the same as heating a house.

I have no problem with wet rooms, we used to make them when fitting a steam room.

Do it right and there should not be any problems.