Walk-in Shower / Wet Room: Anti-slip Approach - R10/R11 vs PTV36+ vs Small Tiles with Grout

[Gaf]

Is there a generally accepted method of slip proofing walk in showers and wet rooms?

 

Reading around throws up different approaches / advice. 
 

Most tiles come with an R value, almost exclusively R10 when looking for anti-slip tiles. R11 seem to be reserved for outdoor. However, R10 appears to span a wide range of frictions and can seemingly not actually have robust antislip properties at all (reference website).

 

PTV values seem to be a far better gauge but I haven’t seen this value listed on tiles.

 

I’ve seen posts here about going with smaller tiles for the walk in showers and the grout acts as a grip / anti-slip method.

 

I know walk ins with antislip tiles can be a pain to clean but we’re still interested in doing it for our own. Kids will have a tray in theirs.

 

 

 

[Mike]

17 minutes ago, Gaf said:

The I’ve seen posts here about going with smaller tiles for the walk in showers and the grout acts as a grip / anti-slip method.

That's what I do.

[Nickfromwales]

Mosaic mostly, and plenty grippy. 50mm or 25mm but 50mm leaves less grout lines which I prefer.

 

Ive not once asked about an R rating tbh, and I’ve been installing high end bathrooms for north of 25 years.

 

Only time I ever get the client to buy a specifically non slip modular tray is when they say it’s for an old dear or someone infirm etc. All others have been perfectly fine, and I’ve made his & hers trays as big as 1800x1500 and 2700x900 and never heard a single complaint.

[Chanmenie]

I went through the same conundrum recently

We had decided on polished porcelain for the walls but wanted something with anti slip on the floor, after much searching we found a 1200 x 200 wood grain porcelain which works perfectly, it doesn’t feel slippery at all and was rated R10 

 

[Nickfromwales]

@Chanmenie  you’ve put in the same type of shower I did. My thermostatic cartridge has started dying and I cannot get one to match so it’s a tile off job methinks. 
Do yourself a HUGE favour, and buy 1x cartridge and 1x whole replacement shower unit for spares later down the line. You may think that’s money you’d rather not spend at this time, but fast forward 8 years and if you don’t you’ll be kicking yourself. Oh, and purest softest water ever here too, so mines had a very easy life with near zero scale. 
 

The non return valve on my hot inlet has started to fail too, so when I can ill fit a single check 15mm NRV in the pipe work too.

 

 

[Chanmenie]

1 minute ago, Nickfromwales said:

@Chanmenie  you’ve put in the same type of shower I did. My thermostatic cartridge has started dying and I cannot get one to match so it’s a tile off job methinks. 
Do yourself a HUGE favour, and buy 1x cartridge and 1x whole replacement shower unit for spares later down the line. You may think that’s money you’d rather not spend at this time, but fast forward 8 years and if you don’t you’ll be kicking yourself. Oh, and purest softest water ever here too, so mines had a very easy life with near zero scale. 
 

The non return valve on my hot inlet has started to fail too, so when I can ill fit a single check 15mm NRV in the pipe work too.

 

 

I don’t think it’s thermostatic @Nickfromwales 

I can turn the hot to whatever I like ? 
 

I do have a water softener but that’s a good shout thanks mate 

[Nickfromwales]

4 minutes ago, Chanmenie said:

I don’t think it’s thermostatic @Nickfromwales 

I can turn the hot to whatever I like ? 

I’d check that as there’s a risk of scalding with a manual mixer shower!

 

I assume it would be thermostatic, do you have a link to it? I further assume that the thermostatic cartridge dial ring (behind the temp control knob) wasn’t set eg commissioned to cap the max hot temp. 46°C is usually where people start to yelp.

 

DEFO do not put off buying those spares   

[Chanmenie]

Thanks @Nickfromwales

Well i commissioned it so could be my mistake.

we have a heat pump so the water usually around 45 to 46 max 

I’ll take the knob off and check 

[Nickfromwales]

12 hours ago, Chanmenie said:

Thanks @Nickfromwales

Well i commissioned it so could be my mistake.

we have a heat pump so the water usually around 45 to 46 max 

I’ll take the knob off and check 

Ah ok, shouldn’t be a problem

but the issue would be if you heated via the immersion or PV divert. 👍. 
 

These usually have a bump stop on splines which you rotate back to stop the temp going above x °C. 

[Mike]

15 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Mosaic mostly, and plenty grippy. 50mm or 25mm but 50mm leaves less grout lines which I prefer.

50mm for me too - from memory it's also the minimum tile size for some castellated tanking systems.

[Nickfromwales]

19 minutes ago, Mike said:

50mm for me too - from memory it's also the minimum tile size for some castellated tanking systems.

It's not so much about the tanking more the material type of the tray / former. Wedi type trays with XPS(IIRC) have issues with point load bearing capacity, so they recommend no lesser than a 25x25mm mosiac, but 50x50mm is better imo.