Going to install a wet room in our extension. Trying to work out what is the best system to use.

Anyone got any pointers or recommendations?

I’m about to go for a wet room in mine, everyone keeps trying to put me the wife off having one, I said I would never have one upstairs as they are surely leak inducing, but I quite liked the idea of one downstairs as it would be great for jumping in when all dirty from a bike ride. But everyone in the building/plumbing trade I speak to says ‘are you sure?’

Sorry for no useful input into the thread, but I just thought the above may be thought inducing.

Cheers.

2unfit – quite right. Id never have one that was not on the ground floor. I put this one in the old house with the help of a friend:
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_t5w43Q6t-Qs/SLKNTXzUl-I/AAAAAAAAEsA/cp8bGc_ci3Y/s400/img_7721.jpg[/img]

yup, done a few. Had one in my old house, just like that, inthrough back door, kit off in washing machine, step into wet room.

Did one also for my parents on the first floor, no problems whatsoever.

i have to say though that I would recommend a vinyl floor for one, especially on first floor, or for it to be totally waterproof before any tiles. my one (don’t have custody of it now, but thats another story!) also had waterproof wall boards (mermaid) which are very good too. Anything that can minimise the number of joints therefore potential water ingress has got to be good.

Go for it, but do it properly and don’t skimp!

my mum had one on the 3rd floor of a new build*….leaked like buggery.
Thankfully she rented so wasn’t too bothered.

*The muppet(s) who installed it also didn’t put enough run on the floor, so water ran away from the shower / drain, towards the toilet and doorway into the bedroom!

We had one put one 2 years ago.

Some things:

1=Get someone who’s done it before. No matter how smooth the sales patter talk to previous customers.
2=Ours has a “shallow trap” which is pants. It gurgles. It shouldnt but it does. Dont accept one
3= We got a new boiler to support the new wet room (it was on it’s way out anyways). It can overwhelm a wetroom – esp when guests come and turn the shower on MAX MAX MAX.
3=Check the shower & basin at full tilt before you hand over your cash. Normally I’m a kinda trusting guy with the trades but our wetroom had to be gutted an reinstalled simply as the water ran to the opposite corner to where it could be drained (effectively totally retiled).

Dont do it unless you get a recommendation!

Not direct but a good friend has one. Well had one.
Was installed in a wooden framed house. Leaked like an absolute beast. Fall on the floor was not quite right so after a reasonable length shower it would sort of back up and empty out into the hall. Then there was a leak behind where the shower was installed, then the floor started to lift. It had a butynol (?) membrane which was allegedly the dos bo lax but they gave it away eventually and built a normal bathroom. He did say that while the concept was good the execution wasn’t.

I’ll report back as my new house has one on the ground floor !

Yes, I’ve fitted lots now. I use the PCI pecidur wet deck system. This has a preformed tray with all the falls required plus a waste and a tanking system to waterproof and seal the walls and floor. Cost is around £250 for the kit plus installation. Fully waterproofed with a tiled floor covering, you can also have underfloor heating if you require.

cheers Blazin-saddles. that looks great.

Wet rooms can go anywhere. If properly installed then you have no more issues that you would with a ‘normal’ bathroom.

99% of the time the problem is either workmanship or the client won’t pay for the right stuff.

Ditra matting from Schluter is a well used and long established system that doesn’t require a preformed tray. But there’s no reason not to use a tray.

The key is to find a compentant builder who has the experienced and the dedication to do a proper job on site.

If a builder doesn’t know or have the experience to install one then they should tell you so rather than bad mouth what is a perfectly robust and workable construction system.

We were advised against it by all the plumbers who did us quotations last year.

We ended up going for a large walk in shower type thing. You never feel enclosed like you do in any other shower enclosure. That aside all the leaking issues there is also the cleaning of a wet room, tiles and grout have a habbit of going moldy. A walk in shower is very simple and easy to keep clean.

You do need to consider the extra cleaning required in a wet room. Also, keep a spare towel for wiping the toilet off after a shower.

The ones I have used in Sweden and Finland work a treat.

how do you know it’s not piss on the toilet seat?

I wasn’t refering to golden showers. Although, a wet room does facilatate this hobby sport.

funkydunc, as someone who cleans a LOT of showers/bathrooms/wetrooms, I’d rather clean a wetroom than a shower any day!

There are 2 wetrooms in our main chalet, no hassles with either – only issue is that everything has been fitted flush to the walls/floor so that simple maintenance jobs (like tightening a loose toilet seat) become a major ball-ache (remove toilet from the wall and then re-fit and re-seal in this case!).

From a cleaning point of view, they’re an easy spray-disinfect-wipe-down job, whereas shower cubicles inevitably have all sorts of mank-collecting corners, joints, channels and seals.

[quoteYou do need to consider the extra lack of cleaning required in a wet room[/quote] 🙂

Do it with vinyl floor and wetwall though, very easy to keep.

My brother did one similar to Stoner’s with those wee tiles and it is a grubby mess now. Forget what the grout says about staying whiter than Britneys teeth for 15 years, it won’t. Not in a shower, ever.

I hummed and hawed about doing one when I built but decided eventually to do 2. Highly recommend them.

Is the floor n your extension in yet? If not and it is going to be concrete then just shape a tray into the concrete when pouring with around 20 mm fall to a trap embedded in the concrete. I did that with hot welded vinyl on top and it works a treat.

Shallow traps shouldn’t gurgle unless they have a long pipe run to the main soil, building regs have the max as around 1.5M iirc. They do seem to need cleaning fairly regularly though.

Timber floor – I’d probably go for one of the Prefab trays if I were doing it again. I did it in plywood to save a few bob but the time it took (especially if you are paying someone else) meant the GRP type trays are probably a better idea.

Also, don’t get a plumber to do the floor, get a builder (concrete) or joiner (wood). Most plumbers seem to think a spirit level is something you grab when you can’t find a hammer. Consistently the worst trade to deal with ime. If you find a decent one, keep their number!

As others have said, if it flows the wrong way and leaves puddles or it won’t take the flow of the shower on full, don’t pay. Make this clear to the contractor in advance though and they will hopefully not make any of these fundamental cock ups. It’s something you see depressingly often though.

Blazin-saddles – Member
Yes, I’ve fitted lots now. I use the PCI pecidur wet deck system. This has a preformed tray with all the falls required plus a waste and a tanking system to waterproof and seal the walls and floor. Cost is around £250 for the kit plus installation. Fully waterproofed with a tiled floor covering, you can also have underfloor heating if you require.

Exactly what we had fitted in ours last year, top job it is too 🙂

From a cleaning point of view, they’re an easy spray-disinfect-wipe-down job, whereas shower cubicles inevitably have all sorts of mank-collecting corners, joints, channels and seals

Our cleaning lady thinks its the best thing since sliced bread as it takes minutes rather than an hour to clean like our old bathroom did

How do you keep the bog roll dry?

Extension not done yet, we are working out with builder what I want him to quote for and what I want to do myself.

I’m happy to fit the wetroom and tank it myself if that saves me some cash. Researching teh different kits available, trying to work out what’s best.

Also looked at flush shower trays. and they look good as well, so may use one of those instead of full wetroom.

Hmm golden showers…

We have one upstairs and have had no problems at all with leakage, have it done right and jobs a good un’

How do you keep the bog roll dry?

I got one of these waterproof bog roll holders from a chandlery.

http://www.force4.co.uk/699/Force-4-Dry-Roll-Toilet-Roll-Holder.html

EDIT: BTW any grout goes manky if you dont clean it. A wet room is easy to clean with a nylon broom and some floor cleaner whilst you’re showering. easy.

[quoteHow do you keep the bog roll dry?[/quote]

You have to keep it in a tupperware box rather than a conventional holder. Bit of a nuisance but I feel it’s worth it.

Our bog roll is the opposite end to the shower 😉

No pics but another story here of poor falls and wrong tiles = water running out of the door and flooding the adjacent laundry!

We made the mistake of using large format heavily riven slate tiles and a botchit builder who failed to get the falls right.

Still sold on the concept though, ours is downstairs, underfloor heating, beefed up extraction (which you might need to run on longer than usual) big boiler, unvented system big shower (Mira sport).

It’s fantastic having nice big room I can strip kit all the muddy kit off in (or strip the wife’s kit off in!) 🙂

I’m planning to relay the floor later this year (when the heating is off) using one of those kits you can lay the screed into and we plan to use a smaller honed tile this time.

The smaller tiles on mats make it much easier to take up the fall you’ve made in the screed. Larger tiles will inevitably go out of whack unless you trim them along the fall creases.

Could you do a number two whilst showering?

*no comment*

I suppose you would need the bathroom equivalent of an insinkerator.

you could just use the bog and aim the shower head at it 😉