Floor tiling in a wet room

[andywatson]

Hi- my first post so please be gentle!

I am about to set to work on a wet room in my house, but I am really worried about tiling the floor. I've not done any tiling before, but I am comfortable with the walls, but the floor seems very different as it needs to slope towards a drain.

Will I need to cut the tiles diagonally to follow the slope?
Would it be easier to lay the tiles diagonally?

Any advise would be very welcome indeed!

Andy

 

[Jasonb]

A lot depends an the angle of your fall and how the slopes meet. If the tiles are anything over 200mm it is likely they will need cutting. If you have four falls all meeting at 90 degrees then tiling each one diagonally will also work and save cutting ehere they meet.

Have you thought about mosaics, no need to cut and much more slip resistant.

Hope you have tanked the floor/walls and sufficiently strengthened the floor?

Jason

 

[andywatson]

Thanks for the reply- I think my main problem is I haven't had time to be worried about the tiling yet, as I have been too busy trying to get the wetroom I want without spending £1000's!! Tanking hasn't been done yet, but I have done a lot of research and I am comfortable with what needs to be done, and how to do it.

I am just starting the work, and have a good general idea of how I am going to proceed with it (no doubt plenty of problems will arise on the way), but this floor tiling will affect where I put the drain! There is a shower tray plumbed into the corner of the room, so it makes sense to use that drain (X), giving a final off-set drain in my room. This would be the easier and cheaper option. I could move the drain to the centre if that will make the tiling look better. As you can see from the sketch, it's pretty snug, but plumbing is already in place from the previous owners, so sticking to the original layout will save time and money. I was thinking about sloping the whole floor (no need for a shower screen), but I am also considering a screen and just sloping the shower area.

I was thinking about those 1 inch (approx) tiles on the mesh background, but I know in my head I would prefer large tiles.

1.34m
_________________________
1..........................................1
1..TOILET.....................X.......1
1..........................................1
1..........................................1
1..........................................1 1.39m
1..........................................1
1..........................................1
1 BASIN................................1
------------------ .........DOOR...1

 

[Jasonb]

If you leave the drain where it is you will need the floor by the door raised approx 30mm to give a 1:40 fall over what looks like 1200mm. Add to this the tile thickness and you will have quite a step.

A screen will limit room in front of the loo or make it almost impossible to open the room door, either way your loo will get splashed so needs to be set on a sloping floor or go for a wall hung loo and try to keep the loo roll dry

How do you propose to construct the floor and what are you going to tank it with.

Jason

 

[andywatson]

I think the room was a work in progress when I bought the house, and the previous owner ran into all the same problems I am, and gave up!! Of course he is the idiot that put the stud walls where they are- if only the side wall was moved even 10cm the room would be much easier to plan! In fact the only good news is that the door opens outwards!

The toilet will probably be replaced with a slim line model if I can find a cheap one. The plumbing is in place, so it makes sense to use it. The small corner basin will also be replaced, but again in the same place as it is (but I will do strange things like conceal the plumbing, unlike the previous owner )

For the shower, the worst case (but cheapest and easiest) solution is to leave the existing shower tray in situ, and use a curtain. In that case there are no major issues. Unfortunately the shower tray is 600*600 mm. Too small to comfortably use.

Plan B is to try squeeze a 760*760mm tray in, but this would require recessing into the wall, and depend on a slimmer toilet. I might get away with just altering the plumbing arrangements of the toilet as I have a big pipe sticking out towards the shower! With this I should just be able to fit a sliding/folding door type cubicle in place without blocking the toilet.

The best solution I can see is a slope built into the floor, with a single panel between the shower and the toilet. Access to the toilet should not be too restricted. I haven't yet priced the "concealed" trays by Wedi or aqua-dec, so it's difficult to know if this option is viable yet. An 800*800 sized tray should fit, and the rest of the floor can be flat. Alternatively I could (price permitting) try a larger tray, and the whole floor beocmes the tray. Loo roll could be out of the way of the direct shower spray- possibly in a holder that covers the whole roll. In this scenario I would tank as per manufacurers instructions.

If this is too expensive, then I guess the other option is to scratch build my own flooring from 22mm marine ply. I have found several options for waterproofing this- BAL and Schluter seem to offer good products (or so their websites tell me! ). I am also looking at the posibility of an industrial type floor covering- possibly an epoxy resin. Again, price is an issue here, but I think that this method would be cheaper than buying in a whole panel.

 

[Moz]

andywatson ...

as Jase mentioned if you are tanking ,

you need the whole substrate sorted RIGHT

then boarded,

then cement tile backer boarded on floors ,

tanked an walls also ....3ft up , lol


wet areas fully floor too ceiling, of course cement boarded an tanked then tiled ......

RESULT ..lol