Wet room or low shower tray?

[bolst3r]

I'm looking at creating an en-suite and whilst looking at walk-in shower trays (1700x900mm) I started to feel they were quite expensive and the step needed to get in to them started to put me off. The obvious answer is to create a wet room but the thought of them makes me nervous. I understand there are low entry trays but as they still require the waste to be below floor level I might as well go for a wet room. So around this subject I have a couple of quick questions that I'm interested in having people's opinions on:

1) Do you need to include under floor heating beneath the floor tiles or is it ok to leave this out? I will have quite a powerful heated towel rail so the room should be warm enough but is it better to have UFH to reduce excess surface water and to help it dray?.

2) If you tank the floor wouldn't it make sense to tank the walls in the enclosure to avoid tiles lifting?

3) How do you get the fall on the floor? Is it done with the tile adhesive?

4) I've done a fair bit of DIY but am I best to get a professional to install the tank and do the rest myself? I don't trust many people's work and I can't think of anything worse (sure I can) than paying someone to do it then in 6 months time find I have a real problem and have to rip it out and re do it.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[bathstyle]

1- No need to use UFH in the room, unless you want something to take the chill off the tiles, it does add quite a bit to the cost.

2- I personally always tank the walls in a wet room.

3 Use a pre formed Shower tray, which are normally 20mm or so, these have a built in gradient and a section designed to fit the supplied waste. The pre formed tray is then tanked then tiled.

4- Wet rooms are specialised. A DIYer can quite easily do the work though, although it will be a phenomenal learning curve and you would probably need to post a lot of threads on here and do a lot of research yourself

Any further Questions then feel free to ask........

 

[jefoss]

1) Do you need to include under floor heating beneath the floor tiles or is it ok to leave this out? I will have quite a powerful heated towel rail so the room should be warm enough but is it better to have UFH to reduce excess surface water and to help it dray?.

ufh is all about personal preference and about your budget.

2) If you tank the floor wouldn't it make sense to tank the walls in the enclosure to avoid tiles lifting?

definatly tank the walls also

3) How do you get the fall on the floor? Is it done with the tile adhesive?

you can buy a tray or form the run out of the floor that you will be making.

4) I've done a fair bit of DIY but am I best to get a professional to install the tank and do the rest myself? I don't trust many people's work and I can't think of anything worse (sure I can) than paying someone to do it then in 6 months time find I have a real problem and have to rip it out and re do it.

only do anything you feel comfortable with as BS says its a big job for a diyer

 

[bathstyle]

I'll tell you what Bolster, I'm doing a wet room right now, I'll try to take some pics along the way to help you get an idea.

In this instance I'm using a Marmox showerlay pre formed tray:-

http://www.tilefixdirect.com/category/shower-trays.html

Another option is the Impey Aquadec which IMO is better, I chose the marmoz this time due to cost and the fact that I have to cut the corner off the tray.

Tanking the walls and floor with Homelux membrane:- (be patient, it's a PDF)

http://www.homelux.co.uk/downloads/Waterproof Matting_Leaflet.pdf

Once completed the wet room tanking should look something like this one I did recently:-

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g304/bathstyle/Homelux.jpg

 

[bolst3r]

Thanks for the info guys.

Bathstyle, so I was going to do the en-suite myself but if I can find someone near enough to me with loads of experience and the right price then I may pay someone to do the work for me – know anyone

PM me if you're up for it!

 

[bathstyle]

I will be happy to pop over to give you a Quotation. I'll send over a PM

 

[bolst3r]

so after speaking to people in the know sounds like a wet room might be a little out of my reach so I was wondering if someone could suggest a low entry shower tray that might offer a more cost-effective route. I'm sure i've seen one that was only 20mm and had a lip that you tiled over but I can't for the life of me find it.

any suggestions on low entry tray would be appreciated.