Wet Room

[pradeep39]

Hello all.

I would like to have a wet room in my loft, I have been quoted for a bathroom with shower no bath. I will have a sink and a toilet and some storage but do I need a shower enclosure and tray?

What material must I put on the floor ie: water proof tiles etc and how do I stop the water going underneath the door into the hallway?

Waiting in anticipation

P

Read more: //www.diynot.com/forums/building-regs-planning/wet-room.329642/#2446244#ixzz1zkC6uJKY

 

[Karis]

You can't just rely on tiles, adhesive & grout in a wet room, it must be tanked over the whole floor area, full wall height in the immediate shower area & at least 1m up the walls elsewhere or it won’t last 5 minutes. You can use WBP ply (18-25mm) & a tanking membrane but often the best route is to use pre-formed wet room liners. Don’t rely on your builder as they mostly won’t have a clue & it’ll end in tears, you really to a specialist not just a joe soap bathroom fitter/tiler; wet rooms that last aren’t cheap!

Loft conversions are not ideal for tiling as they tend to move around which leads to tile failure, you need to make sure your builder doesn’t skimp on the floor/wall construction.

 

[pradeep39]

Thanks for that. I have a quote for a complete loft conversion, I asked to have a wet room but he hasn't quoted for tanking etc. instead he has included shower trays and shower enclosure. I just wanted to be sure of what his intention is.

Is the tanking expensive and should I use something other than tiles?

 

[PaulJR]

Wetroom Tanking is like everything - you tend to get what you pay for.

Cheapest is probably lastogum or a similar paint on system. You can also use panel types, Marmox boards or "no-more-ply" types.
There is alos Dural (not sure of the spelling) which is a tanking/decoupling membrane about 2mm thick.

check out http://www.diywetroom.com/ or http://www.wetroomexperts.co.uk/wetroom-experts-blog/16453-wet-room-tanking-key-considerations.html
for a lot of info

IMHO the paint on stuff isn't a product I would use, but if you check out the tiling section, there are many who have used it successfully.

We have just ripped out our bathroom and re-built it as a wetroom, we stiffened up the floor by sistering the joists to limit deflection, installed a new floor, used a marmox showerstone tray former, clad the walls in the maxxus boards sealing all the joints, and taping all the corners, we then overlayed the whole floor and the shower walls with the tanking sheets, again taping the joints. This is belt, braces and a few others, but we really dont want a leak.

We then tiled over this - you must use flexible adhesive, min joint width 3mm to give the grout a chance , and be careful on tile choice, or the floor can become lethally slippery.

You also really need under tile heating to dry the floor out after the shower has been used, and good extraction to clear the condensation.

If you need to keep the water inside the door, you will have to have a lip or step at the door. You will also need to seal the bottom of your door carefully as it will swell if it gets wet.

TBH I spent about 2 years bugging people to learn what I needed, and still made a few minor (thankfully) mistakes. It might be worth contacting a wetroom specialist and take that bit out of the builders scope.

Make sure your plumbing all enters the room through the walls at least 300mm above the floor as well, no point tanking it all if the plumber drill straight through the floor to install a towel radiator.

 

[Karis]

& there you have an excellent & much more detailed response on what’s needed from PaulJR, probably better than you would get from many pros!
You can get Vinyl flooring type welded construction wet rooms but they tend to look a bit like a care home fit. Most domestic installations will use tiles, it's what you bed them on & what's underneath that matters.

 

[pradeep39]

Thank you very much for that, I think you guys have answered all my questions. Can I ask how much your project cost PaulJR?

 

[PaulJR]

Thank you very much for that, I think you guys have answered all my questions. Can I ask how much your project cost PaulJR?

About £4k in materials.
Rough breakdown.
Tiles - 600x400 Porcelain (Travetine looky-like) adhesives & grout ~ £1200
Fittings - Grohe Europa Thermostatic stuff ~ £1000 (shower, bath, sink)
Bath/sink/toilet & cabinets ~ £750
Dural tanking, £10m² (£150)
Shower tray/waste/floor ~ £500
Marmox boards - 12.5mm thick on stud walls, 6mm on brickwork, edge tapes, fixings etc ~£300
Heated towel rad, heater element & controls ~ £200
Undermat heating & control ~ £250
Zone 1 LED lights for shower, extract fan, ducts wiring and switches ~£400
Roof outlet cost me about £100 because of my roof type.
Glass shower screen £130
The rest would be timber studding, fixings, boards, trims, drills, blades etc.

I also had to buy/hire a few specialist tools,for example the tiles needed a bridge type diamond wheel tile saw - which cost me £250 for two weeks from HSS. You can buy cheap ones for the same money, but this one had to be replaced after the first week as the porcelain tiles annihilated the blade (~ £100 each)

I also had to have a new boiler installed (ours was fecked anyway) but the new one was sized with the showers in mind - Vailant 831 Ecotech, £3k fitted etc.

In order to connect up the showers I wound up effectively replacing the hot/cold supplies to the bathroom, as they were imperial sizes and I was worried about getting a solid joint, so a few quid went on replacing all that.

 

[pradeep39]

Thanks for that very detailed reply. Can I ask why you used a shower screen? My intention was to just have the shower head and controls and the drain in the middle of the room.

 

[PaulJR]

We were a bit tight for room, even moving the wall we only just had enough space for the bath , loo, sink and the shower tray, so if we didn't have the screen, the sink and it's cupboards would get drenched with every shower.

I didn't think that long term the cabinets would survive, I think the water would eventually get under the finish etc.

In our room the screen and door just clear, so they form a natural shower end to the room.

That particular screen is from plumbworld.com, they (and others) do a large range of sizes. You can easily fit one later, so I would suggest do the room without and if you find the shower spray is hitting the door or similar fit one later.