Can anyone have a wet room?

• Wet rooms - the essential guide
• Can anyone have a wet room?
• Advantages of a wet room
• Disadvantages of a wet room
• Your wet room questions answered
• Installing a wet room - useful contacts

In theory, yes. A wet room is basically a shower room that does away with the shower screen and tray, and has an open, fully tiled shower area. If your bathroom is on the small side you probably will need to include a shower screen to prevent everything getting sprayed.

Water drainage

Installing a wet room is a job for the professionals as a gradient needs to be created along the floor to channel the shower water into a drain and then the entire room needs to be tanked (waterproofed).

The most common method for creating a gradient is to install a sub-floor made from WBP Ply (a type of plywood), which is then tiled over.

Another option is to install a ready-made sloping shower former (a bit like a giant shower tray), which is also then tiled over.

A final method is to use a giant preformed tray (sometimes known as a Hi-Macs system) that slopes towards a drain, and can be fitted across the entire floor without the need for tiling over.

Waterproofing

Waterproofing the wet room involves priming the floor, the lower section of the walls and the whole of the wall area around the shower and then covering with a syrupy membrane. Once it's set, the room is then tiled.

It's also worth raising the bathroom door threshold by about 5mm from the floor in case the room fills with water (if someone covers the shower drain with a towel, for example). This will keep the water contained.

(See our contacts page for a range of installation companies, or visit Rated People to find a tradesperson in your area.)

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