Wet room or shower tray

doniepony

Hey everyone

Just a quick question on people's experience with wet rooms in new builds. Was going through my master bedroom bathroom with my plumber and when I mentioned wet room he flinched saying a shower tray is a better job in the long run especially upstairs in a two storey house.

The wetroom would be on a hollowcore slab and he just said for sealing the shower that using a tray in a better job and that even though the wet room will prob be fine for 3-4 years that I could have problems later-he did say he would do it for me no problem if I wanted.

So questions are
a) Does anyone know of proper way of sealing wetrooms or has anyone had a problem with them
b) is it worth going down that line when I could just put in a shower tray instead

Cheers

BarryScott

doniepony wrote: »

Hey everyone

Just a quick question on people's experience with wet rooms in new builds. Was going through my master bedroom bathroom with my plumber and when I mentioned wet room he flinched saying a shower tray is a better job in the long run especially upstairs in a two storey house.

The wetroom would be on a hollowcore slab and he just said for sealing the shower that using a tray in a better job and that even though the wet room will prob be fine for 3-4 years that I could have problems later-he did say he would do it for me no problem if I wanted.

So questions are
a) Does anyone know of proper way of sealing wetrooms or has anyone had a problem with them
b) is it worth going down that line when I could just put in a shower tray instead

Cheers

Your tiler will use a special sealer on de floor and up de wall to seal the concrete! We haven't had any problems with wet rooms we've done yet. Shower tray is just less work involved

BryanF

doniepony wrote: »

a) Does anyone know of proper way of sealing wetrooms or has anyone had a problem with them
b) is it worth going down that line when I could just put in a shower tray instead

Cheers

a/ yes, and yes, mainly because of the attitude you've experienced
b/ yes if its spec'd, agreed, supervised and carried out correctly

its more grief for an typical plumber mainly as its an experienced tilers job - plan for it early otherwise go with your plumbers assumption

Do-more

An old neighbour of mine in Ireland used to be an insurance assessor and he said that water leaks were the most frequent cause of insurance claims with badly fitted showers being one of the top causes.

I live in Sweden now and here the insurance companies insist that all bath/shower rooms are installed with an approved wet room system or they will not entertain any claims on them.

Whilst these are normally installed by certified installers, you can also DIY but you have to keep photos of every step to prove that it has been done correctly.

It's a pretty time consuming exercise, the bathroom has just been renovated in the house we are presently renting and I kept a close eye on what they were doing so that I could do it myself on my own build.

On the walls they applied a heavy wallpaper type material first and this was then sealed with a number of coats of sealer, special gaskets were used around any pipe penetrations.

The floor got self-levelling compound first and then the sealer was applied, it's like thick paint and is applied with a normal paint roller.

Every time I thought they were finished they came back and applied another coat. Whilst it only took them 10 minutes each day to apply the sealer the whole process took over a week. Each coat must be fully dry before the next one is applied, if there was even one spot that wasn't completely dry they would go away and come back later to do it. The floor got at least 5 coats of sealer but it may have been 6.

There is absolutely no rocket science involved in doing it and after having seen it done once I am confident that I can do the job correctly on my own house but it is something that can't be rushed and no other work can be done in the room at the same time so I would guess that that is why your builder is reluctant.

There should be no question of a properly installed wet room system failing especially so in your case where it is over hollow core slabs so there is nothing to flex over time, but even with a decent wooden sub-floor there is no problem. There is a very long history of their use here in Sweden and as I say the insurance companies insist on their use. Your builder is just BSing you saying you could have problems with it after 4 years, as long as he does it right you should have no problem.

slowharry

Get a low rise shower tray that's what I did.

Innish_Rebel

Thanks Do-more - very informative. We are going with wet rooms in our ensuites in our build - it was actually refreshing that our plumber suggested it to us...
But I think your description does say to me get a proper tiler/experienced wet-room guy to do the bathrooms at least...

CJhaughey

I used a wetroom upstairs in a TF house.
I plyed the floor with 20mm graduating down to 6mm in the shower area,
The sealer was applied like Do-More says and it took a good few coats, then before the tiles went down I used some Kerdi membrane which is a plastic sheet with fleece bonded to both sides so tile cement can stick to it.
Its been good so far no leaks, My big gripe with shower trays is that whatever is under them is hidden and can't be got to without ripping the tray and tiles out.
I know of too many trays that have failed and caused damage to trust them.

Do-more

I forgot to mention in my description that there is also a strip of material applied to bridge the wall to floor junctions.

Also to state the obvious, you will need to raise and seal your door threshold so that if you do have a spillage it is retained in the wetroom and goes down the floor drain rather than out into the hall.

CJhaughey wrote: »

I used a wetroom upstairs in a TF house.

Hi CJ,

I will be doing similar, but am undecided on whether to use wetroom vinyl flooring coved up the walls a few inches or use tile, can I ask if you have had any (even very minor) cracks in your tiles or grout?

Could you kindly PM me details of what tile adhesive and grout you used.

Cheers

D-M.

CJhaughey

No cracks yet!
I did use that bridging material it was supplied by your neighbour!
It comes in what looks like a toilet roll.
I used it to bridge the wall-floor and also the joints in the Plywood that was screwed down to the Chipboard.
I will PM you on the tile cement and grout.

doniepony

Thanks for all the replies

My builder has recommended fibreglassing the wetroom floor and up along the walls-he said this would give the best overall seal so contacting a guy about this today and will probably go down that route now

doniepony

Hey all, the underfloor pipes went in upstairs today. One question, they put underfloors pipes under the wetroom I am putting in. Has anyone else done this- they assured me it was the norm-I did not think you would.
There will be 3-4 inches of concrete on the pipes and I am plying this also and then putting fibe glass on floors and 2 metres up the walls and then tiling over the fibre glass.

Just a bit worried in might cause grout to crack in tiles even though the water supposedly will not get through fibre glass anyway.

Thoughts Please??

Curry Addict

i made my ensite into a wetroom about 3 years ago. i used the paint on laytex and material strips for all edging, wbt ply and waterproof plasterboard. it is an easy enuf job but labour intensive, its also inexpensive. its a lot better than a shower tray setup.
ive had problems with 2 tiles that become lose in time and just wont stay down but i will sort that. no problems with leaks.

Some_randomer

CJhaughey wrote: »

I used a wetroom upstairs in a TF house.
I plyed the floor with 20mm graduating down to 6mm in the shower area,
The sealer was applied like Do-More says and it took a good few coats, then before the tiles went down I used some Kerdi membrane which is a plastic sheet with fleece bonded to both sides so tile cement can stick to it.
Its been good so far no leaks, My big gripe with shower trays is that whatever is under them is hidden and can't be got to without ripping the tray and tiles out.
I know of too many trays that have failed and caused damage to trust them.

@CJ how's that wet room upstairs - any issues with leaks or cracks since?