Why don't US bathrooms have floor drains?

[Dave]

Here in Aus we tend to Pee in the toilet not in the bathroom.

[Dick Adams]

When I was in OZ last year, I was surprised to see these drains in the floor. But none of the showers had doors, just pull around curtains. Did not see a bathtub in any house or motel.

My bathtubs and my sinks have overflow valves and there's a plunger next to every toilet.

Also in the States, most county/city plumbing codes does not allow waste water to be dumped on to the ground.

Dick

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Sat 21 Jun 2008 07:12:45p, Dave told us...

Where is your toilet located? In the kitchen? I assume you reserve the bathroom for bathing.

[ythread]

Good for u!!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

But if the sewer stack froze, would not have the drain on the floor be blocked too?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

We have better toilets than most of Europe. We also don't have to squat over a hole in the floor in public restrooms as I've seen in other parts of the world. I've been to places that gave you a ration of toilet tissue when you went in too and that is all you were expected to use.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Ditto!

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Sink has over flow? Not any more here. Specially in the hospitals. They don't wnat dirty water coming back up.

[Red Green]

"Dave" wrote in news:xyi7k.13339$ [e-mail]:

Now you have my curiosity up. What room are your toilets in?

[Ivan Vegvary]

Have traveled to lot of different European countries and also Africa. Floor drains seem to be everywhere. Also note (as mentioned below) that many countries have not yet discovered the "shower curtain". So you spray water all over the floor and ergo the drain becomes handy/necessary. On my next remodel I will be installing a ceramic tile floor with construction similar to a built-up shower pan. Yes, it will have a drain. I love the idea of just coming in with a mop, wiping the floor and hosing it clean.

Ivan Vegvary

[nicksanspam]

I stayed in a Venice hotel room a bit like that, with a ceramic floor and a shower head sticking out of the wall high up in one corner of the room. No tub or curtain, with a drain that went right out into the canal.

Nick

[Dave]

Bathroom for washing, Toilet for the waste. Where else would you go?

[Dave]

p.s. Most oz houses have a separate room colloquially known as a dunny or wc (water closet)

[cshenk]

Dick, you nailed it. USA safety codes do not allow 'grey water' dumping. It has to go to a septic or sewer. So his actual design (flowing to the ground outside) isnt legal here.

We do sometimes have floor drains, most often in public restrooms or gyms, but they lead to the sewer lines.

Laws in OZ are not the same. They allow for grey water diferences. Such as recycling the shower water to the toilet for flushing. It's based on their lower fresh water amounts than we generally have so adaptions have been made.

Now in Japan, you will have 2 rooms vice 1 like in the USA. One has a toilet and may have a sink (often over the back of the toilet tank and frequently with those no hot water tap). This drains right into the water holding tank for flushing the toilet. This is called 'the toilet room'.

The other room is the bathing room or 'bathroom', often has laundry setups in there separated by a glass door from the actual bathing portion. Will have a sink, a tub (deeper than USA ones usually) and a hand held showering device with a long cable.

You wash outside the tub enclosure first then hang the handle up and step in the tub (after washing off and rinsing down into the floor drain). The handheld showerhead may have a wall fixture with several heights (some of which are child shower and some adult) but it will not be over the tub most likely. Reason is, you wash before you get in there, not while in there'. The fancy traps that catch hair etc, are in the floor drain and not in the tub drain.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Your ignorance! Sqatting is anatomically better form for bowl movement. Ever saw an animal sitting down to phoo? Consuming anything less is better for our planet.

[willshak]

on 6/21/2008 7:15 PM k said the following:

Urh,Urh,Urh,Urh. With a Binford 132 HP pump.

[Tony Hwang]

Yup, During global hopping days, been to more than 100 different places on all continents. All in all, we N. Americans live a life style of excessive waste on every thing. It is not good. Time to start change. The sooner the better.

[Noahbuddy]

Because then, they're called Locker rooms.

[HerHusband]

From a practical standpoint, it adds a lot of cost and complexity to the construction of the bathroom.

We built a "european style" curbless shower in our master bathroom. I had to plan for this during the framing stage so I could frame the shower floor lower than the rest of the house floor. This also entailed adding additional footings to support the transition in the floor structure.

Then we had to install the shower drain, and build a slope with mortar into the floor so water would run towards the drain. After that came the waterproofing membrane and tile.

We LOVE our large open bathroom. No shower doors or curtains, plenty of room to move around, it's easy to clean and mop the entire floor down without worring about leaks, and far fewer problems with mold and mildew with the better air flow.

However, it's a lot more work to build than slapping down a sheet of plywood, and sliding in a ready made tub/shower unit.

Anthony

[ythread]

Somehow I think it's going to take more than using less tp to solve our problems. Abundant tp should be a God given right.