In the past my son has twice allowed the bathtub to overflow, flooding the basement. I am renovating the bathroom and am replacing all the cast plumbing with ABS. I bought the supplies and included in my plans a floor drain which I am going to put behind the toilet (slightly to the side), so that next time my son floods the bathroom, most of the water will make it down the drain, the flow of least resistance.
Is the "overflow" plugged on the tub? Was your son made to mop up the water using only a sponge and a bucket?
If you can't do something short of drowning him to impress upon him not to let the tub overflow, I think the installation of a SHOWER stall would accomplish the same thing with less expense and work.
Bad idea. You'll be smelling sewer gas almost on a weekly basis from the water evaporating & being sucked from the trap. Bathtubs have (or are suppose to have) an overflow. Find out why yours is not working and fix it. That's the simplest way anyway.
I haven't seen a bathtub overflow that can accept all the water that comes out of the tap at full flow. Must run in the family because my brother did it too at his condo. Started the tub and then went to bed!
No, make him clean it up. The consequences that are most effective in promoting learning and behaviour change are "natural" ones. Spanking is not a "natural consequence", and is just as effective at teaching people to lie and hide mistakes as it is at teaching them not to make mistakes.
I'm not anti-spanking--sometimes I think it's appropriate. But I know what it taught me and my siblings. IF there's no proof, "I didn't do it", even if I did. ;-)
The floor drain sounds like a neat idea. And not just as an overflow drain -- just think, then you can clean the bathroom with a hose!
The issue about the trap drying out is there, but in practice lots of folks have basement floor drains, seldom-used showers in guest bathrooms, etc. with little trouble. If you decide later that it was all a mistake, you can get an expandable rubber plug to install in there -- it won't drain anymore but it will block the sewer gases.
Now I am curious, though, about the effect of trap design on the drying-out problem. It seems to happen less with sinks. Does the long reach of the drain above the trap inhibit evaporation of the water in the trap? Another question -- could you enhance your trap (make it less prone to dry-out) by increasing the drop as much as your joist space will allow? (see diagram) Or would that make the drain work less well?
An idea inspired by visits to Australian pubs of yesteryear? Some of the rougher ones were tiled up to the windows to facilitate nightly cleanup . . . with a hose.
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