Ciao bella. Wet room.

[Suz]

Just back from holiday in Italy. We stayed on a campsite which I was highly impressed with.

It was full of Germans but the bright side of that was the quality and efficiency of everything - we suspect it may have been German owned.

We stayed in a chalet and it had a wet room shower room. I have never used one regularly before and as my friend is keen to get one I was interested in how it worked out. I must say I quite liked it. I liked the sense of freedom and the access to shelves of products while not worrying about drips. This wet room was about

5 foot by 6 foot and had a sink and loo in it too. Sitting on the loo while still in the shower was a strange experience. The main downside was getting the floor dried when (inevitably) one of the weans was queued up for the loo the second you got out. Mentioning weans though - great for showering all together, although a bit skiddy when they got excited and tried to run around.

Any other experiences/tips of wet rooms out there?

[Christian McArdle]

Yes. They're horrible unless done very well. I used one in Australia. Basically, the floor ends up looking like Glastonbury in a bad year. You spend about half an hour cleaning the room before you dare take off your shoes to have a shower. Apparently, they work much better with underfloor heating, but you couldn't pay me to have one. I wouldn't mind a huge shower cubicle (i.e. 3m x 2m or something) provided it doesn't share with the toilet.

Christian.

[Peter Taylor]

Suz wrote

A must-have for anybody confined to a wheelchair. I've designed literally hundreds of them in Care Homes, hospitals etc. Brilliant at ground floor level, but very problematic to achieve at first floor level, especially in an existing building, due to the need to have a sloping floor for drainage and the possibility of leaks. You can limit the spread of water on the floor with a curtain to some extent.

The Grohe shower, by the way, can have a separate control for the water, so a helper can stay dry while turning the water on and off!

Peter

[Dave Liquorice]

Loved them in Israel/West Bank, I'm 6' and ordinary shower cubicals are not really big enough. From my the back of my back along the femur to the front of the knee is only a few inches short of the diagonal. As you found out great to have the fredom to move, even just to wash without having to be careful not to bash the sides.

The floor, was there not a broom handled squegee for pushing the water to the floor drain? The floor would be dry after a squegge in less than half an hour but then the West Bank is somewhat warmer than the UK, underfloor heating and good ventilation would be essential in the UK.

[Dave Liquorice]

You are supposed to take your shoes off before you go into the wet room... Doh! In our house all outdoor footwear is removed in the kitchen/office area and woe betide anyone who doesn't.

Sounds like a wet room to me...

Agreed, one "wet room" in Hong Kong was not much more than a long shower cubical. To avoid soaking your clothes you showered over the toilet... In a reasonable sized room ie the normalish 8 x 10 bathroom size there isn't a problem with the loo being in there other than the, also normal, problems of no seperate loo.

[The Natural Philosopher]

A wet room is just a rather large bath with a door in the side of it.

If you thank of it like that, the problems and solutions become conceptually easier.

[Christian McArdle]

I think it is unreasonable to expect people to take their shoes off to wade through 2cm of water every time they need the toilet. When I've had to live with one of these abominations, I've actually put my shoes on for the specific purpose of being able to take a slash without getting trenchfoot.

Christian.

[Peter Taylor]

There's gotta be something wrong there. All the wet rooms I've seen or designed have a drain in the floor with the screed laid to fall towards it. But even if the floor was level there would never be 2cm of water laying on it.

Peter

[Christian McArdle]

Well, 2cm might be an exageration. However, the floor was never dry, always puddled. It wasn't a cold place either. It was in Sydney, NSW in November (equivalent to N.H. May). I could live with them more if they had underfloor heating, even in summer and a separate toilet. However, I'd still prefer a separation into wet and dry areas so I could get changed without getting trousers and socks wet. The stagnant water always goes cold, too, so isn't pleasant with your shoes off.

Christian.

[Dave Liquorice]

Something wrong with the wet room then, no way should there be any standing water on the floor. After use for showering the squegie is used to leave the floor damp, which dries quickly.