Wet Rooms

Wet rooms are growing in popularity and are quickly making the jump from only being seen in spa and hotels to being a fairly common occurrence in private homes.

A wet room is effectively a bathroom where the majority of the surfaces are tiled or waterproofed in some way and there is a sloping gradient in the floor meaning that any water naturally drains away and does not pool in certain areas of the floor. This removes the need for shower trays or even in some cases shower enclosures/panels all together.

So why are they becoming so popular and what would you need to do in order to get one?

Rise In Popularity

Clutter and mess. Two things that you DO NOT think of when imagining a beautiful, well designed and professional bathroom. Everyone has heard the term less is more and it would seem that this simplistic and minimalist approach is defiantly on the rise in the nations bathrooms. If you think about it for a second it is fairly easy to see why, consider the size of your bathroom in comparison to the other rooms in your home.....it is probably one of your smaller rooms correct?

Lets then consider what you might need or want in your bathroom a bath, shower, sink, toilet, towel rails, shelving, soap dishes and other necessaries such as toilet brushes etc. You can see that the bathroom is looking quite full already and that is before you have added any luxurious extras such as a bidet or storage units not to mention all of your bathroom belongings such as shampoos, toilet rolls, hair dryers and so on. For a small room which we have to use on a daily basis the bathroom has to accommodate ALOT.

Queue the need for simplicity and reduction. Suddenly the thought of a slim, sleek shower screen seems much more attractive than a large chunky unit which half fills your bathroom but offers no added functionality. Keeping things simple means less clutter and more space, leaving your bathroom feeling light and airy rather than a claustrophobic nightmare.

What is Involved?

The concept of a wet room is fairly simple, the only reason you have a chunky shower enclosure with a thick tray is that you don't want to get water all over your bathroom floor because then you would have to mop it up afterwards right? Well, what if your bathroom floor was angled towards the drainage point so it acted like one giant shower tray, problem solved.

Of course it is not very practical to have a wet bathroom floor all the time and although you would be surprised at how quickly a wet room floor actually dries there is also the option to have dry areas. So the showering area is partially enclosed by a glass panel which stops water from spraying everywhere and the floor around the shower area follows a gradient towards the sunken drain, this way you can still have a dry area for towelling off and getting ready for the day.

Wet rooms can be installed in either wooden or concrete floors. The process involves creating a sunken area either by chiselling it out of the floor or removing some of the floor boarded area and altering the structure of the joists. A sunken tray which has a built in gradient is then installed above a sunken trap and drainage device. This is then covered in waterproofing material and can be tiled. Leaving you with a seamless change between the solid tiled floor and the sunken tray.

Installation Example

Not only do these systems lead to a clutter free bathroom they also look absolutely amazing especially when finished off with some high quality tiling and a beautiful glass enclosure. The only drawback is that it may be a bit more work in the short term to install a wet room floor over say your traditional free standing shower unit but the stunning finish and the benefits you will get from it in the long term make this almost unworthy of consideration.

A wet room is a perfect option to add style and reduce clutter in your bathroom and we strongly suggest you consider one in your next bathroom re-design. You will feel like you have a entirely new bathroom rather than just swapping out one shower enclosure for another.

Other Resources

http://www.impey-showers.com/ - A top Class Manufacturer of Wet Room Kits

http://www.advancedwetrooms.com/consumer/ - Further Explanations