Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Feb 18, 2021 3:28 pm Have built a new house that has an open shower with floor drain. I used it for the first time to check drainage and was not impressed. There is lippage holding water (but less than 2mm). Tiles are 600x300, and only 8 of the tiles seem to have any grading. The floor will require mopping every time the shower is used. I've attached a photo 30 minutes after the shower was used. Would this be considered reasonable, or would a defect be warranted? Or am I being overly fussy? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 2Feb 18, 2021 7:01 pm floors do need to be graded do water doesn’t pool. I’m not sure what the plan was, are there plans for a shower screen? if not there was always going to be problems, fall or not Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 3Feb 18, 2021 8:53 pm There's no plans for a shower screen. It's a multipurpose space for spa treatment or soak tub. I expected that a floor drain in the middle of a bathroom would have the whole floor graded to it. Was my expectation wrong? Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or not? 4Feb 19, 2021 9:21 pm I think this is the price we pay for having these modern open plan bathrooms. Imagine what the fall would have to be to drain that entire room - you certainly couldn’t use that chair in there because it would be rocky as it was only ever perched on three legs. Perhaps you would have been better off to have a sloping floor on one plane to a long slit drain along one wall.
Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 5Feb 19, 2021 10:35 pm arcadelt Perhaps you would have been better off to have a sloping floor on one plane to a long slit drain along one wall. Agree with you there. If only the designer or builder had brought this up... Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 6Apr 22, 2021 8:13 pm arcadelt I think this is the price we pay for having these modern open plan bathrooms. Imagine what the fall would have to be to drain that entire room - you certainly couldn’t use that chair in there because it would be rocky as it was only ever perched on three legs. Perhaps you would have been better off to have a sloping floor on one plane to a long slit drain along one wall. Totally agree with you. Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 7Apr 24, 2021 4:09 pm psdillon Have built a new house that has an open shower with floor drain. I used it for the first time to check drainage and was not impressed. There is lippage holding water (but less than 2mm). Tiles are 600x300, and only 8 of the tiles seem to have any grading. The floor will require mopping every time the shower is used. I've attached a photo 30 minutes after the shower was used. Would this be considered reasonable, or would a defect be warranted? Or am I being overly fussy? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Looks pretty well drained to me. What you've got there is some residual water due to surface tension. In order to drain that residual water you'd have to have a hell of a slope on the floor. Probably to the point where the room was unusable. The open shower concept just isn't a winner. Best option would be to see if you can retrofit a shower screen otherwise that floor is alawys going to be wet and slippery. Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 8Apr 24, 2021 7:04 pm Yeah I'd be pretty happy if that was mine, I've got the same type of drain in my shower, and that silver edge protrudes about 1.5mm above the tiles around it, so I can never get rid of the last 50ml of water pooling around it. Takes pretty much until the next night to fully evaporate, so I end up soaking it into the bath mat so it actually dries out properly. Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 9Apr 24, 2021 9:18 pm Thanks guys for all the responses. Althom What you've got there is some residual water due to surface tension. In order to drain that residual water you'd have to have a hell of a slope on the floor. Apart from 8 tiles in the middle, the rest aren't graded at all, so those aren't due to surface tension. I liked arcadeIt's suggestion to have a long slit drain along the wall, which I think would have worked better. I remember as a kid in the 70's, that all bathrooms had floor drains, and much smaller tiles that didn't need to be cut. I recall there being grading but not sure how far it extended out. Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 10Apr 25, 2021 9:05 am It is surface tension and that's precisely why it doesn't drain. There's not enough fall to overcome the surface tension. The fall you need to fully drain a room that size would make the room unusable. If those tiles are 300mm then some of that water is 1.2-1.5m away from the drain. At that point those tiles would have to be at least 60mm above the drain to ensure proper drainage but your floor would still remain damp. Re: Open Shower Floor Drain Tiling/Grade/Drainage - OK or no 11Apr 25, 2021 11:08 am Althom It is surface tension and that's precisely why it doesn't drain. There's not enough fall to overcome the surface tension. For technical interest only, it is caused by the mutual adhesive attraction of unlike molecules (and inadequate slope of course). The molecular cohesive force of water is what holds water together and the strong cohesive force at the water surface is referred to as surface tension. Surface tension plays no role in adhesion. Open plan bathrooms are designed for aesthetics, prioritising functional aspects is not in every designer's hand book. Another bathroom design flaw is the fitting of long hosed and low fitted hand held shower heads. Sooner or later, many are dropped. Why take the risk? Having the hose fitted higher with a sensible length will prevent the shower head hitting the tiles if dropped. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Staircases and sausages. Should thou wish to keep thy palate sweet for sausages, avert thine eyes from their crafting. 14 4617 Interesting. You have great clearance to damp proof course all the way around which is rare with so many cowboy landscapers and concreters. Is there sufficient fall… 2 2436 Yeah mine about 9 metres long and 8 wide with slope of 25% at one point but the end point of the outlet is past the side of garage and if he concretes allowing for… 4 4547 |