What Is a Wet Room?

A wet room is a bathroom where the shower area is open and level with the floor, and the whole room is waterproofed rather than relying on a tray and enclosure.

Why it is harder than a standard bathroom

Two things have to be exactly right.

The waterproofing must be continuous across the floor and up the walls, with no gaps at junctions. There is no tray acting as a backstop.

The falls, the slope of the floor towards the drain, must be correct across the whole wet area. Too shallow and water sits; wrong direction and it runs towards the door.

Neither is visible once tiled, and both are expensive to correct.

Floor build-up

Creating falls means building up or cutting into the floor. On a timber floor this can mean altering joists, and it can leave the finished level proud of the doorway.

In older properties this is where wet room projects most often become more complicated than quoted.

What to ask

What tanking system is being used and where it extends to. Whether you can see it photographed before tiling. What falls are being set, and how the floor level will meet the doorway.