Wet room bathrooms are one of the increasing trends in the world of modern home design .In this era, people like everything smaller with well equipped technology. From desktop to laptop, big cars to small cars, big houses to small houses, people are searching for a small and affordable lifestyle.
A wet room will add a wow element to your small home, giving it a trendy, modern design. The wet room bathroom has design roots from Japan. A wet room is simply a bathroom where the floors and walls are “tanked” (sealed with some form of the waterproof membrane) in order to prevent water from spilling out and damage. Usually, a wet room is designed with a sloping floor that guides any water toward a waste or drain, so excess water flows into your waste water system.
A wet room is also a groundbreaking method of designing a space-efficient showering area in commercial buildings, including hotels, the leisure industry. There are many reasons why wet rooms are fast becoming a popular bathroom style.
Here are the pros and cons of wet room bathrooms, if you’re thinking of giving a modern styling to the bathroom at an affordable rate.
Image by IdealHome
What is a Wet Room Bathroom?
A wet room bathroom is where a tub and shower tray is not installed. It contains a shower and a glass door to separate from the rest area of the bathroom. The water from the shower drains through the room’s open, tiled floor area, and the water drains into the bathroom’s main drain. A gradient on the floor ensures that water flows to the drain. The drain for a wet room is suggested to exceed 50 mm to allow sufficient drainage of water. A wet room bathroom will require the walls and floors to be waterproofed and completely tiled. Under floor heating will also need to be considered, to allow efficient evaporation of the water on the floor.
Image by Gainsborough Baths
- Accessibility:
Wet rooms are amazingly helpful for people with limited mobility, for example, elderly or disabled individuals. There is no need for a shower tray which makes it much easier to enter the shower as there’s no threshold or door to the shower. A wet space has the same flooring level as the rest of the bathroom, so you can only step into a shower. You don’t need to think about any tripping hazards associated with a conventional shower tray. Children will also find it more efficient to open the shower room.
2. Improves your space usage:
A wet room is an ideal space saving solution as it eliminates the barriers that traditional baths and shower cubicles pose. For small bathrooms, a wet room is an ideal solution. By simply installing a shower head instead of a bathtub, the room appears larger and more open. As the wet room has a larger space it is easier to walk around the bathroom. There is no visible shower tray but an integral gentle slope to ensure that all the water is drained. You do not have to worry about getting the floor moist in a wet room.
Image by CCL Wetrooms
3. Easy to keep clean:
The biggest advantage of installing a wet room is it is easy to keep it cleaned. The removal of the tub would mean that the bathroom needs cleaning less and the sealed nature of the space would mean that bathroom cleaners can be used more freely in the room. The probability of humid spots and mold is also totally removed, as the tanking would prevent them from being capable of growing.
Image by Big Bathroom Shop
4. Enhanced property value:
The waterproofing makes the wet room of less probability of leaks and water issues. In a traditional bathroom, water can flow into places where it shouldn’t, build moisture resulting in humidity in walls. However, this humidity can be avoided in wet rooms. The open beauty and huge free space to walk around is a major selling point for potential buyers.
Though wet rooms are very convenient and have many pros it comes with some cons as well.
The cons are:
- The whole wet room gets wet so it can be uncomfortable for the guest to use.
- The room needs to be adequately ventilated.
- As the enclosed shower holds a lot of moisture, towels and toilet rolls can get wet.
- Sometimes, a buyer may not like a wet room which might be a sole point to refuse to buy a house.
Recent developments towards minimalism and efficiency are perfect for wet rooms as it tends to be attractively new, modern in design. From a practical point of view, it also gives your home a certain awe feature. You can also create your wet room’s mood and atmosphere by choosing your favorite bathroom tiles to match the room.