Wet rooms are extremely desirable, and they add value to your home. But there are many considerations to make before you plan yours. How much does a wet room cost to install? What are the possible disadvantages? Are there any reasons why my home cannot have one? These are just a few questions you may have. Read on to find out everything you need to know about wet room installation, and find out if it will work with your home.
How Much Does a Wet Room Cost to Install : Is My Home Suitable?
Before heading to the question of how much does a wet room cost to install, it is important to look at your home. Not all homes are suitable for a wet room. Is your bathroom big enough? If you have a small bathroom, then you will need to include a shower screen to make sure everything doesn’t get sprayed. A fully open tiled shower area with no shower tray is the basic idea for a wet room, and it’s a job that you should leave to your Bristol bathroom experts. It’s not as easy as you may think, drainage being one of the major concerns.
When installing a wet room, it is important to understand how the water will drain away. A gradient needs to be created for this purpose, so your room does not flood. Your whole room will need to be waterproofed as well, not just the area around your shower. To obtain the correct gradient, a plywood subfloor will be installed, that will then be tiled over. This is a job for the experts. You can only imagine what would happen if the sub-floor was not sealed properly and water was allowed to drip down onto a ply floor.
An alternative to use ply is to install a sloping giant shower tray that will be tiled over in the same way. A giant shower tray can actually fit the entire floor space of your wet room. In this case, it will not be necessary to tile over. So, how do you ensure that your new wet room is waterproof?
Waterproofing your Wet Room
Waterproofing your wet room is a big job, and when asking “how much does a wet room cost to install” the waterproofing process will take up a fairly large proportion of your budget. The entire floor area as well as the lower section of the walls of your room will need priming. Once this has been done, a membrane will be applied that will set. Once set, the room can then be tiled. This stage requires some patience, as the membrane must be fully set before the tiling can commence. Making a small gap under your wet room door is also useful at this stage, in case the room floods. A wooden door that gets wet constantly is recipe for disaster.
Advantages and Disadvantages of a Wet Room
With wet rooms so popular, it is important to not forget the possible disadvantages of having one in your home. The advantages are really quite simple. Wet rooms are stylish, and they add value to your home. They are easy to clean, and if your existing room has a bathtub, then removing it will instantly create space.
There are of course some disadvantages of having a wet room, but the advantages will surely outweigh them. Firstly, if your room is small, everything might get wet. This is a problem easily fixed, by adding a shower screen to protect your toilet roll, towel rails, and other fixtures. Wet rooms need to be entirely waterproof, and maintenance can be an issue. If you choose porous tiles, they will need to be re-sealed periodically.
Cost
So, with the disadvantages and advantages already discussed, this leads us on to our original question. How much does a wet room cost to install? There are many factors to consider, and the amount you pay will depend on the tiles you choose, the size of the room, and what shower you will install. A guideline for your wet room cost would be somewhere in the region of 5 to 10 thousand pounds.
The amount you pay will depend on the materials you choose for your floor and walls. Sheet vinyl is an alternative to tiles. For a rough look, concrete and tadelakt, a Moroccan plaster is an option that will create a luxurious effect. For low maintenance, choose non-porous tiles that are non-slippery and specifically designed for bathrooms. The cost of your wet room installation will also rise if you choose to add underfloor heating at the same time. This is recommended as it will keep the tiles warm for winter days.
Additional Items
Other additional costs would be incurred if you choose a concrete partition for your room as opposed to a standard glass panel. For a really luxurious wet room that resembles a hotel bathroom, you could opt for side by side showers. This is an option for big bathroom spaces. Lastly, when calculating the cost of your wet room installation, think about cabinetry, fixtures and fittings. A wet room is exactly what it says; it is designed to get wet. So, ensure you have planned where to store your shampoo, towels, and other bathroom supplies.