Hello,

We are finishing our basement. We gutted the bathroom and are working with the existing rough-in. The floor is currently bare concrete.

The image below is an early drawing and is probably not very precise, but it will suffice for the purposes of this question. The top and left walls are exterior walls and are about 7' each. The rectangle in the lower left represents the vanity we have purchased. The circle in the center of the room is just a random general drain, and the smaller circle in the upper right quadrant was the drain for the previous shower. (The little half circle by the toilet represents a pipe that is not related to the shower.) Both drains go to the same place (wherever drains properly go, not the storm drain). The showerhead needs to be located on the right wall.

We considered a 36x36 prefab shower pan (which would be the absolute largest we could fit), a neoangle shower with glass doors, and everything in between, but we have arrived at the conclusion that the most sensible/spacious/economic solution might be a have some kind of partial wet room. For a number of reasons, it is not possible to waterproof the entire room.

So for now we are planning to tile in a curbless shower floor (approximately where the black lines are in the picture) delineated with a decorative tile border which will slope toward the smaller drain, and have the rest of the bathroom floor slope toward the center drain. I will put up some kind of L-shaped rod and shower curtain keep the water somewhat contained. The curtain will be pulled back (by the toilet) whenever the shower is not in use. The walls border the shower will be fully tiled, and the walls on the left and bottom will have tile wainscoting.

We are planning to use Rittenhouse Square subway tile for the wainscoting and walls, and carrara basketweave for the floor.

Does this plan seem feasible? We have been 'round and 'round about this bathroom and there is no ideal solution, so we are looking for the most sensible. We anticipate that this shower will be used mostly by houseguests, so perhaps an average of three times per month.

Finally, with this plan, should we consider Kerdi waterproofing? I am not clear if it is necessary for a basement bathroom on a slab. Our basement is quite dry in general and the bathroom fan will be 110CFM and have only about a 4' run the the outside, so the environment will not be extremely wet. This is mostly a DIY project with advice/assistance from a good friend who is a contractor. We are definitely concerned about costs, but do not want to be so cheap that we end up with a shoddy bathroom.

I would love any ideas/advice you have...thank you!