I have built two curbless showers with in the past year and a half. Both where built using Ditra, Kerdi and Red Guard. I have been having more and more clients ask for trench style drains and have spend about 8 months researching these beauties. Quick Drain USA has a nice channel (trench) drain with excellent tech help and a wonderful website. ACO now imports to North America from the UK and I have found that their drain can fit on top of a Schulter drain rough in (this can not be done without modifying the stock unit and I'm sure it will void any warranty). All that said I should have much more answers to this specific question in roughly 3 months time. The more I look at the trench drains and the more we explore the options it creates it's no wonder the channel drain is the hottest look of any new shower. As far a a nice clean looking curbless shower with a simple Kerdi Drain the entire bathroom needs to be waterproofed. Toilets should not be placed too close to the shower entry because a typical floor mount toilet is the biggest weak link in a wetroom floor. A better option is installing a wall mount toilet or small covered curb (i.e. pony wall, glass block wall, frameless glass on low curb) that separates the toilet location from the wet zone. Make sure you pipe your new curbless with at least a 2" drain line (with properly sized vent line) your design and polumbing package might need a 3" drain line so even though you want the new channel drain you may need to install a standard drain in addition to the floor drain. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks - Push your builder or tile guy to research harder. Be prepared for extra costs. Framing changes, concrete work and structural engineers may need to be used. I designed my last two around standard framing and raised the transition from the hallway to the bathroom to 3/4" - 1" (Solid hardwood reducer at doorway) and pitched everything back to a single Kerdi drain.

With a curbless shower, I see two issues you may be facing. If he is planning on using a traditional rubber liner, a pre-slope under the liner is required. This slope is a minimum if 1/4" per foot from the drain to the farthest wall. In this case, I assume that to be the entry. I fugure that to be about 2 3/4" higher at the entry than at the drain. The rubber or vinyl liner sits on this and a FINAL mudbed is then formed over the liner. As you can see, there will be issues with no curb and how you'll terminate the slope to a feather edge at the entry. I don't see how that can be done. The other issue is with the liner itself. I see no way to attach it to a mudbed that would have to end at a feather edge. These liners are designed to go UP the vertical walls about 6-8" and nailed into place. Having built these before, scrap the liner and use the Kerdi. It's a bulletproof install, you only need ONE mudbed as the material is bonded directly to the mud and you can generally extend the Kerdi six or eight inches into the bathroom for a bit more insurance. On one hand, yes...it's a bit more cost, but realistically, it's also a shower you'll probably never need to repair or replace. The Kerdi is under $1.40 sq/ft. Their drain will run about a hundred bucks. On the other hand, you only have the cost of one mudbed, you eleminate the vinyl liner, as Kerdi is completely waterproof, you can save by using standard drywall in the shower as opposed to cement board. This is what Schluter recommends. Bottom line is that you'll pay a little more but get a far superior shower. If your tile installer isn't comfortable or familiar with Kerdi, find one that is. Here is a link that might be useful: Kerdi Shower Handbook

Curbless shower was on my list of "must haves", and I've decided it's something we can do without. My reasoning: - I wanted it because my grandmother, in her extreme old age -- like past 98, had trouble lifting her feet even a small bit; for example, onto a curb or into the shower. However, this is a big expense for something that won't be an issue for many, many years. - It's possible to go "minimal" instead of curbless. Right now we have something similar to this: It's a big, wide step into the shower -- plus we have a door, so there's another inch or so of track. Instead we're going minimal with the divider. Look at the difference here -- a much shorter, skinnier divider. We're going to put a grab bar on each side of the 36" entrance (not unlike the white bar on the left of this picture), and we're going with a curtain rather than a door. This may still become a problem in our extreme old age, but we feel like it's a happy medium between cost and function -- and we are all about value for the dollar.

Sorry to tag on to the end of this thread, it's already a bit messy to say the least. I have spent countless hours researching linear drains and am at my wits end! Bathroom floor is dropped by 1-5/8" from floorboards (2-7/8" below wood floor in adjacent room) in a 56-1/4" x 90" area ready for this project. I need to place the drain as a barrier by the entry way spanning the entire 90". Cannot go against back wall easily because of joist limitation.Tile will be sloped in from 14" outside of the shower including capilliary break then up to the back wall, drawing NOT to scale! I will have wedge wire grate and two 2" ABS outlets in to a 3" ABS drain, so not overly concerned about flooding the bathroom. I am aware of the 3" drop and wet room requirements. My main dilemma is how to terminate the linear at each side wall. I saw photos in another forum where the wall tile 'tabs' in to the drain channel, drain channel extends under wall tile at each end. In order to do this could the entire floor and drain be finished first with channel extended about 3/4" past the intended plane of the finished wall? Silicone caulk the drain at each end. Then the walls could be floated in and the tab cut on the bottom of the two opposite tiles that would sit in the channel. Floor will be hot mopped (I'm in California), walls lath and mortar, and the floor also floated outside of shower area. I'm on a wooden sub floor obviously. Finally, I have narrowed my options down to site sizable QM Delmar or the DERA-Line. Both have pros and cons, does anyone have any advice as in 'stay away from' or any pointers re these two drains? I realise the DERA is cheaper, 304 S/S as opposed to 316. The DERA is custom made to exact length rather than site sizable as in the QM or I may not even be asking the question about the walls. I'm leaning in the DERA direction because price is getting high and the wife is pushing to avoid linear, which would pain me after getting this close. The Dera is coming in around $1100 vs $1500. I thoroughly appreciate any advice or guidance anyone can give. Btw, i am not doing the job personally, just due diligence to be 100% certain nothing is compromised or overlooked. Thanks very much in advance.