Linear Drain Grate Catching To Much Hair: What brand of drain is this?
I got a phone call yesterday from a custom builder out in Coquitlam about a replacement linear drain grate for a custom shower he just finished. The client does not like the tile insert grate because it catches too much hair. I asked the builder where he bought the drain and he told me that the designer out in North Vancouver told him she bought it from me.
I was like WTF? She has never bought a linear drain from me. He was like, "that's odd - that's not what she told me."
I asked for a few pictures so I could at least help him out but for the life of me I have never installed one of these linear drains. Any ideas who makes this drain?
Nasty. I'm pretty upset that a designer is using my name to sell drains and then sourcing clearly an different product too the ACO linear drains which I do sell. Not sure what to do. I guess I could drop their name here but that would most likley get me in trouble. For now I would just like to help out the Coquitlam Builder get a new grate for this linear drain.
If you know which brand this is please let me know.
Comments (9)
- PRO9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
As a functional or performance tip I would recommend anyone that installs a primary linear drain (like shown above*) that looks like this that you trim the grate opening with something like a Butech or Schluter Tile Profile. This keeps most of the shower water from hydrating the thin-set at the drain edge. It keeps the shower drain looking better as well.
I recently installed some Butech Edging to a Schluter drain for just this reason.
It's hard to see in this photo but the edging is slightly tipped to the drain opening. I installed a thinner profile to the two sides of the tile insert grate as well. Those I kept flat.
I clipped the corners of the Butech Profile for weepage reasons and used a re-inforcing mesh to speed up capillary migration under the edging. I do not like the Schluter Grates at all and tossed the one given to me for this shower. This install shows a custom version of a Kerdi Line Drain install - pretty sure they would not like the fact that I replaced all the Kerdi with Laticrete Hydro Ban Sheet Membrane! ;)
* I'm guessing this since the tile is bonded directly to the floor with no 1 1/4"-2" mortar layer. - PRO9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
I looked some more online to see if this was a Mapei liner drain and it does not look like. I then googles Noble's drain and it appears it might be a Freestyle Linear Drain in ABS. I looks like the installer skipped a few stand off screws. This might explain why it is clogging up with hair.
Notice the tile and how tight it is to the membrane.
I wonder if they used sealant around the drain before installing the NobleSeal TS? I wonder if they used NobleSeal TS? Looks like a complete butchered install. Tile grout looks like crap.
FreeStyle Linear Drains: Tile-Top Strainer · More InfoThis drain could have been installed so much better. Same with the prep for the tile. I love Noble Company. Use their stuff all the time. Their liner drain however is not one of my favourites. It does the job and can address some key install challenges but this install with the tile choice was a bad paring. If someone uses my name as a testimonial of a drain they are selling to you. Why not email me and ask if I did in fact sell it?
This client was under the impression I sold the drain to them via the North Vancouver Design Outfit. That is Beyond True.
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preferred brand/model for linear shower drain?
Comments (32)John here are two closeups. The first picture shows the corners of the grates and the rolled edges. The cover is actually level to the edge. In the second picture you can see the top edge of the trough part of the drain is a finished edge, as you can step on this edge you wouldn't want to cut it down. The gap between the cover and the trough is predetermined in manufacturing. What probably should have been done to make sure it drained even better is for our first row of tile to be set at a slightly steeper angle. Then each row set after that would have continued on the upward slope. It's almost flat to the drain so the water can pool/collect just a little at this edge after the shower is shut off. The entire shower is sloped though so it drains really well while you're using the shower. I just use a squeegee and push the little pooling into the drain. You can see a bit of water marks in the bottom picture, typically I rub a bit of Turtle Wax on the grate covers when I clean them, buff them off, to prevent build up - also spray after each shower with a daily shower cleaner....See MoreLinear drain vs. center drain pros and cons
Comments (20)The ONLY reason ever to do a linear drain is if you're using large format tile across the bathroom floor and continuing into a curbless shower. A linear drain is the only drain that will allow a slope across a single plane to achieve this kind of look (which is a fantastic floor look and makes any bathroom appear larger - when you have a unified floor of the same large tiles. Larger format tiles are unable to accomodate the curves required to slope into a single point drain the way small format tiles can. Linear drains from a functionality and maintenance standpoint are inferior in every way to a standard single point drain. After having designed and built a modern minimalist bathroom with the large format tiles and curbless scenario utilizing a linear drain - I will NEVER do it again. Thought I love the look of my bathroom, linear drain requires WEEKLY removal of the grate. It is disgusting to clean, does not drain well, water sits in the trough, hair collects all around the perimeter, gross slimy buildup occurs, etc... Trust me, you do not want a lifetime of dealing with this just to attain an aesthetic. Future bathrooms I design will simply transition to smaller mosiac tiles for the shower floor in order to accomodate a standard single point drain. It's a tradeoff I'm willing to make despite how much I love the look of continuous large format tiles across the floor. When I see people use a linear drain with small tiles I just laugh!...See MoreNeed a great but reasonably priced linear shower drain
Comments (8)The answer to your question is yes, there are good alternatives. First, some observations: 1) As with many bathroom fixtures, there are huge ranges in price and sometimes the variation in quality is minor or even non-existent. I'm sure that Infinity drain is good, but the price is ridiculous. There are excellent choices available from other manufacturers at much better prices. 2) I've rarely found good prices at my local plumbing shops. On my master bath remodel 2 years ago, I wanted to support my local stores, but I could find the same brand names online at anywhere from 20-50% lower (like my American Standard bath tub that was quoted at $3300 locally and that I bought online and got delivered to my house in 3 days for $1620). 3) As linear drains are a relatively new trend, and people aren't quite as familiar with them as traditional drains, it's easy to be persuaded that a high price tag is justified. A linear drain is pretty basic: it has no moving parts and is made of stainless steel. As long as the steel is decent quality, the gauge is decent, and the drain is square and welded up properly there's nothing much else to be concerned about...it's a drain. 4) If you go above 60", it gets pricier because that is a less common size. Be aware that the linear drain should span most of the width of the shower, but it doesn't have to go all the way to the edges. If you had a 60" drain in a 66" wide shower (3" extra on each end), it would be just fine. I went with a 56" wide drain in a 60" shower and it's a non-issue. In addition, since we were re-tiling an existing shower with a central drain, we decided to install the linear drain across the middle of the shower. It still allowed us to use large format tiles and avoided having to relocate the drain: 5) Do not be afraid of buying a linear drain online. If you go with a name brand, or something that gets good reviews on Amazon or Build.com, you should be fine. And you can always return it to those two merchants if you don't like it when you get it. Okay, enough of my sounding off. When I was looking for a linear drain I researched for quite a while and settled on the Luxe linear drain: it got great reviews everywhere I looked. On arrival I could see that It was built very sturdily, was well-finished, and was totally plumb and true. You can get it several places, but the best price I found for a Luxe was, of all places, Home Depot. You can get a 60" all stainless drain for $259, or the tile insert model for $319: Luxe at Home Depot. Sixty inches is the standard upper length from most manufacturers, but Luxe also makes custom length drains (at what increase in price I don' t know) if you need something else. Here is their web site: Luxe web site. Looking at Amazon, they have many linear drains, but few longer than 60". However, I did find this 70" Novalinea drain, with great reviews, for $319: Novalinea 70" drain. The only caution I would give about buying online is don't go with the bottom of the price barrel. When I was looking, I found several stainless linear drains which were as cheap as $120 for a 60" drain, but I was concerned about the fact that they might have been made of lower quality or lighter gauge stainless, and I wanted something where I was sure about the quality. I'm not familiar with the brands in the link nidnay provided above, but several of them seem to get quite good reviews and were about the same ballpark price as the Luxe. (Pay attention to reviews as a couple of them also had comments about lesser quality or rusting.) Happy hunting! You should be able to find something you will be completely satisfied with for about $1000 less than you've been quoted....See Morelinear drain cleaning
Comments (26)From personal experience, having a linear drain installed and having been used to center drains before that: center drain is a whole lot less to maintain, especially with a good drain cover (small holes) to prevent hair going in drain, no cleaning of the drain area itself needed besides the cover. no clogs either if hair doesn't really get into the drain. residue builds up in the linear drain that needs periodic cleaning, some scrubbing will generally do, but caked on grime may require Tilex/bleach/baking soda/hydrogen peroxide to help clean. Some red mold also can build up, again scrubbing and Tilex/bleach will take care of it. fully/truly cleaning the strainer hair catcher basket in terms of squeaky clean requires a lot of work, easy if u just want to remove hair and minor gunk off the basket. Truly cleaning basket squeaky clean requires methods like strubbing with brush and soaking in hydrogen peroxide to get the remaining grime to come off and have it looking like "new" again. With center drain, never had to deal with this cleaning mess. no clogs or no clogs for quite some time if hair catcher basket cleaned regularly, if it overfills, or maybe over time even with cleaning/hair removal, some hair still slips through into drain, so you may have to de-clog drain from rare time to time. So far in 2 years, I only had to de-clog the drain once for a partial slow draining clog, it might have been related to forgetting to clean hair catcher basket for some time once because of my knee injury - either that or some hair slips through from time to time to eventually have the slow draining clog. aside from a real drain clog in the drain pipe, linear drain won't clog in terms of drainage if the hair catcher has hair in it unless it is full of a lot of hair. Surprisingly, it still drains pretty well with quite some hair in it. We generally clean out the hair catcher like every 2 days to every week. Also wanted to mention with center drains, today, there are also infinity drains that mount as center drains, it's a recessed square area above the drain pipe, below your tiles, optionally with a hair catcher basket in some designs. The linear drain is just one type of infinity drain. I don't think I've seen a center infinity drain that's circular, it's always square center drain recessed design. I wouldn't recommend this (center infinity drain) either based on my experience with linear drain, as I suspect it is also a pain to maintain compared to a traditional center drain with just a drain cover....See MoreRelated Professionals
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