From my understanding of linear drains and curbless showers.... their exact location really needs to be designed before construction as the floor joists need to be adjusted for the slope to the drain. It could be too late!?

They framed the shower floors lower so I do think it is too late. We just don’t know where the drains should be placed. I assume there are pros and cons to different placement options but I don’t know enough.

The architect, builder, plumber, and tiler, should have all had their heads together before ground was even broken. Those are the only ones that can answer your question now.

No one here can see if it was designed structurally correctly to be curbless, or where they designed the drain location. If it wasn't designed correctly, then a retrofit type installation has to be designed.

Again, only site conditions and site professionals have the information that you need. You cant just bring in whomever is the lowest bid at the tail end.

To create a curb-less smooth transition from the flat floor tiles of the bathroom to the sloping tile of the shower, the drain should be opposite the door. Ideally this is the short dimension of the shower. There are several systems out there (Schluter and Wedi) that can accomplish this with very little depth. I've done curb-less showers in remodels by building up the rest of the floor by 1/2".

Yes, lacking any other relevant information, placing the drain opposite the entry to the shower is usually a good idea.

Should not be a problem if rough plumbing is not started. Sure you can find a point in the center of long wall and adjacent to the long wall. We have that in our 10’x4’ shower. A large rain shower head and hand shower on the long wall and one on the short wall with 4 additional jets on the short wall and a bench on the opposite short wall.

My tiler complained but theres a slope between the wall and 48” drain which is just a couple of inches away; you cant see the slope.

ditto what lwo said......

We have the opposite of pinebarron's configuration. The linear drain is about a foot inside the door. Haven't noticed any issues with it that way.

The inward slope in the pinebaron picture is what I have seen recommended in a Schluter video; however, since the pictured shower does have a low curb, one sloped toward at drain at the entrance probably would have also worked. Schluter sells presloped underlayment for the pans, and they are designed to facilitate installing the linear drain. It all looks very good in their videos.

The one big advantage of a standard pre-sloped pan/underlayment is that its even slope in one dimension will give you more options for the tile floor. If you use a pan that has more of a shallow bowl shape with a drain in the middle, you need to use small diameter tile or cut larger tile to allow for all the angle changes in the floor. When its an even slope in one direction you can use larger format tile with very little cutting.

Another item to consider is that when you have a curbless or very low curb shower, you should also waterproof the bathroom floor using the same membrane that is under the shower floor, to allow for water that splashes out of the shower. In some cases they also install a floor drain, but that may be overkill if you have at least some type of curb (1/2"?) to keep the water in the shower.

Bruce

The tiler does the pitch, not the floor trusses. I'd place the drain on the short walls, under the main shower heads, which sounds like is the farthest away from the door. I'd also recommend trying to use tile for the lineal drain cover instead of stainless... I've stayed at hotels with metal caps where the shower head drips for a good hour after I'm done - ping ping ping ping as it drips ;)

Yes waterproofing is rolled up a couple of inches up the wall to contain the pan, not all the way up. The pic below shows when ours was in progress.