Where does it say it has to be recessed?

What makes you think drain is not placed appropriately in the actual "shower" area of the wet area?

Has the person that designed the shower been involved in this discussion?

I believe in this drawing, the recess is the dashed line in the front of the shower/wet area. I have not seen the full set of plans yet, only this screen shot. But the theory is that the entire shower/walk in area will be recessed and they are only wanting to recess the actual shower part.

I like the "HEAD KNOCKER CAB ABOVE" note. The room title should be "GAS CHAMBER".

The drain should be in the center of the "shower" which would be in line with the shower head. Yes, my sister who is an interior designer drew the exact plan for the shower and it is modeled after what she has in her home. I have included her in the correspondence, the builder just does not know how to do it, it seems.

It would likely be a good idea to have conversation that includes both your builder and the sub who will be building the shower. Bring detail pictures of your sister's shower to illustrate the desired finished product. If the sub understands what you want, then have him explain it to the GC until you're satisfied that everyone is on the same page. Then have them add their signed understanding to the contract.

I think you are tempting fate having a builder who has never installed a curb and doorless shower install yours. Ask if you can sub that area out to an experience pro. Proper Slope, waterproofing and drains are essential and not an inexpensive disaster to fix if done improperly.

I agree with what you are saying Roarah, but the builder is now offering this feature to homebuilders. SO, they need to spend the time to figure it out and get it right.

Does it snow where you plan on building this house?

Haha, no but I want to get this buttoned up quickly!

Agreed. I'd be very loath to proceed with a feature your builder isn't comfortable building! Better to live with the horrors of a shower door.

Will you have some glass? I don't think the actual layout and dimensions will work great as an open shower. All you need is someone to tilt up that shower head just a bit and you will have water all over the middle of your bathroom.

I like Mark's comment.

It concerns me that your builder is hesitating. You do NOT want to be pushing your builder outside his comfort zone if he is unwilling. Some builder's love challenges, some will resent it and you will suffer.

Whitney, you're in for disappoint after disappoint if you expect to get quality out of your builder because "they need to spend the time to figure it out and get it right." They walk away and guess who lives with the aftermath? You'll be much happier with an experienced pro giving you a product you'll have when the builder is gone. Do not sidestep your responsibilities.

it is not astro science. You have to have 1/4" slope for wet area. [check you jurisdiction if it require duplicate drains]. There is also 2" requirement for the drain. You do want some sort of small slope outside of wet area to push the water back. Ask your code inspector about ADA curbless showers. In my area code inspector enforces 36" outside of curbless shower. This is the area where you have restriction of the light fixtures, and allow for 1/8" slope. This 1/8" could be done by the tile setter contractor. No matter what the entire area needs some sort of water proofed. So find some liner and call the manufacture.

This needs to be done correctly. I would inspect these types of showers while they constructed at all phases. (forget that I would do these myself because I would not trust anyone to do these correctly).

I literally have seen 20k shower trashed after just 2 years because of the screw[s].... It was curbed [curbless would have leaked just as bad]. I was shocked about the waste.

My shower is similar to yours. Love our shower. My expert tile guy knew what he was doing and made sure my builder had the shower and splash area floor lower than the rest of the bathroom. does that make sense?

my builder builds commercial but agreed to build our house. He certainly had never built a shower like this but between him and the tile guy they did a great job.

the walk-in area (splash zone) is sloped (No door or threshold) and my shower head is on the left as you enter the shower from the splash area. My drain is one of the long type (can’t remember what it’s called. located on the floor near the shower head.

I know exactly what you are talking about Ilovered. This is going to have to be a more detailed conversation with our general contractor who we still haven’t met yet but have a meeting scheduled with next week. We have been dreaming of a doorless shower for years. I know this isn’t hard to do. The whole shower area would be recessed into the slab.

Do you mind sharing a picture of your shower?

Here’s a screen shot of the shower plan. I’ll get you a pic tomorrow of the shower. The shower head and drain are on the opposite wall of the seat. No problem with water outside the shower.

I have a doorless/curbless shower. I don't think this is really big enough to be a good setup for it. What I see is lots of splashes off the body to all that glass. Then the glass gets pretty dirty - and in my mind, the advantage of a doorless is cleaning less. Here you are cleaning more. That intersection of the glass and 1/2 wall will trap some water - any significant slope would be visible. That glass will not have much to attach to. I suppose it could go to the ceiling but that gets pricey and really hard to clean. The presumed sunlight through the window will not be kind to dirt on that glass. I am disappointed in whomever didn't spec the height of the glass on top of the 1/2 wall. But on that subject, I find the 42 inch height of the 1/2 wall a bit low from a glass cleaning perspective. On the privacy side - that is a personal decision.

Not to mention the whole thing looks a little awkward - certainly not any symmetry. The slope might feel awkward because you won't stand in the center of it.

Then I am a little stressed about the window sill a few inches above the shower head - might not be a big deal but I still don't like it. And of course, no one in a cold climate likes the shower head on the outside wall which was probably the snow comment. But I am guessing you are not in a cold area.

What is the plan for tile transition? Will the floor of the bathroom be the same tile? Just curious - we did hardwoods in our bathroom so there was no tile-tile transition. Usually, people do smaller tile in the shower - partly because of slope - and bigger tile in the bathroom. Might be challenging in this area to get that all looking right.

I'd install a linear drain on the South wall with the pitch to it starting in the splash area. No crazy tile cuts to worry about. Splash away.

Agree with Joe, just make sure the floor has a proper pitch to the drain and start gradually pitching the floor approx.2' before the shower area.

The details of the dropped joists should be on the framing plan. There shouldn’t be a debate here at all. The builder should just follow the details provided in the section details and framing plans. Or was that information somehow omitted from the plans? If so, that’s a much bigger issue with the rest of the plans, and points to an inadequacy in your design professional more so than the builder.

Would this work for you?

Install a linear drain on the back part of the shower floor.

Have the entire floor slope front-to-back, away from the entry and towards the back wall with the shower head, as shown by the arrows.

It's a single-plane sloped floor. No compound cuts. No trying to coerce water to flow in one direction, then another. With the floor being single-plane, it does open up what properly frictioned tile you can use on the floor to minimize grout lines.

Edit to add: Code requires the shower floor to be sloped not less than 1/4" per foot and not more than 1/2" per foot towards the drain. You can easily meet that parameter with the size of your shower with a linear drain.

here is a typical recess for a curbless build...drain can be located wherever you want with smart planning. You want A topical bonded waterproofing system installed to conform to TCNA/ ANSI specs. .......your contractor may be telling you they are not up to it......

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