New home build shower drain, linear location.
Ginger P.
2 years ago
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just_janni
2 years agoRelated Discussions
New question re linear or trench drains
Comments (11)Thanks to all of you for your input. Let me provide a little more information so that you will be able to answer my primary question about the drain. The bathroom is on the first floor with easy access from the unfinished basement below. It has post and beam construction and my husband said that beams beneath the subfloor would not interfere with a drain in either location. We know that some distances are a bit short if we were trying to bill this as a true ADA facility, but we are just trying to make this accessible for our own use if we ever need to use a wheelchair in the future. Right now, our only shower is on the second floor, so we want to have something in place that will let us stay in our home as we age. We have taped the room layout and experimented with a borrowed wheelchair. We do not have a full turning radius but can maneuver the chair with just a few extra turns. For the shower, we would use a smaller rolling shower chair. We would roll directly in and back out. We will use a curved curtain when the time comes. For the vanity, we will have 15 inch drawers at each end leaving about 32 inches open space in the middle. The drain will be offset so that the lavatory pipes will be closer to the wall. As we have experimented with the borrowed wheelchair, we are able to turn into the knee space without bumping the drawer bases. For now when accessibility is not an issue, we want the door to swing in. This bathroom opens off the front entry hall, so we want a partially open door to block the view of the toilet from the entry hall and from the living room. When the time comes for a wheelchair (hopefully many years from now), we would reverse the door so that it swings into the hallway. Another option we considered would be to build in the framing for a future pocket door; but for right now, I want the door to swing in to limit the view into the toilet portion of the room. My purpose for posting here is to get more information from others about best placement of the drain and I need information about how to build in the right amount of slope. I have seen pictures of curbless showers with linear drains. While the floors appear to be pretty flat, I presume that there is some gentle sloping built in so that there is no standing water. I have read that the drain for a curbless shower should be 2" lower than the doorway for the room. I assume that this is to limit damage in the rest of the house if the drain were to back up. Do I understand this correctly? If so, is the 2" measured from the surface of the grate where it is flush with the tile or is it measured from some lower point within the trench? From whatever point it is measured, how do we obtain the required slope? Do we slope the whole floor from the vanity, from the doorway or from some other point closer to the shower? It seems as though you would have a longer run in which to achieve a more gental slope if you were to put the drain along the back wall (B). Likewise, it seems as though you would be working with shorter (steeper?) runs if you were sloping to a drain in the A location, and it seems as though you would be creating a "valley" there. Please let me know if I am not understanding something correctly. How much does a linear drain need to be recessed for a curbless shower? How much does the floor need to slope toward the drain? How long a run is needed to achieve the desired slope? Finally, what is the best location for the drain in our particular bathroom?...See MoreBest location for linear drain in shower?
Comments (8)Here's a video of Kerdi-Line linear drain, it's the one I'm getting for my 2'x2' tile shower. They recessed the shower pan area but no joist cutting or floor raising is required. This has been out over a decade and is tried and tested IF installed properly it will last the life of the home. Things to consider though. With the entry linear drain option you really should water proof all the walls out a few feet past the shower as well as the entire bathroom floor. With the linear drain on the far wall from the entrance on a LARGE shower area (mines 5' by 5') you need to recess the shower pan 2 inches ore more which means cutting the joists or raising the bathroom floor 1 inch or more. For a small shower it's perfect and is the best option in my opinion for an unbroken large tile look. Linear drains under the controls are awkward for the tile guy so he needs to be good. I've seen repairs made on linear curbless failures so the install needs to be done right (no air bubbles in thin sets and continuous water proofing installed correctly with no kinks or air pockets....See Morecurbless shower linear drain questions
Comments (35)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....See MoreLinear Drain vs. Traditional Drain for Shower
Comments (7)I just finished a remodel and I got drains from Designer Drains Designer Drains I had original planned on the kind of drain which has tile to match the tile of my shower floor but there was some miscommunication when the rough was installed so it would have been too high with the floor. I am really happy with the drain I selected - it is oil rubbed bronze to match the rest of the fixtures in my bathroom and a style that complements the Art Deco elements in my bathroom. I have a hair strainer installed. I opted for a drain without screws to make actually cleaning the hair strainer easier since I wouldn't have to screw and unscrew the drain for cleaning. I am pretty certain that sewer monsters won't come up through my shower drain :-). There are also after market hair strainers that work well. Prior to my remodel I had one which was just a square grid on top of the existing drain cover. That was fine since I had a plain chrome drain cover and the grid cover looked like the drain essentially. With my new remodel I wanted the kind of hair strainer that was below the drain cover...See More
Ginger P.
2 years agoThank you so much!
It was more about getting a curb less shower that a wheelchair can enter.
Is there a way to do that with center square drain?
The current proposal is to use the center and use linear anyways with slopes towards it. I wish it has been at entry to catch any water or far wall!
Thank you
PROJeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
2 years agolexma90
2 years agokudzu9
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoFor those who think you can't put a linear drain in the center, below is a picture of mine. We did a remodel 6 years ago and wanted a linear drain, but did not want to tear into the slab to relocate the existing center hole drain. It works in the center just fine, and you only have half the amount of slope as you do with a linear drain that is at the end. As long as your drain approximates the width of the shower, the tile install is easy. We have a linear drain that is about 3" shy of the walls on either end; you can see the detail for how this was handled for our 12" tiles.
Ginger P. thanked kudzu9Ginger P.
2 years agokudzu9
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoGinger-
It's easier to clean than a regular drain since you don't have to unscrew anything. About once a year I lift the whole thing out of the tray, wipe up hair and glop that has accumulated with a paper towel, and set the drain back in place. The one I have is heavy as it has tile laid in it, but if you get a cover that is all stainless steel it is easier to lift. All these drains are essentially the same: a stainless steel tray that is set into the floor, and a cover, either stainless or inlaid tile type, that fits in it. You get the cover out by slipping a wire hook into one end of the drain, and hooking it into a hidden hole...then you simply pull up and it lifts out. Most drains come with a metal or plastic implement to do this, but I made my own because I wanted something more heavy duty for my heavy cover. I just took a piece of coat hanger wire and put a 90 degree bend on one end and a loop on the other end to provide a grip. Took me about two minutes to make:
Ginger P.
2 years agokudzu9
2 years ago
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