Why would they regret a linear drain?

Good pros and cons article here. Summary of cons - Drains more slowly therefore get gunky much faster and have to clean more often; harder to install and more mistakes made on installation, costs more.

Don't hire a contractor who has not done a curbless shower with linear drains before. The set of the plumbing is different the sloping of the shower pan is different, many things are different than a conventional shower with a round drain.

How large are the showers? Door or no door? Where's the two bath plans and jmho..... but even for an elderly guest/not in a wheelchair? I'd put a curb on that guest shower.

Honestly, I am not sure where the idea originated, that having a low curb, will destroy the look of a shower. But we choose to complicate life for many reasons.

Unless the showers are beyond generous, unless void of door completely - it's something I'd avoid. No matter the drain. But that's me, not you.

You do realize curbless allows water to get out of the shower area ? I like the looks of curbless but unless you are building for aging in place I would do a linear drain but I would want a curb

You do realize curbless allows water to get out of the shower area ?

HOGWASH if done properly. I've had my curbless shower now for 4 years and no water gets out. Of course I do have a shower door and my shower floor is pitched so the water flows to the opposite side of the door.

@cpartist There is no correct way to wash a hog in a curbless shower. :P

The linear drain has a little perforated hair catching cup that fits in the drain. The only way you know it is full is the draining slows down since you can't easily see the cup. The solution is to clean it out every time you clean your shower... a hands and knees operation. You could leave the cup out and take your chances on a hair clog further down the line. I plan to try to drill out several of the perforations in the cup larger so it does not clog so quickly. My current renovation is all linear and I have not lived with this type of drain before.

For all those wondering (because I don't really want to name names of naysayers), my builder actually recommended curbless, he's done it a LOT and we're doing a modern farmhouse style house. Floors are all tile, so if a little water comes out, fine. We will have shower doors. Personally, I've found the curbless WITHOUT doors, if not wide enough, will have water come out. We live in a dry climate, so I'm less concerned than say in New England or the Southeast.

As for the linear drain, it sounds like popping the top and cleaning it every few days is the name of the game. It's better than popping the screws off our metal grate drain every few months to fish out the nasty GUNK that grows in the drain (I don't even want to know... we use castile soap and natural shampoo/body products) along with the hair.

@Kendrah awesome article, so much to think about. Thanks for sharing!!!

If you like the look of linear drains but are concerned about hair, consider a grate-style drain cover instead of tiled cover. The grate catches hair so you don't have to open it as often to clean out the perforated cup underneath. I've had mine for about 10 months and have lifted the grate several times to clean, but it didn't really need it.

The linear looks amazing. Go for it.

A properly installed linear drain does not drain more slowly. The total open area at the perimeter of a tile-in linear drain is actually larger than the open area of a typical, central drain. And the ones witha perforated cover have a lot more. As for cleaning, I've got linear drains in two showers, and the covers get pulled about once a year to deal with gunk and hair buildup. I'd rather pull the cover on one of these than deal with the previous central drains I had that seemed to gunk up faster, and had to be unscrewed to allow me to clean them out.

FWIW I got a beautiful drain from Designer Drain that is actually a lovely design element.

I ordered it without screws and got the hair catcher that fits below so it is very simple for me to take off the drain cover and clean the hair and other gook accumulated in the catcher. My cover stays put as well as the drains i have had with screws

Once a year? I don't think that is going to be everybody's experience. Every person and contractor/plumber I've talked to about linear drains has urged me to regularly clean out the drain because they clog quickly.

Paul F-

All I can say is: That's my experience. And mine doesn't have a "drain cup." Maybe if you got rid of yours you wouldn't have frequent, unnecessary maintenance. I don't want to capture hair and gunk; I want it to keep on going down the drain.

OK... got it now. You are risking a clog further down the plumbing by not catching hair in the drain. Nothing wrong with that, I may do it myself if this drain cup needs too much maintenance.

@cpartist There is no correct way to wash a hog in a curbless shower. :P

Oh shoot. Now you tell me! No wonder Mr Piggy constantly squeals.

If you like the look of linear drains but are concerned about hair, consider a grate-style drain cover instead of tiled cover.

That's what we have.

The water in my shower wasn't draining. Coincidentally my GC was there to discuss some stuff and so he checked out the shower. There was a load of stuff in the "hair catcher" which was causing the issue.

He told me that it was good that I had the hair catcher because otherwise all of that crap would have clogged up the pipes. It wouldn't necessary be as a "ball" but would eventually it would create plumbing issues that were less easily solved than throwing what the catcher had caught and putting it back in.

My backup occurred relatively qiuckly in the sense that the shower was draining quite well one day and the next it was no longer draining well and the water level in the shower was rising relatively rapidly.

Good to know that that may be an option if I have trouble.

I am mystified about comments that linear drains need frequent maintenance or cleaning. I clean the shower regularly but haven't haven't cleaned the drain under the grate in months. Even then it didn’t really need it - and I have long hair. This is a Schluter Kerdi-Line drain; maybe other brands are different.

I have a solid surface wheelchair accessible shower pan. The drain is in the front, to allow the shower floor and the room floor to meet up nicely. Since my shower stool and vanity stool are the same item, I swing that oversized thing into and out of the shower each time I shower. Between the oversized stool, oversized me, and the idea that if I ever do need a walker or wheelchair to shower, the glass would have to come down - we have a shower curtain, not glass doors. With this configuration, I am very glad that I insisted on a floor drain in the room. The room floor is actually a sloped Kerdi shower system.

Our ”trench” along the front edge of the shower pan is only about 1/2” deep. It came with a metal grate that I removed. There is a 4” square drain in the center, just behind the trench, covered in the solid surface material. Behind the trench, the shower pan manufacturer has fashioned a 1/2” high curb that is shaped like a triangle, to allow tires to climb it on the way in and out. They added this to direct the water to mostly go to the center 4” drain, making the shallow trench a back-up. The pan slopes to the front. It drains well, no standing water is left anywhere.

I flooded the bathroom twice. The first time, I simply took a chance and did not check the 4” drain to pull out the hair. I go through a lot more shedding now that I am older, and my hair is long. That time, the floor got wet, but the floor drain handled it fine. The second time, I had a bath rug between the shower and the drain and the water flowed out into the hall. The rug had blocked the flow of water to the drain, redirecting it towared the door, and the slight slope of the shower kit under the floor tile did not overcome the water’s flow. I had water across the hall in the linen closet. So, now the bath rug remains to the side of the shower and I step onto often wet tiles with my hand gripping the vertical grab bar at the edge of the shower, before reaching the dry rug. It is easy to hit the curtain with the hand-held sprayer and get the floor wet. The floor drain does its job and the wet floor is often dried by the radiant heater near the ceiling before I am done fussing with my hair.

I would not recommend a curbless shower with a front trench drain without an additional floor drain outside of the shower. Yes, this makes it more expensive, but it is the only safe way to make a shower that is small and wheelchair accessible. My shower pan is 37 3/4” deep and 63” wide. We live in a ranch style home over a basement, and lowering the subfloor by putting it between the floor joists and level with the top of the joists was all we needed to do to make the shower pan level with the room floor with the shower sloping kit and Kerdi under the room floor tile. We do have a bit of a rise up from the hallway to enter the bathroom from the hall, to get the height needed for the Kerdi kit to slope the floor for the floor drain. It has not tripped up anyone yet, and I try to remember to warn folks about it.

Ideally, a wheelchair shower would have three walls around the showering area, with the end open to wheel the chair in., with a drain opposite the door end. One side wall could be a low pony wall, to allow a caregiver to reach in and assist. There are also ”caregiver doors” that are short, bifold glass doors. You install a shower curtain above them. The doors keep the aide fairly dry, I would guess. It would keep the water in the shower, too.

Paul- . There should be relatively few hairs going down the drain with each shower, and no reason they would start a clog further down the drain. I've had these linear drains for years and never had a clog in my drain pipes. I think hair catching strainers create an unnecessary maintenance problem so I have no interest in using them.

People lose 50 to 100 hairs a day (seems like more with me). Without a strainer 100's hairs are going down the shower each week with even one person showering.... thousands with more people. Hair is the number one problem for clogs further down the pipes. As I said before, I may be willing to take that calculated risk like you do but I'm going to be realistic about it. If I get a clog, it is my own damn fault for not trying to catch the hair. Good to hear you haven't had a clog in years.