Our naiveté knows no bounds!

One of the very few things that hasn’t changed since we started was the idea of having a walk-in shower in the downstairs bathroom, with the idea being both to maximise the use of space in a small room, and have something easy to use and hopefully clean. And everyone we spoke to said it was a good idea. And it is.  You know the sort of thing, now common in hotels. This one even seems to have our tiles!

Just nobody told us how to do it. And, as usual, at the last minute, we’ve started. And this is one of the areas where the plumbers are happy to leave it to the tickets tilers. And vice versa.

I had thought we’d cracked it when Mr Sauer arrived with the drain and we did discuss the layout and the need for a gradient of at least 2% for the water to be able to flow and he provided this handy sketch.

Once I’d looked closely at the sketch and remembered what was discussed, I realised what the real problem is: there has to be a slope in two directions; lengthways and between the bathroom wall and the shower wall. Unfortunately, you can’t put a single tile over two slopes. The solution, aside from using a dedicated base, is to use trapezoids, and you can sort of see this in the sketch.

But, there’s a problem with this solution: there is only a slope in the area around the drain.

This is because, if you want a slope lengthways, you also need one sideways, otherwise you won’t be able to fit the shower wall snuggly.

I think we can, and in fact may have to live with this, and use a big squidgee to sweep water to the drain after use. The alternative would essentially require us to extend the trapezoids for the whole length of the slope. Apart from but looking very good, this would also be extremely, if not impossible to lay the concrete for.

I’ve tried to plan how the tiles should be laid, and at least we do have some tiles, another last minute decision. We’ve gone with 90 x 60 cm tiles which are supposed to make small rooms look larger, and I’ve laid them lengthways for the same reason.

Yes, I know, yet another reason why you shouldn’t ask me to help with your DIY. Or your computer for that matter!

Let’s hope for the best. If all else fails we can revisit this in a year or so and I’ll be on cleaning duty until then!