Wet room or walk-in shower: which is right for your home?

Wet rooms and walk-in showers are two of the most requested features in the bathrooms we build across South West London and Surrey. They look similar in photographs, but they are built very differently, and the right choice depends on your floor, your layout and how the room will be used.

What is the difference?

A walk-in shower has a low-profile tray, usually with a fixed glass screen and no door. The tray does the waterproofing work in the shower area, and the rest of the bathroom floor is built and tiled as normal.

A wet room has no tray at all. The whole floor, or a large part of it, is tanked with a waterproof membrane and laid to a gentle fall towards a drain. The floor is tiled continuously, so there is no step and no visible tray edge.

The floor makes the decision

In many Victorian and Edwardian houses in Wimbledon, Putney, Fulham and Richmond, the bathroom floor is built on timber joists. A wet room is still possible, but the floor needs to be strengthened and built up so it can take a fall to the drain without flexing. A flexing floor is the most common reason tiles crack and grout fails in a wet room. On a solid concrete floor, creating the fall is usually simpler.

Waterproofing is everything

• In a wet room, every wall and floor surface that can get wet should be tanked, with reinforced tape at every joint and corner before tiling.

• The drain must be positioned and set at the right height before the screed or boards go down, so water runs to it rather than pooling.

• In a walk-in shower, the tray must be fully supported and sealed, and the walls inside the shower area should still be tanked rather than relying on grout alone.

Ventilation and electrics

Both options create a lot of steam in an open space. Building Regulations guidance (Approved Document F) sets a minimum extract rate for bathrooms, and in practice a quiet, properly sized fan, ideally on a humidity sensor or overrun timer, makes a big difference to how the room performs. Bathrooms are also special locations for electrical work, so lighting, underfloor heating and shaver sockets need to be planned in the correct zones and certified.

Which is right for you?

• Choose a wet room if you want a seamless, step-free floor, if you are planning for accessibility, or if the room is small and you want it to feel as large as possible.

• Choose a walk-in shower if you have a timber floor you would rather not rebuild, a tighter budget, or a separate shower area within a larger bathroom.

Thinking about a wet room or walk-in shower?

We build both across South West London, West London and Surrey, including Chelsea, South Kensington, Wimbledon Village, Richmond, Esher and Cobham. You can see examples on our projects page, or send us your plans and we will talk you through the options.