Walk-in showers built in place

What is a walk-in shower, exactly?

In Spain it is often called a “ducha de obra”, a shower built in place rather than bought as a tray. The floor of the shower is part of the bathroom floor, formed with a slight slope so water runs to a drain. There is no raised edge, or only a minimal one. A fixed glass panel or a wall section keeps most of the water in.

The drain can be a linear channel along one wall or a square point drain. A linear drain lets the floor slope in one direction only, which suits large tiles and seamless finishes; a point drain needs the floor to fall from four sides.

Can every bathroom have one?

No, and this is the honest answer we give at the visit. The drain and its trap need a certain depth below the finished floor, and the waste pipe needs to fall from there to the soil stack. In villas and ground-floor properties that is rarely a problem. In apartment blocks with a thin screed over a concrete slab, there may not be enough depth without raising the bathroom floor.

Raising the floor brings its own question: a step at the bathroom door. Sometimes that is acceptable, sometimes not. When a flush shower is not sensible, a very low tray gives a similar look. The article when a walk-in shower is not a good idea covers the cases where we advise against it.

How is the fall formed and why does it matter?

The shower floor has to slope consistently towards the drain over its whole surface, with no flat spots where water sits. The slope is formed in the screed under the waterproofing, not in the tile adhesive. Too little fall and water creeps out under the screen; too much and the floor feels uneven underfoot.

The rest of the bathroom floor usually stays level, with the change of plane at the screen line or along the edge of the shower. With a linear drain against the back wall, the floor tilts gently in one direction and the transition is almost invisible.

How is a walk-in shower waterproofed?

Because there is no tray, the waterproofing is everything. The membrane covers the shower floor completely, runs up the walls well above where water reaches, wraps into any niche and joins the drain body with a sealed flange or collar. Corners and wall-to-floor joints get reinforcing tape. Every pipe that comes through the wall is sealed with a purpose-made sleeve.

We keep this layer exposed until it has been checked, then the finish goes on. The detail is set out in the bathroom waterproofing guide.

Tiles or a seamless finish for the shower?

Both work. Tiles are more forgiving if the building moves slightly and can be repaired piece by piece. Large tiles mean fewer grout lines but need very precise falls; smaller tiles follow a sloped floor more easily. A seamless coating gives a continuous surface with no joints at all, but needs a stable base and a system intended for wet areas.

We discuss the choice on the seamless bathroom page and in seamless finish or tiles.

What else goes into a walk-in shower?

A niche recessed into the wall for toiletries. A thermostatic or concealed mixer at a comfortable height, with the valve body set before tiling. A ceiling or wall rain head and a hand shower if you want both. A fixed screen sized so that the spray stays inside. Lighting that is suitable for the zone around a shower, positioned by our authorised partner installers.

Each of these is decided before the walls are closed, because changing a valve position after tiling means breaking the finish.

Which mistakes do we see in walk-in showers built by others?

When we are called to fix a leaking walk-in shower, the cause is nearly always one of a handful of things. The membrane stops at the floor and does not run up the walls. The drain was set in the screed without a flange that joins the waterproofing. The fall was made in the tile adhesive rather than in the base, so it is uneven. The screen is too short for the spray, or was fixed through the membrane without sealing the holes.

Silicone is another frequent culprit: used as if it were the waterproofing, it hides a gap for a while and then fails. None of these faults is visible on handover day, which is why we keep each layer open until it has been checked and invite you to see the waterproofing before the finish goes on.

If an existing shower is leaking into the flat below, the repair is usually to take it back to the base and rebuild it properly rather than patch the joints.

How do I get a quote for a walk-in shower?

Send photos of the bathroom, the current shower or bath, the floor and, if possible, where the soil stack runs, plus the approximate floor area and the floor the property is on. We reply with a first assessment and tell you whether a flush floor looks feasible. A visit confirms it and leads to the itemised quote. If you are converting from a bath, see bath-to-shower conversions.