@Snoopp wrote:
I like this bathroom. I read it’s tricky to get the slope right when building these types of showers. Nonetheless, I would like one if done right.
It's not tricky, it's just a bit more involved. You would typically use a mortar bed in a room like this for the tiles. You establish the drain height and then slope the floor a quarter-inch per foot to the drain. There's some math involved but it's not rocket science.
You need the subfloor to have been designed in a manner to accommodate the weight and height of the mortar. If the longest space from the edge of the floor to the drain is ten feet, then the mortar bed there has to be 2.5 inches thick. (A quarter-inch per foot.) If the subfloor is kept at the same height in the bathroom and adjoining area then there would be a step up to get into the bathroom, so you need to lower the subfloor so the mortar bed, tile, and whatever other layers you have are the same height as the finished floor adjacent.
That means either using a smaller structural member (not a good idea considering the weight involved but can be done by decreasing the spacing between each member,) or using a stronger structural member in the space but setting it lower. There's likely an impact on the space beneath such a bathroom as the larger/stronger structural members are likely to intrude downward into that space, so you need to keep that in consideration when designing/building such a bathroom.
Setting the mortar bed at the right slope is fairly routine once the math is all done. It's largely just the same as setting the slope on a garage floor to ensure water drains away from the garage. Some of these bathrooms now use a trendy long slot drain, called linear drains rather than the typical round drain we're used to seeing. These slot drains can look like an ungrouted section of tile and all but disappear if you're using a dark grout. Many come in stainless steel or other finishes also. (Try to avoid getting one clogged though. They're not so easy to clean out.)
It's all fairly easy to do and really isn't that different from a normal shower. Most people leave a puddle or puddles when they step out of a normal shower so water on the bathroom floor isn't a disaster. These types of floors are just made to drain the water away. With no need for shower doors or enclosures, there's a cost savings that likely offsets the higher cost of installing such a system.
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