curbless shower - anyone have their whole bathrm floor sloped?

11 years ago

I had thought when I asked for a curbless shower and have floating vanity and toilet, that whole bathroom floor would be sloped by 2 inches from shower drain to threshold at door of room.

My contractor thought that was overkill. I am getting a linear drain installed on the edge of a 5 ft sq curbless shower floor where slope will be 1 3/8 inches within the shower. Floor is level starting at threshold of shower door to threshold of room door.

I searched quite a bit on the web and think he may be right. In detailed installation info on curbless showers, I don't read anything about the 2 inch spec. Regarding showers with a curb, I have found lots of places mentioning the 2 inch spec.

My contractor says because this is curbless AND ADA, the 2 inch slope rule doesn't apply. I question that but I mainly want to know if anyone has a 13 ft long (more or less) bathroom with a 2 inch slope who thinks that slope for the room would feel noticeable to an uncomfortable degree??

Comments (3)

elphaba_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
I apologize for posting this. I think I finally understand about the 1/4 inch per foot slope required in the shower floor for a curbless shower, not two inches from drain to shower door.

I didn't read this anywhere else on the web but I just checked an earlier post I made here on this same subject a month or two ago and realize I didn't fully understand what Mongo and others were explaining to me. Re-reading it now, I finally do.

So apologize and thanks to everyone for this forum (and the other forums too.) Sorry if I've taken a while to understand the wisdom.
MongoCT
11 years ago
Didn't see your post until now. Although you now get it, let me hit on the "ADA" thing just a bit.

Once you bring "ADA" into it, it's a whole new ball of worms. Or you're opening a can of wax. Something like that.

A true ADA shower doesn't need to comply with the typical residential code requirements for a residential shower. I'd recommend you get a copy of the ADA guidelines from your local building department, because they can vary so much, even from one town to another.

In one town hear here, a true ADA shower has to be curbless, or what is referred to as a "flush entry". The floor slope can be from 1/8" per foot to 3/16th" per foot. There is no 2" depth-of-water over the drain restriction. The shower has to be 60" square. No larger. No smaller.

The next town over you can either have a flush entry or you can have a small (1/2" vertical over 1" horizontal) ramp up or down at the shower entry. No more, no less. Once past that little ramp and in the shower, the floor slope is restricted to 1/8" per foot. Again, no 2" depth-of-water restriction. Minimum size is 30" by 60", there is no limit on increasing the shower.

ADA showers also have grab bar restrictions, and restrictions on where the shower controls can be placed.

Prefab pans can get you in trouble. About 3 or 4 years ago some elder-housing was built near here, a 24-unit complex. All showers were required to be ADA-compliant. The architect spec'd out, and the builder installed, pre-fab ADA shower pans. Which were actually NOT compliant, because they all had 1/2" curbs molded into the floor. State funds were involved in the financing. Since the pans were not compliant (true ADA had to be a flush floor entry in that town) they all had to be ripped out or the project would lose state funding, be non-certified as elder-housing, and lose tax breaks too.

So there are differences between having a true ADA-compliant shower and simply having a curbless shower in your residence.

This post was edited by mongoct on Mon, Dec 3, 12 at 12:07
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elphaba_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Wow! Now I understand why it was so difficult to get this info on the web - it varies depending...

Our shower is 5X5 mainly for reasons relating to adjoining room - but I did consider the standard radius for a wheel chair turn -- bet my bench that I'm having them install will not be ADA, got the small 15X18 Invisia (thanks to a recommendation from GW) but for anyone reading this who wants a bench, this one has great weight capacity - up to 500 lbs!- most of those pretty benches in home improvement catalogs only go to 250 so read the fine print if this is an important spec for you.
I have compromised on the grab bars. Our only grab bar that is ADA complient is horizontal and adjacent to the bench for using to lift up with. Other grab bars in the shower (one on each of remaining 3 walls) are Kohler "grab bars" and don't mention ADA in their specs but they were so much prettier that I couldn't resist.

Getting a Moen digital shower which is perfect for ADA. The control will be right next to the bench!

Looks like the slope in our shower will be too great for ADA, LOL. At 1/2 inch per foot instead of 1/8 inch. But we aren't looking for official certification. I just want to put "mostly ADA curbless shower" if and when we ever sell.

Thanks for all the ADA info, Mongo. This info isn't as prevalent as you would think for us homeowners who aren't in the pits of the construction business.

And I now think my contractor is the best ever. He just wasn't that great at communicating to me - guess he wanted to spend his time doing the job, LOL.