curbless shower/almost

[luellendahl]

I am building a modest second bathroom (5x10) that will feature a walkin or curbless shower. 3'x5'. Room will be accessed by 2 converging pocket doors. My husband has Parkinsons disease. Although he can now walk...the probability of wheelchair use is somewhere around the corner. I am torn between a very short curb which I guess I could retro fit with some kind of angled inset later and a curbless shower. Curbless would make for a wetter more slippery floor now. The floor will be some kind of small matte mosaic. There will be a half wall (54" high) halfway down the 5' length.My husband pulls on things for support and I want to avoid glass doors and curtains. Could I create a curbless shower and simply place and seal a standard marble threshold to contain the water better? I know the shower floor area will be approx. 3/4 " lower than the rest of the floor. I like the look of a curb and the ability to keep the floor a bit dryer but I want to hedge my bets.

[muskymike]

Hi there welcome. Do you have a first name we can go by? You could use the marble but then you have something to try to get a wheel chair over. If you use the kerdi system by Schluter you can do it with out the curb. Or some other waterproof membrane.

[luellendahl]

Linda. Thanks for the quick response. This is actually amazing to me. I've actually never even used a forum before. I will reference that system when I talk to the next plumber, nice not to sound like a dummy! I have a contractor who did a kitchen remodel. and haven't talked to his plumber yet. I spoke to one local plumber who does a lot of work in our area. He wanted a fortune (so we won't be using him) but he persuaded me that a very short curb ( my original thought)with a pan was a bad idea and said that he would "vinyl" the whole floor area. Schluter looks better.Eugene's skills will be varied for a long time...so if I can convert to smooth at whatever point I need that will be perfect.

[Davy]

Hi Linda, a 3 x 5 shower is kinda small to be curbless and without a curtain. There will be alot of water out on the bath floor.

Is this on slab or wood sub-floor?

[luellendahl]

I have a double window that leaves 40" of wall space to the left and I thought that lining everything up would be visually pleasing. But I'm hoping that a half wall...starting at the shower fixture end...shoulder height...30 " long...could contain a lot of the splashing. On the inside its a great place for another grab bar and toiletry niche. I want to leave 30" free for one of those small shower wheelchairs...they are actually less than 24" wide. I want the space to feel open. I know that my space is a small for the concept, but I don't expect a sahara desert dry floor either. Think there's a minimum width that I should consider?

[luellendahl]

Forgot about wood or slab....right now it's a hardwood floor that they will cut into, so I guess wood is the answer. And I DO want to create a curb with
a semi-permanent marble threshold that I could remove when needed.

[John Bridge]

Hi Linda, Welcome aboard.

I've done a couple curbless showers with the Schluter Kerdi system. Both of them are a about 48 in. deep, though. I incorporate a sort of speed hump at the entrance that consumes about a foot.

As has been stated, though, with a wood subfloor it's possible to build a shower with no curb and no hump. It entails removing the subfloor and cutting down the joists to make room for the shower floor mortar.

I've also recently done a shower with a partial wall at the front. I built it from concrete blocks to gain stability. A frame wall would have to be anchored to the ceiling at the end.

[luellendahl]

Well that's impressive.
If I didn't have to eventually accomodate a wheelchair I would have handed your very thorough shower bench instructions to my general contractor. I AM getting several niches though and can hand him those pictures!
My half wall will be in front of the pocket of the pocket door. I can attach support to the door header...ceiling and floor...hope that's enough.
My space has other restrictions...it's on the second floor with an attic slope ceiling....22" flat then a roof angle. Even if I had wanted one of those handsome all glass showers it would have required a kinda weird angled door.
Maybe I should forget the whole curbless thing. Started looking up how to retrofit an existing shower for accessibility. There is something called a threshold ramp. Some are made of rubber , trimmable widths, and come in sizes up to 3" high. If I got two (manufacturer suggestion) I'd be able to handle a wheeled shower chair with a more standard shower. Is 3" sufficent height for the outside of a shower threshold? Maybe it could be even shorter? I'm also thinking that I could put a glass splash guard on top of the half wall to make it a sorta whole wall. Towel bar outside, grab bar inside