A wet room or wet shower area is becoming more and more popular in the UK. A wet room can be a good option if you are limited on space - it avoids the need for separate shower trays or screens as you get a completely waterproof bathroom.

What is a wet room?

Essentially a wet room is a room that has fully waterproofed surfaces and a floor that slopes gently to a central drain. It's a relatively new concept in terms of waterproof bathroom design and it returns bathing to its most elemental. A wet room is not so much fitted, as unfitted, with no need for screens or cubicles.

Wet room waterproofing or "tanking" fully seals the wet room area prior to tiling, containing any water that seeps between tiles and allowing it to drain down towards the floor drain. A wet room is normally thought of as a shower area, but many bathroom, kitchen or toilet areas can also be treated in the same way.

Apart from the clearances required for toilet and sink, the rest of the floor area is pretty much clear so a wet room layout makes particular sense if space is limited.

Building a wet room

This can be time consuming & difficult with many complex issues to consider. The tiled look across the whole floor is the look most people aspire to, where the shower-tray is level to the floor but some will downgrade to a low level tray with a lip.

You will need to cover floors and walls in tile and run water in a central draining system. Depending on the structure and composition of the underlying walls, additional waterproofing may need to be installed to avoid any risk of water penetration. If you wish to use the whole bathroom, it has to be lined with a waterproof membrane for a waterproof bathroom which can cost more than £2,000.

Definitely take professional advice as there are many points to consider in relation to water proofing, from the capacity of the drainage system to the rate of water flow and recovery.

Riverbed wetrooms, are specialist distributor based in Somerset, and offer the biggest range of wet room products on the market. They are helping us to explain how a wet room works...

All wet room systems have broadly similar components:

• Shower base - flat base, similar to a shower tray with a built-in gradient to guide the used water to an outlet. Made from a variety of materials & in a range of sizes.

• Waterproof tanking system - used to seal the waterproof bathroom, so water doesn't leak causing damage to the building. Usually sold separately from the shower base, as part of an integrated system, although some cheaper systems partially rely on 3rd party materials. Competing systems offer huge differences in simplicity, installation time, tools, skills and knowledge required.

• The Waste & Trap - joins the shower base, & outlet to the drains. Has a defined specification to meet regulations, the waste & trap should stop smells & should be a simple & secure method of being joined to pipes. Some have complex seals to assemble, and thus can be awkward for DIY installers.

You could opt for a semi-wet room or a walk-in shower as opposed to a fully waterproof bathroom. This will be spacious but with fewer technical considerations. A semi-wet room still involves extensive waterproofing of part of the room, while glass panels are used to screen off the rest of the room and contain the spray. Walk-in shower enclosures consist of a tray and side/front panels, but are without a fully closing door - the walk-in area serves as a drying-off space. The latest have frameless glass panels and recessed trays to create a wet-room look.

Check out Riverbed Wetrooms for further advice on your wet room and having a waterproof bathroom.