Domestic Project Types
Screed for Bathroom and Wet-Room Floors
Bathroom and wet-room floors need falls to a drain built into the screed itself, plus careful sequencing with waterproofing, which sets them apart from a standard flat room pour.
Planning a wet room or bathroom floor?
Let us know the drain position and we'll advise on how the falls and screed build-up should work.
Or call our landline on 01392 237700
Unlike most rooms, a wet room floor has to fall consistently towards a drain rather than sit flat, which means the screed is formed rather than simply poured level — this needs to be planned before the drain and waste pipework are fixed.
Standard bathrooms with a shower tray rather than a wet floor are more straightforward, but still benefit from a level, stable base before tanking and tiling begin.
Bathroom refits usually involve a plumber repositioning waste pipes and supplies, an electrician wiring an extractor fan or heated towel rail circuit, and a tiler or waterproofing specialist applying tanking membrane once the screed has cured. Getting the running order right between these trades avoids having to break back into a finished floor to correct a drain fall.
Bathroom & Wet-Room Floors — the points that decide it
- Wet room floors are formed with falls to a central or edge drain, typically using a screed mix suited to being tamped or hand-finished to a slope rather than poured self-level
- Drain height and pipe fall are agreed with the plumber before screeding so the finished floor and waste both work together
- A suitable waterproofing membrane is applied by others over the screed before tiling, and the sequencing between trades is agreed in advance
- Standard bathrooms with a shower tray are typically self-levelled flat like any other room, simplifying the build-up
- Underfloor heating in bathrooms is common even where it isn't fitted elsewhere in the house, run as its own small zone
- Movement and threshold details at the bathroom door are considered, particularly where a level-access wet room adjoins a hallway
- Building regulations around ventilation and waterproofing of wet rooms are usually checked by the waterproofing installer once the screed has cured
- Costs on a wet room floor are driven mainly by the falls-forming labour and drain coordination rather than the screed material itself
Forming falls to a drain
Because a self-levelling flowing screed naturally finds a flat plane, true wet-floor falls are formed using a semi-dry or hand-applied screed method rather than a flowing pump pour, tamped and floated to the required slope towards the drain.
Coordinating with waterproofing and tiling
The screed has to be fully cured before tanking membranes and adhesives are applied, so timing is agreed with the tiler or waterproofing contractor as part of the overall bathroom programme.
Sequencing the bathroom refit trades
A typical wet room refit has the plumber setting the drain and waste run first, since the fall is built around this fixed point. We then form the screed to that fall, followed by the waterproofing specialist's tanking membrane once curing is complete, and finally the tiler.
Because each of these stages depends on the one before, a delay to the plumbing first fix has a knock-on effect through the whole bathroom programme, so we ask for confirmation that drain positions are finalised before booking the screed visit.
Getting the threshold right
Level-access wet rooms are popular for accessibility, but achieving a flush threshold into an adjoining hallway or bedroom needs the floor build-up either side of the door to be worked out together, not as two separate rooms. We take levels across the threshold before forming falls so the transition works without an upstand.
Bathroom & Wet-Room Floors — your questions
Planning a wet room or bathroom floor?
Let us know the drain position and we'll advise on how the falls and screed build-up should work.
Or call our landline on 01392 237700
In short
Bathroom and wet-room floors need falls to a drain built into the screed itself, plus careful sequencing with waterproofing, which sets them apart from a standard flat room pour.
Planning a wet room or bathroom floor?
Let us know the drain position and we'll advise on how the falls and screed build-up should work.