wrote:

I am wondering how these bathrooms are done without a shower curb:

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/project_...om/wetroom.jpg
http://www.impey-showers.com/prod_img/hd6_s_1.jpg

There is still a shower pan below, or no? Or you have to consider the
entire bathroom a giant shower pan and slope everything to the shower
drain?

I have a bathroom I am remodeling where the space between the shower
edge and the closet flange is two inches less than the minimum
clearance (16") and I don't want a 4"-6" thick curb to hold up the
shower door, I was thinking this may be the solution, but may be there
are other creative ways.

Thanks,

MC

Just the shower area has a shower pan, and this situation usually
requires a ground floor on a slab with a depressed area in the slab for
the pan. It can be done as a retrofit if you want to chip out the
concrete for the pan space.

In the past, I have done several of these for ADA compliant shower
accessability. Since then, the look has become fashionable, so I have
done several for non-ADA situations and they do look quite good.

The idea is that the shower area will have a pan and the shower floor
will be sloped to the drain. The rest of the floor might get wet, but
it can be wiped up or squeegeed into the shower area.

One thing that you need to know about these types of showers is that the
drain must be a 2" drain with two inch DWV. (Showers require this
anyway, according to code, but in a retrofit, I don't know what you are
converting from.) You don't want water backing up in the shower pan as
you have very little capacity and the lack of curb makes a stopped up
drain much more dangerous.

Perhaps for that reason, I have only seen these on a ground floor. I
have only seen them in houses on a slab, but they can be installed on
other types of foundations as well (I just haven't personally done any).

Here is an example of a fiberglass pan for this situation for
illustration purposes:

http://www.barrierfree.org/fiberglass_shower_pans.htm

You can make this pan using any standard shower pan method. Search for
barrier free or ADA compliant pans.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX