Walk-in shower in Batumi: fall, floor drain and glass

Floor drain, tiles and glass are decided together

A walk-in shower without a tray in Batumi, level with the rest of the bathroom floor, rests on three decisions, and they can't be taken one at a time. The floor drain sets the direction of the fall, the fall sets how the tiles are cut, and the glass goes where the fall ends. So at the site measurement we choose everything at once and draw two finished floor level marks on the wall: one at the grate and one at the far edge of the shower.

For a 90×120 cm shower with a linear drain along the short wall and a fall of 1.5–2%, the far edge comes out 18–24 mm higher than the grate. We build up this difference only in the shower area, and the rest of the bathroom floor stays level. How to choose between a bath, a shower tray and a walk-in shower without a tray is covered on the page about complete bathroom renovation.

Which floor drain we fit and why

In the drain's data sheet we look at the body height, the outlet diameter and the flow capacity, and we check the capacity against the shower head's flow rate. The units differ: a shower head is rated in litres per minute, a drain in litres per second. A rain shower head at 20 l/min gives 0.33 l/s, and we choose a drain for it with a margin, otherwise the water rises above the grate and spreads towards the glass.

We use a drain body with a flange for waterproofing and, where there is a choice, with secondary drainage holes: through them, water that has seeped through the joints into the adhesive finds its way into the drain. We set the grate 1–2 mm below the tiles, otherwise a ring of water stays around the outlet.

The fall: screed to guide rails or a ready-made base

The usual method is a sand and cement screed laid to guide rails with a fall towards the drain, with a perimeter strip around the edges. For the first week we let the screed cure, then dry it, and we start the waterproofing when the moisture meter and the compound's technical data sheet allow it, not the calendar.

The second method is a tile-ready shower tray: a ready-made board of extruded polystyrene with a factory-formed fall and a floor drain included. It is bonded on a full bed of adhesive to a level base, the joints are taped over, and there is no week of waiting for screed to dry. The downside is that the factory sets the dimensions, and a tray like this can't be adapted to a shower of non-standard shape.

Waterproofing in the shower area

In a shower the floor gets wet every day, so here we apply a flexible cementitious coating instead of a polymer membrane, and we take it across the whole bathroom floor, not just the sloped area. We bed the drain flange in between the first and second coats. This is where the drain body and the layer become one piece, and when a walk-in shower without a tray leaks, the leak is most often at this joint.

Holes for the glass fixings and shelves go right through the layer, so we fill each one with sanitary silicone before the anchor goes in. In the shower area we replace the developer's gypsum plaster with cement plaster; more on this on the page about white frame renovation. Tapes, collars and the water test of the layer are covered in the article on bathroom and balcony waterproofing.

Tiles on a fall

With a linear drain the fall runs in a single plane, and the boundary between the shower and the rest of the floor comes out straight: we line it up with a joint and put the glass just behind it. With a point drain there are four planes, the tiles are cut along diagonals towards the outlet, and the larger the format, the more these cuts show. Heavy slabs on a fall are covered on the page about large-format porcelain tiles.

We cut the insert for a tile-in drain grate from the same tile, so the pattern and joints carry on across it. Around the outlet we spread adhesive on both the base and the back of the tile: a void under a tile on a wet floor turns into a crack over time.

Glass: where it goes and what holds it

We make the screen from 8–10 mm toughened glass. A ready-made walk-in panel 70–100 cm wide works if the line of the glass runs along a level part of the floor. If the glass crosses the fall, it is made to measure with an angled bottom edge, or set in a profile that takes up the difference. It is measured only once the tiles are down.

In concrete and aerated concrete block we fix the profile and the support bar with anchors. In a plasterboard partition we build in a timber batten or a metal backing plate before tiling, otherwise the glass gradually works loose. If limescale shows up on the glass within a couple of days, it is worth looking at water treatment in the apartment.

Three water tests and sign-off

The first test comes before the screed: we pour buckets of water into the drain body and check its joint with the waste pipe and the riser. The second is on the waterproofing, with water standing on the floor for 24 hours. The third comes after the tiles and glass: the shower head runs at full pressure for 10 minutes.

At sign-off the water doesn't rise above the grate or reach the glass, and once the shower is off, only drops are left on the floor. Water getting past the glass means a screen standing on a fall without a seal. Joints that darken around the drain a few weeks later often mean the flange wasn't bedded into the waterproofing. We film the third test for the handover file.

How much a walk-in shower without a tray costs in Batumi

Labour for the shower area costs from 2,100 to 3,000 ₾: the fall, waterproofing, fitting the floor drain and tiling. That is the price of the work. You buy the tiles, drain and glass yourself, or leave the purchasing to us as a separate line in the estimate.

A ready-made 70–100 cm walk-in glass panel costs 600–780 ₾, plus 290–360 ₾ for installation, and made-to-measure 8–10 mm glass comes to 1,860–2,640 ₾. A tile-ready shower tray with a floor drain instead of screed costs 695–970 ₾ for labour. Moving the outlet to the far wall, a linear tile-in drain and mosaic push the price up; a drain next to the riser and ready-made glass bring it down. The final cost is set after the site measurement and once the estimate is agreed, when we can see how much height the floor has and how far away the riser is.