A wet room is the peak in modern, sleek bathroom design, offering a walk-in shower experience with no tray and often an open-plan feel. However, the success of this design hinges on one critical element: waterproofing. In the trade, this is known as “tanking,” and mastering it is the ultimate skill that separates an amateur installation from a long-lasting, watertight wet room. Without proper waterproofing, you risk catastrophic failure, leading to costly damage to the floor, ceiling, and structure of your home.
The concept of a wet room is simple: the entire space becomes the shower. This means every surface needs to be completely sealed against water ingress. This process is so vital that a skilled professional will spend as much time on the invisible waterproofing layer as they do on the visible tiling. Getting the system right ensures effective wet room leak prevention for the lifetime of the bathroom.
The materials: Choosing your tanking system
The most crucial decision in this process is choosing the correct tanking system. These kits generally fall into two categories, which you may see discussed as a wet room membrane vs paint-on systems:
- Paint-on liquid membranes: These are generally more cost-effective and are painted onto the floor and walls like a thick primer. They require time to cure between coats, which adds a day or two to the schedule, but they are relatively easy to apply and form a flexible seal.
- Sheet membranes: These are pre-formed, flexible plastic or rubber sheets that are adhered to the surface. They are generally considered more robust and allow a professional to tile immediately, as there is no curing time required. They provide a guaranteed thickness of waterproofing across the whole area.
For maximum protection, a bathroom fitter will often recommend a high-quality sheet membrane paired with appropriate sealing tapes for corners and pipe penetrations to create a seamless, impenetrable barrier.
Understanding the wet room waterproofing cost
Understanding these costs requires looking at more than just the materials. This is specialist work, and the price will be determined by several factors: the size of the room, the quality of the membrane chosen, and the time required for meticulous preparation.
Because the installation of the waterproofing layer is the most important step in the entire process, it is not a place to try and save money. Cutting corners here will almost certainly lead to higher costs down the line. A premium membrane kit, while more expensive upfront, provides a superior and more reliable barrier. Your fitter should always include a detailed breakdown of the tanking materials in their quote.
How to waterproof a wet room: A professional process
While the exact steps vary by product, a professional follows a clear process to ensure a lasting result. The key to learning how to waterproof a wet room is acknowledging that the weak points are always the joints and corners:
- Subfloor preparation: The subfloor must be perfectly stable, strengthened, and sloped towards the drain.
- Sealing joints: Special sealant and reinforcement tapes are applied to all corners, pipe penetrations, and where the wall meets the floor—this is where water will always find a path.
- Membrane application: The chosen tanking material is applied meticulously across the entire floor and up the walls to the required height (the “red zone”).
- Testing: An experienced fitter may conduct a water test, letting water pool on the membrane for 24 hours to ensure it is 100% leak-proof before tiling commences.
The importance of a trusted professional
While a wet room is the ultimate in stylish bathrooms, it is not a job for the novice DIYer. The structural alterations, the sloping of the floor, and the complexity of the tanking system demand specialist expertise. If the waterproofing fails, the consequences are severe, often involving stripping the entire room back to the joists, repairing water damage, and starting again.
By hiring a trusted bathroom fitter through Rated People, you are gaining a certified expert who understands the manufacturer’s installation requirements, guarantees their work, and ensures your leak prevention is robust enough to last for decades. This certainty offers invaluable peace of mind.
With Rated People, you have the power to get it done. Find a trusted, local tradesperson today.
