Contructing a wet room

[JMPC]

Hi all

Does anyone here have any experience of constructing a wet room?

I am in the process of planning another camper trailer build, having completed one last year, and I am now looking to make improvements on model 2.

I have a space of 90cm x80cm for the wet room. The room will have a shower, wash basin, & loo.

I am not that concerned with a fancy interior but I do wish to make sure that the room is completely waterproof.

I don´t really like the designs where you have to rely parts joining together using angle and mastic, meaning walls are separate pieces and then the shower tray and then plastic angle glues into the corners to prevent leaks etc. These designes look ok in principal, but in an off-road caravan where the whole thing gets bumped around a lot and where there is always an element of the frame twisting, I imagine it will be only a question of time before gaps start to appear in the construction that allow water through.

Ideally, I am looking for something completely sealed. At the moment I am leaning towards the idea of using an 'Industrial Bulk Container, or 'IBC' as they are commonly referred to. IBCs are those large, white, square, heavy duty plastic containers that you see on pallets. Very often they are used for carrying water. They often have a metal frame around them. I am contemplating buying on of these and then cutting a door in it, which would then be the only 'moving part that required a seal around its frame. Only problem here is that they all seam to be 100cm x 1200cm x 100cm, so a little too big for what I want.

Has anyone used fibreglass as a way of making their own custom wet room?

Any help, ideas will be much appreciated as I am finding this by far the most difficult part of the build so far.

All the best

JMPC

 

[UK4X4]

"Has anyone used fibreglass as a way of making their own custom wet room?"

not a wet room but I built a shower and a bath !

using marine plywood, waterproof glued and screwed framework, I only used fiberglass tape on the corners, the rest was just resin alone.

Its done about 7 years now with zero issues.

Resin over plywood is a very tough solution and can be as pretty as you have time to sand and polish.

Mine was clear for years but we have hard water and over time the calsium was a pain to clean so I tiled over it.

For a camper bath room you could use resin and then a white gel coat finish,
resin soaks into the wood for the first coat then for each resin layer after that it just needs a sand between coats.

The gel coat gets sanded and then you polish to the standard you require.

 

[southpier]

would a molded fiberglass or acrylic shower stall be a place to start?

the walls & floor could be drilled as needed for installation of fittings, the labor & mess of fabricating would be somewhat elimenated, and the factory molded radiussed corners would minimize leaking & maximize clean up effort. they can be had with or without a ceiling.

a "remodeller" version is available in 2 or 3 large sections, but that might mitigate some of the above percieved advantages

 

[dzzz]

I'm curious why epoxy on plywood is superior to laminating fiberglass to plywood.

 

[Ironduff]

My '06 Tiger CX (19' 4x4 class C RV on a Chevy pickup) has a wet bathroom. www.tigermotorhomes.com. AIUI, they now use a one-piece f'glass molding as a liner in the B'rm. They _might_ sell you the molding without the Tiger wapped around it, but I guess the shipping cost would kill that idea. Plus it's probably a little larger than your spot.

Based on my experience, my one suggestion is to provide a powered vent, preferrably reversible. Also, if you have a kitchen sink, seriously examine whether you need a bathroom sink. Mine serves mostly as a holder for toiletries.... but I'm a bachelor.

Jim H.

 

[JMPC]

Thanks all and thanks to UK 4x4 & Basinranger

I really had no idea where to start. So just to make sure I understand everything correctly.

1) Marine grade plywood used to build the wet room.

2) I then apply first coat of epoxy resin, making sure to apply well in areas where there is a join, notably where the sides of the walls meet vertically and where the bottom of the walls meet the top of the shower tray. (shower tray to make up whole of floor area).

3) Sand first coat of epoxy resin then apply another, and keep repeating. How many times is likely to be enough? 3-4? 6-7?

4) When enough epoxy is down apply a gel coat to give a nice, smooth finish? Is that correct, is that what you mean by gel coat?

Once finished, is there much flexibility in the epoxy resin an gel coat? If the wet room moves a little, I am talking millimetres, but it will move a little, do you think there will be the flexibility to absorb this movement without cracking?

All the best
Jon

"I don't mind putting in the work as long as it works"

 

[JMPC]

Thanks again Peter & great links. Very helpfull. I will be following this advice in the next few weeks-

And then just one finnal point is that I need to be using fibreglass tape in the corners and on the joins, which I 'matt' down with the epoxy as well.

I'll post some step by step photos.

all the best
JMPC