A wet room can make a cramped bathroom feel twice the size, but in a Clapham flat with timber floors and a neighbour underneath, it is not always the right call. Here is an honest look at how the two options compare on space, cost, leak risk and resale, so you can decide before anyone lifts a floorboard.
A wet room is a fully waterproofed (tanked) room where the shower floor is level with the rest of the floor and water drains through a gully set into it. A conventional bathroom keeps the water inside a bath, or inside a shower tray and enclosure.
Most small flats in Clapham are conversions of Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the Common, Abbeville Road and Old Town, or purpose built mansion blocks. Bathrooms are often about 1.5m by 2m, sometimes squeezed into a former box room, and nearly always sit on timber joists with a neighbour's ceiling directly below. That last point matters more than the look.
Removing the bath and tray frees up floor area and makes a narrow room feel much bigger. A single fixed glass screen is usually enough to keep the toilet and towels dry.
On a timber floor, a wet room needs a gradient towards the drain, typically between 1 in 40 and 1 in 80. That means a preformed floor former set between or on top of the joists, rigid plywood or tile backer board, and a tanking membrane lapped up the walls. Joists cannot simply be notched to make room for the waste pipe, so the route to the soil stack often decides whether a wet room is feasible at all. If the fall cannot be achieved, the floor has to be raised, which creates a step at the door.
Timber buildings move. If the tanking is poorly detailed, a small failure sends water straight into the flat below, and we see the results regularly in insurance reinstatement work across SW4 and Balham. A good quality low profile tray, around 25mm to 40mm high, gives most of the open feel with far less risk.
Resale counts too. In a one bedroom flat, most buyers and tenants are happy with a shower. In a two bedroom flat that might suit a young family, removing the only bath can narrow your market.
Every flat is different, but as a guide for a small room in this part of South London, a full conventional bathroom refit commonly falls between £6,000 and £10,000 including fittings, tiling and labour. A properly built wet room is usually £8,000 to £14,000. The difference comes from floor strengthening, the former, tanking and the extra tiling. Costs rise with:
Most Clapham flats are leasehold. Many leases require the freeholder's written consent, sometimes a formal licence to alter, before you change the floor structure or drainage. Some also restrict hard floor finishes above another flat. Check this first, because the block's buildings insurer may question a leak claim if work was done without consent.
Planning permission is rarely needed for internal work, although a listed building will need consent. New drainage connections and bathroom electrics fall under Building Regulations, so use a registered electrician and speak to Lambeth or Wandsworth building control, depending on which side of the borough boundary you sit, if you are unsure.
Yes, in most cases, provided the joists are sound, the floor is stiffened and there is a workable route for the waste pipe to reach the soil stack. A survey with a few floorboards lifted will confirm whether the fall can be achieved without raising the floor.
Allow roughly one to two weeks for a standard refit in a small flat and two to three weeks for a wet room. The extra time is mostly floor preparation and letting the tanking cure before tiling.
In a one bedroom flat it rarely does, and a well finished wet room can be a selling point. In a two bedroom flat with only one bathroom, losing the bath may deter families, so a bath with a good shower over it is often the safer choice.
Tell us what’s happened and we’ll come back with a free, no-obligation quote.
Tell us about your project and we’ll get you a free quote.