Walk into a high-end boutique hotel in London or Tokyo and you’ll see it immediately. The floor doesn't stop. There is no plastic tray to trip over, no claustrophobic glass box tucked into a corner, and certainly no moldy shower curtain clinging to your leg. Instead, the entire room is the shower.
A wet room shower and bathtub setup is basically the ultimate "open-concept" move for your home. It’s a waterproofed sanctuary where the bath and shower coexist in a single, tanked zone. Honestly, it’s a bit of a flex. But it’s also incredibly practical for people who are tired of scrubbing grout lines in tiny, cramped enclosures.
You’ve probably seen the Pinterest photos. A sleek, freestanding tub sitting right next to a rainfall shower head, all on the same level plane of tile. It looks expensive. It looks like something a minimalist architect would demand. But behind the aesthetics, there’s some serious engineering—and some potential headaches—that most homeowners don't actually consider until the floor starts leaking into the kitchen ceiling.
The Reality of the Open-Plan Bath
What most people get wrong about the wet room shower and bathtub layout is the "wet" part. People think they can just take out the shower door and call it a day. Nope.
If you do that, your toilet paper will be soggy forever. Your towels will never be dry. Real wet rooms require a process called "tanking." This is a multi-layer waterproofing system that involves a waterproof membrane—think of it like a giant, rubberized hug for your subfloor—that goes under the tiles and several inches up the walls.
According to the Tile Council of North America (TCNA), the gradient is the most critical part. If your floor doesn't slope exactly right toward the drain, you’re just building an indoor pond. Most experts recommend a fall of about 1 in 60 or 1 in 80. If it’s too steep, you feel like you’re standing on a hill while trying to shave your legs. If it’s too flat, you’re wading in greywater.
Why go through the trouble?
Space is the big one. In a standard 5x8 bathroom, a tub-shower combo feels like a cage. By removing the partitions, the room breathes. It feels twice as large because your eyes don't hit a visual "stop" at the edge of the tub.
It’s also about accessibility. This is called Universal Design. As people age, stepping over a 14-inch tub wall becomes a genuine hazard. A wet room removes that barrier entirely. You can literally roll a wheelchair into the shower. It’s future-proofing your house.
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The Bathtub Dilemma: Inside or Outside the Zone?
Here is where it gets interesting. Do you put the tub inside the shower area? This is often called a "wet zone" or a "room within a room."
It’s a smart move for small spaces. You put the freestanding tub at the far end, and the shower area right in front of it. All the splashing stays in one "dirty" zone, while the vanity and toilet stay dry. It’s efficient. It’s also kinda cozy.
However, cleaning a bathtub that sits inside a shower zone is a unique kind of hell. Think about it. Every time you shower, soap scum and hair are splashing against the outside of your beautiful, expensive soaking tub. If you have a clawfoot tub with space underneath, you’ll be on your hands and knees cleaning out hair clogs from under the porcelain twice a week.
Some designers, like those at Kohler or Laufen, suggest keeping the tub slightly separate if you have the square footage. But for the true wet room shower and bathtub look, integration is key. Just be prepared for the maintenance.
Heat Loss and the Shiver Factor
Nobody talks about this, but wet rooms are cold.
When you’re in a standard shower stall, the steam stays trapped. It’s a little tropical microclimate. In a wide-open wet room, that steam disappears into the rafters. You’re standing there, naked and wet, in a large, drafty room.
The fix? Underfloor heating. It’s basically mandatory. Not only does it keep your toes warm, but it also helps dry the floor faster after you’re done. A wet floor is a slippery floor, and evaporation is your best friend. Without radiant heat, a wet room can stay damp for hours, which eventually leads to that musty smell nobody wants.
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The Technical Bits (The Stuff That Costs Money)
You can’t just hire a "handyman" for a wet room shower and bathtub install. You need a specialist.
- The Drainage Factor: You’ll likely want a linear drain. These are those long, sleek metal grates. They can handle a much higher volume of water than a standard center drain. This is important if you’re installing a high-flow "monsoon" shower head.
- Glass or No Glass?: Even in a wet room, most people end up adding a single glass "splash screen." It keeps the toilet from getting sprayed. But beware: cheap glass wobbles. You want 10mm toughened safety glass.
- Wall-Hung Everything: If you’re going for this look, hang your vanity on the wall. Get the toilet off the floor. It makes cleaning a breeze and reinforces that "floating" aesthetic.
Maintenance and the "Grout Gap"
Let’s be real for a second. Large-format tiles are the only way to go.
If you use tiny mosaic tiles across a whole wet room floor, you’re going to have miles of grout lines. Grout is porous. Grout gets dirty. Even with modern epoxy grouts, which are much more water-resistant, you’re still looking at a lot of scrubbing.
Porcelain is generally better than natural stone here. Marble looks incredible in a wet room shower and bathtub setup, but it’s high maintenance. It’s slippery when wet, and it reacts poorly to certain soaps and shampoos. Porcelain can mimic the look of Carrara marble without the "oh no, I dropped my shampoo and now there’s a permanent stain" panic.
Is it actually a good investment?
In the UK and Europe, wet rooms are standard and add significant value. In the US, it’s still seen as a "luxury" or "niche" choice.
There is a risk. Some buyers still want a traditional master bath. But the trend is shifting. With the rise of "spa-core" and the focus on wellness at home, a well-executed wet room is a major selling point. It feels like a getaway.
The cost? Expect to pay 20% to 30% more than a standard bathroom renovation. That extra cash goes almost entirely into the stuff you can't see—the waterproofing and the structural floor adjustments.
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Moving Forward With Your Project
If you’re serious about building a wet room shower and bathtub, don't start with the tile. Start with the plumbing.
Check your joists. A heavy soaking tub filled with water, plus the weight of a thick mortar bed for the slope, is a massive amount of stress on a house's structure. You might need to sister your joists or add support.
Next, pick your drain. The drain dictates the floor slope, which dictates your tile choice. If you want a hidden "tile-in" drain, you have to buy it before the first bag of thin-set is opened.
Focus on the lighting, too. Since there are no walls, you can use recessed LED strips to highlight the wet zone. It defines the space without closing it in.
Finally, choose a "tanking kit" with a solid reputation. Systems like Schluter-Kerdi are the industry gold standard for a reason. They provide a literal bathtub-like enclosure behind your walls.
Once the infrastructure is solid, the rest is just picking the prettiest tub you can afford and enjoying the fact that you’ll never have to scrub a shower track again. It’s a cleaner, more modern way to live, provided you’re willing to do the legwork on the technical side first. Forget the "standard" bathroom rules; they were made for smaller houses and simpler times. A wet room is about freedom of movement and, honestly, just feeling a bit more fancy in your own home every morning.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Measure your clearance: Ensure you have at least 36 inches of "walk zone" between the bathtub and any glass screens to avoid a cramped feel.
- Consult a structural engineer: If you're putting a stone tub on a second floor, confirm the floor can handle the dead weight (tub) and live weight (water and humans).
- Order samples of "R11" rated tiles: This is the slip-resistance rating you need for wet areas to ensure the floor isn't a skating rink.
- Plan the ventilation: Wet rooms generate massive amounts of humidity; upgrade to a high-CFM (cubic feet per minute) extractor fan that is rated for continuous use.