Should You Replace Your Bath With a Wet Room?

We get asked this question a lot. Someone's tired of a bath they never use, the bathroom feels cramped, and they've seen wet rooms online that look amazing. But is it actually worth doing?

Having installed wet rooms in homes across Wokingham, Crowthorne, and Binfield, here's our honest take.

What a wet room actually involves

A wet room isn't just a shower without a tray. The entire floor is waterproofed - a process called tanking - and the floor is built with a precise fall so water drains to a single point. Every surface needs to be fully sealed before any tiles go down.

This is where a lot of wet rooms go wrong. If the tanking isn't done properly or the fall is even slightly off, you'll end up with water pooling in the wrong places or  worse - moisture getting into the subfloor. We've been called in to fix wet rooms installed by others where exactly this has happened.

When it's done right though, a wet room is one of the most practical and good-looking bathroom options available.

When replacing your bath with a wet room makes sense

Your bathroom is small.
Removing the bath and installing a wet room opens up the space dramatically. There's no bulky tray or enclosure taking up floor area, just a clean, open shower zone with a glass panel. In a small ensuite or compact bathroom, this can make the room feel twice the size.

Nobody actually uses the bath.
‍If the bath is sitting there unused - just collecting bottles and taking up space - there's no good reason to keep it. We speak to homeowners regularly who haven't had a bath in years but have never thought to change it.

You want step-free access.
Wet rooms are level with the rest of the floor, which makes them ideal for anyone with mobility concerns or for future-proofing your home. No stepping over a bath rim or shower tray edge. This is why we install a lot of wet rooms as part of our accessible bathroom projects.

You're doing a full renovation anyway.
If you're already stripping the bathroom back to the walls, it's the perfect time to consider a wet room. The preparation work (reboarding, waterproofing) is part of the renovation process anyway, so the additional cost is relatively small compared to doing it as a standalone project later.

When keeping the bath is the better choice

It's the only bathroom in the house.
If you've got young children or might sell in the future, having at least one bath in the property is important. Families with small kids need a bath, and removing the only one can put buyers off. If you've got a second bathroom, that's a different story - the main bathroom keeps the bath and the ensuite becomes a wet room.

The bathroom is already a good size.
If you've got plenty of space, a bath and a separate walk-in shower might be a better use of the room than a wet room. Wet rooms are brilliant for making small spaces feel bigger, but in a larger bathroom you don't need that trick.

You actually enjoy baths.
Simple as that. If you use it, keep it.

What does it cost?

A wet room installation as part of a full bathroom renovation in Berkshire typically starts from around £6,000 and can go up to £12,000 or more depending on the size of the room, tile specification, and how much preparation is needed.

The main cost difference compared to a standard bathroom refit is the tanking and floor preparation. The rest - tiling, sanitaryware, plumbing - is broadly similar.

If your existing floor is concrete, the preparation is simpler. Timber floors need more work to ensure the wet room deck is rigid and level before the tanking membrane goes down. This is one of the things we assess during a home visit - it's impossible to quote accurately without seeing the existing setup.

‍

How long does it take?

For a full bathroom renovation that includes a wet room, you're typically looking at 7 to 10 working days. The tanking and floor preparation adds about a day compared to a standard bathroom refit with a shower tray.

We recently completed a wet room tiling project in Spencers Wood that involved a 60x60cm porcelain floor with a precise fall to drain, plus metro wall tiles with brushed gold trims. We were brought in just for the tiling phase, which alone took two days plus a 3rd visit for grouting - the fall on the floor has to be right before a single tile goes down.

Our advice

If you're thinking about it, book a home visit and we'll tell you honestly whether a wet room is the right option for your space. Sometimes it is. Sometimes a walk-in shower with a low-profile tray achieves the same result for less cost and complexity. It depends on the room, the floor, and how you use the bathroom.

We're not going to push you towards a wet room if it doesn't make sense. We'd rather fit something that works properly for your home than something that looks good in a brochure.

‍