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Suspended shower floor

Weeping tiles.
  (+3, -1)
(+3, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

A grid holds individual tiles suspended above a sloped drain system allowing water to drain through the fake pourous grout-lines eliminating the need for a drain cover or sloped shower floor.
No more clogged drains.

Bathe Peristaltically in a Cup of Water [hippo, Feb 08 2013]

[link]






       I suspect that the porous grout would act as a filter, and eventually clog.   

       You could clean it out with a blow torch or acid or something, depending on what it's composition was.
Kansan101, Feb 07 2013
  

       How does the water get into a waste pipe to go to sewer, if there's no drainage collection point?
UnaBubba, Feb 07 2013
  

       There is still a standard sloped drain-hole beneath the suspended tile floor. The fake grout lines that comprise the grid and the tiles themselves can be removed at any time to be cleaned or changed at whim. Simply removing the pourous fake-grout strips and turning them upside down would flush out any clogging issues.   

       This would also allow for a curbless shower wheelchair access and such.   

       I've thought about a variation on this for years. Why not build a solid, one-piece floor in the shower about 1" above the actual floor, with a narrow, 1/4" wide gap all the way around the edges? Solid floor, no drain cover, water magically disappears like an infinity pool.
DIYMatt, Feb 07 2013
  

       There are waste grates like that already, [DIYMatt].   

       Search "invisible shower drain" and you'll find multiple examples.
UnaBubba, Feb 07 2013
  

       I didn't think to do a search on this one first. Building showers and steam rooms is part of what I do and since I'd never heard of it I assumed it didn't exist.   

       Very common in the mid-upper level of home construction in Australia, [2fries].   

       Then again, practically unknown in the UK, where they don't do floor wastes in their bathrooms at all.
UnaBubba, Feb 07 2013
  

       Totally unknown in france, where the concept of personal hygiene has been lost to the indigenous infestation since the Romans left … and after 1500 years without washing, it's not suprising that the place whiffs a bit …
8th of 7, Feb 08 2013
  

       France smells like a urinal.
UnaBubba, Feb 08 2013
  

       I wasn't dissing your idea, I liked your idea. One of those upvotes is mine.
Your idea is probably what started this one percolating and if I had remembered that I would have linked to it myself.
Thanks for the inspiration.
  

       The weak bit in both ideas is the carpet/porous-grout-lines. IMHO of course.   

       Apart from that I rather like both of them.
FlyingToaster, Feb 08 2013
  

       I forsee the buildup of significant amounts of biofilm. If it's in the drainage space rather than on the user side then that isn't really a problem.   

       Do you need grout at all?   

       If you mounted each tile onto a fixing with full edge support, they could be held firmly in place individually. Leave a few millimetre gap between each tile, and you're good.
Tiles with rounded edges would be better. Maybe you could simply cover a support grid with a couple of layers of even, flattish cobbles.
Loris, Feb 08 2013
  

       Big plastic bag, you stand in it, take a shower, attach bag to vacuum pump, all water boils off, throw away the bag.
not_morrison_rm, Feb 08 2013
  

       [not_morrison_m] - see link
hippo, Feb 08 2013
  

       Gets a [+] from me too
evilpenguin, Feb 08 2013
  

       Gets a [+] from me too
evilpenguin, Feb 08 2013
  

       Perhaps acoustic tiles would help?
UnaBubba, Feb 09 2013
  

       I'd thought of no grout lines at all, but then hair will just end up having to be collected from the lower drain.   

       Not if you add a device to chop the hair into tiny little pieces.
UnaBubba, Feb 09 2013
  

       I think we're looking at this from the wrong angle.   

       There any many deserted mine-shafts in the world. Suspend the person instead?
not_morrison_rm, Feb 09 2013
  
      
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