Ann Boardman, Customer Services and Marketing Manager at Saniflo UK, considers how the growing market for wetrooms is expanding further through the use of pumps and macerators which enable almost limitless siting options.
If your customers are looking to install a wetroom in either a domestic or commercial setting, there are several major points to consider including location of the wetroom, ease of access, available space, style, budget, timescale and, of course, drainage. There are more options to choose from in terms of products, systems and design styles than ever before, which can make the process seem daunting.
Furthermore, no matter which type of wetroom trade installers opt for, each carries with it a varying degree of hassle, expense and upkeep, all of which must be considered.
For example, the popular ‘tadelakt’ waterproof plaster finish, originating from Morocco, requires a lot of heavy initial work as, although striking, it needs a lot of plastering and the plaster can only be applied to a waterproof substrate. Then, on-going maintenance is required to ensure the tadelakt surface remains waterproof and clean — for this, often the entire area needs to be treated with a special soap every few months.
Shower enclosure styles can also be relatively high maintenance. The initial installation is a messy, often time consuming process which sometimes requires excavation of the floor and always requires tiling and grouting. Keeping a tiled shower area looking pristine is also a task in itself. The key here is the bigger the tile, the better. No homeowner wants to spend his or her time scrubbing grout or re-grouting to keep the bathroom looking good.
Customers can also locate their domestic or commercial wetroom anywhere a water supply can reach — even when there’s no mains drainage — by using a series of Saniflo macerators and pumps which are designed for unconventional situations including basements, lofts, garages and even under stairs cupboards.
In a loft conversion, for example, space may seem particularly limited for an en-suite wetroom in the rafters. However, a pump or macerator can be hidden in the triangular loft space next to the room and this is enough to service a WC, wash basin and shower, giving the homeowner a more complete en-suite wetroom rather than just a WC and basin.
In areas where there is some “underneath space”, even if limited, such as locations which feature tiling, vinyl flooring or showers with super slim shower trays, the Saniflo Sanifloor is a suitable option. The pump features a high flow rate of 25l which ensures it can be used with powerful ‘rain shower’ heads and has a dual action feature that sucks waste up from the gully and pumps waste water away up to 3m vertically and 30m horizontally.
The pump can be sited 300mm above the gully and carries a cable inside an air breather tube, which activates a sensor membrane when the waste water reaches a certain level. The sensor connects to the Sanifloor pump via a jack, whilst for ease of installation there is also a manual override button, enabling the user to pump away the water in the gully before dismantling the unit for cleaning.
The Sanifloor 1 has a waste for a wetroom floor with tiles and this is supplied with a blanket to make a seal under the gully to ensure complete watertightness. The Sanifloor 2 and 3 are designed to work with vinyl floor and shallow trays respectively.
The message is that the next time one of your customers is working on a wetroom, they need not be limited by drainage issues and can consider the solutions afforded by pumps and macerators to offer unlimited design possibilities.
For more information on Saniflo, visit: www.saniflo.co.uk
