Walk-in shower and wet room
Walk-in Showers and Wet Rooms in Hamilton and the Waikato
Step-free showers and fully tanked wet rooms are two different things that get talked about as if they are the same. Both take waterproofing and floor falls that are harder to get right than a standard shower over a tray, which is exactly where a lot of renovations go wrong if the trade doing it has not done many of them.
The two options
Walk-in shower or full wet room
Walk-in shower
A step-free shower with a fixed glass panel instead of a framed door, sitting within its own tiled recess or a shallow, discreetly falled section of floor. The rest of the bathroom floor stays dry underfoot in normal use.
Wet room
The entire bathroom floor is waterproofed and gently falled to a single waste point, with no shower tray, hob or step anywhere in the room. Water is expected to reach the whole floor, not just the shower area, so the tanking and falls have to be right across the room, not just under the shower.
Who this suits
Anyone who wants a shower without a step or lip, households future-proofing a bathroom for ageing in place without wanting a clinical look, and homeowners chasing a specific, clean aesthetic where no shower box or tray breaks up the floor.
What you get done properly
- Waterproof membrane taken up the walls and across the entire floor, tested before tiling begins
- Floor falls calculated properly to a single waste, checked with a level before any tile is laid
- Frameless or semi-frameless glass, sized to suit the room rather than an off-the-shelf panel
- Slip-resistant tile or surface selection appropriate for a floor that gets wet across its whole surface
- Underfloor heating options, since a wet room floor benefits from drying quickly between uses
What it costs
Where this sits on price
A walk-in shower with a fixed glass panel, built into an otherwise standard bathroom layout, is usually achievable within The Renovation, from $28,000. A full wet room, where the whole floor is tanked and falled, sits within The Premium, from $42,000, alongside the other full-spec inclusions like custom joinery and underfloor heating.
See what each package includesA note for coastal Raglan homes
Salt air and sand shorten the working life of standard tapware and shower fittings. On Raglan jobs we specify corrosion-resistant fixtures and pay close attention to extraction, since a wet room or open walk-in shower puts more moisture into the air than a standard enclosed shower.
Common questions
Walk-in shower and wet room questions
A walk-in shower still has a defined shower area, usually with a subtle step-down or a glass panel keeping most water contained to that zone. A wet room removes that distinction entirely: the whole floor is waterproofed and falled, so there is no tray, hob or step anywhere in the room.
Get a fixed price on your walk-in shower or wet room
Book a free measure up. We will check your floor structure and drainage, and tell you honestly which option suits your bathroom.