This isn't really a style question, even though it often gets treated as one. The right answer depends heavily on what's underneath your bathroom floor, how far the drainage run has to travel, and how you actually plan to use the room in ten or twenty years' time, not just how it photographs.
Below is a practical, factor by factor comparison covering floor construction, tanking and gradient, drainage capacity, heat and drying, accessibility and cost, finishing with a straight side by side table.
Floor construction: timber joists versus solid floor
A wet room needs a fall built into the floor so water runs to the drain, typically a gradient of around 1:40 to 1:60 from the perimeter to the outlet. On a solid concrete floor, that fall can be formed in a screed relatively easily. On a timber joisted floor, common in upper storey bathrooms, forming that fall usually means dropping and notching joists locally around the drain, or building up a tapered ply and screed system, which adds structural work and cost.
A shower enclosure with a tray sits on top of the existing floor structure with far less alteration needed, which is why it's often the simpler option upstairs in a joisted property, and why a wet room is more straightforward to justify on a solid ground floor.
Tanking and gradient
A wet room needs tanking across the entire floor and up the walls to at least shower head height, since the whole floor is a wet area rather than just the area inside a tray. Getting the gradient right before tanking is applied is critical: too shallow and water pools, too steep and it feels uncomfortable underfoot.
A shower enclosure only needs tanking within and immediately around the tray footprint, which is a smaller area of membrane and a shorter, more predictable job.
Drainage capacity
Wet room drains, whether a linear channel or a point drain, need to cope with the full flow rate of the shower without backing up, and a linear drain typically needs a minimum fall and a clear run to a waste pipe of adequate diameter, commonly 40mm minimum. Where a wet room drain is undersized or the fall is too shallow, water pools at the edges rather than draining away.
A shower tray's built-in upstand and shallow sump generally means smaller volumes of water need clearing quickly, so drainage sizing is less critical but not irrelevant, particularly with high flow rate shower heads.
Heat loss and drying
Because a wet room has no enclosure, the whole room gets wet and humid during showering, which means it takes longer to dry out and can feel colder afterwards unless the room has good extraction and, ideally, underfloor heating to help the floor dry quickly. A bathroom extractor fan rated for the room volume, drawing somewhere in the region of 15 to 30 litres per second, matters more in a wet room than almost anywhere else.
A shower enclosure contains the spray, so the rest of the room stays dry, heats up faster and doesn't rely as heavily on ventilation and floor heating to manage moisture.
Accessibility and future proofing
A level access wet room removes the trip hazard of a shower tray lip and works well for anyone with mobility considerations now or in future, which is a genuine long term advantage in a family home where people plan to stay put as they get older.
A shower enclosure with a low profile tray is more accessible than a traditional bath, but it doesn't match the step-free access of a properly built wet room.
Resale and cleaning
A well-built wet room in a family bathroom can be a harder sell in some markets, since not every buyer wants the whole room to be a wet area, particularly if it's the only bathroom in the house. As an en suite or second bathroom, it tends to be viewed more positively.
On cleaning, a wet room has no glass enclosure edges or tray grout lines to scrub, but the tiled floor and walls need the same attention as any tiled surface. A shower enclosure has fewer square metres of wet tiling to keep on top of, but glass panels need regular wiping to avoid limescale build up.
Side by side comparison
| Factor | Wet room | Shower enclosure |
|---|---|---|
| Floor structure | Best on solid floors, more work on timber joists | Works on most existing floor types |
| Tanking area | Full floor and lower walls | Tray footprint and immediate walls only |
| Drainage | Needs a properly sized linear or point drain and fall | Tray sump and standard waste, less critical sizing |
| Drying time | Slower, whole room gets wet | Faster, spray is contained |
| Accessibility | Level access, best for future proofing | Low profile tray, better than a bath but not step-free |
| Typical cost | Higher, more structural and tanking work | Lower, more contained job |
Frequently asked questions
- Can I have a wet room upstairs on a timber floor?
- Yes, but it usually means dropping or notching joists locally around the drain, or building a tapered ply and screed system to form the fall, which adds cost and structural work compared with a solid ground floor.
- Is a wet room more expensive than a shower enclosure?
- Generally yes, indicatively, because it needs a larger area of tanking, more careful floor preparation to form the gradient, and often more significant floor structure work, particularly upstairs.
- Does a wet room need a bigger extractor fan?
- It needs a fan properly sized to the room volume and used consistently, since the whole floor gets wet rather than just the area inside a tray, so ventilation does more of the work of drying the room out.
- Which is better for resale value?
- It depends on the house. As the only bathroom in a family home, a shower enclosure with a bath elsewhere tends to appeal to more buyers, while a wet room works well as an en suite or second bathroom.
- Is a wet room worth it for accessibility?
- If step-free access matters now or is likely to matter in future, a properly built wet room is the more future-proofed option compared with any shower tray, however low profile.
Not sure which one suits your bathroom?
Tell us about your floor structure and how you use the room, and we'll help you decide before you commit to a design.