Drains & Wastes

The drain is a small component that determines whether a shower works. Get the position, the fall and the flow rate right and nobody ever thinks about it. Get any of them wrong and you have standing water, slow drainage or a smell coming back up through the trap.

Three types cover most installations. Square and round point drains are the conventional choice, sitting at the low point of the fall with the floor sloping in from all sides. Linear channel drains sit along one edge, which means the floor only needs to fall in one direction. That single-plane fall is much easier to build accurately and it is why channel drains have become standard in walk-in and level-entry showers. Tile insert grates take a piece of your floor tile in the grate itself, so the drain nearly disappears into the floor.

Flow rate matters and is often overlooked. A high-flow rain head can deliver more water than a small drain can clear, which shows up as water pooling around your feet. Match the drain capacity to the shower head you are installing rather than to the size of the shower.

Before ordering, check your existing waste pipe diameter and the depth available below the floor. Channel drains in particular need more depth than a point drain, and on a concrete slab or a first floor that can be the constraint that decides the job. Confirm this before you commit to a design.

Finishes include chrome, matt black and tile insert, so the drain can either match your tapware or vanish into the floor entirely.