Advanced Tips for Bathroom Floor Drain Maintenance – Part II
In past week’s blog article, we started looking at the floor drain shown in the picture below. It’s a typical type of floor drain, that happens to be round and, there are alternative types such as square drains and also slot drains which are thin and long. The slot drains work pretty well, and most installations and or configurations, particularly where they’re in showers or areas that are intended to drain repeatedly such as on a routine basis.
Even in bathrooms though, such as the one looking at here in this example, when water isn’t applied to the floor on a routine basis, such through showering or bathing, it can still be useful to have a floor drain. For example, in commercial settings where there is a much higher level of foot traffic and usage than in a typical bathroom, it helps to be able to just mop the floor.
When the floor is graded properly, as we discussed in last week’s blog, it makes mopping very easy because a lot of the water used in cleaning the floor can just go right down the drain. Where there isn’t constant water application or usage though on top of the floor, it might be helpful to install a trap primer.
Trap primers are devices that are installed, connected to the domestic water lines of a building or house that apply a tiny bit of water to a trap on a routine basis. These types of devices are really useful in circumstances like this where there isn’t constant application of water to the drain or where drains are set up for mechanical discharge that happens on an unpredictable basis.
A condensate drain that runs to the interior of a building and connects to the plumbing drain lines with an air gap might be a good example of a useful installation of a trap primer. Depending on the climate zone, the condensate might only be produced by an HVAC system for a few months out of the year. Here in DC, when a HVAC system is intended to run with an internal evaporator through a ducted system, you might expect to produce condensate for 5 months out of the year.
During the other 7 months of the year, condensate might not be discharged or run through the drain and therefore a trap might dry out. When a trap, such as the one at the drain shown here in these pictures at this bathroom, or one that services in mechanical system, dries out, it can lead to toxic fumes from the sewage system entering into the house. Even in cases where the fumes aren’t necessarily highly toxic, they’re not healthy to breath, and they smell bad. So in cases like that, a trap primer can be helpful.
In the picture below, just to show an example of a alternative type of drain cover. The piping for this type of train is actually the same, but the orifice are covered on top of the opening in this drain is square instead of round.
In the next picture below, you can see a close-up view of the round floor drain. It’s hard to say whether or not a square drain or a round drain is preferable or better looking. It probably depends on the overall style and aesthetic of the details of the floor, but both are acceptable in most cases. Linear drains look very different because they’re much thinner and much longer and in some cases they’re installed directly against the wall. In a case like that instead of having the floor drain towards the center from all angles, the floor instead would slope to one particular side where the water would accumulate and run down into the slot drain.
You can see the grout lines at this particular floor more closely in the next picture below.
A grout line also appears around the edge of the floor drain as well because the tile is cut slightly larger. In some cases a elastomeric type sealant of matching color may be applied instead of actual grout where the floor drain meets the floor tile. As well, often, in cases of planar joints or connection to dissimilar materials, a sealant may be applied to maintain flexibility because these dissimilar elements or planar joints move at slightly different rates and directions over time.
Dupont Kitchen & Bath Can Help
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If you’re contemplating a renovation, upgrade, or modernization in the local market, we’re happy to be your team. Consult with us, and we can start together on a path to redefine and elevate your DC living experience.
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