Flooring Tile - adding floor drain for 2nd floor laundry

We want to add a floor drain in our second floor laundry. How do we go about doing this? Should we plan to tile the floor and use a water membrane, cement board, or some other approach?

Probably the easiest solution would be to have a pan installed with a drian tube connected to your dwv system. You can usually get one sized for your washing mashine at any appl;iance dealer. If you want to install a floor drain, then the whole thing needs to be done the same as you would for a shower pan, but for height concerns, I would look into Kerdi as opposed to doing a mud bed under and over a liner. You would need to center the drain, slope the mud floor 1/4"/ft to the drain, install the kerdi over top and then set your tile on the Kerdi. THis will weigh a whole lot less to than to do the preslop, install a liner and then install another 1 1/4" of mud over the liner. Here's a link that will explain the preslope, followed by another to show and explain Kerdi. THe tile floor with Kerdi gets installed directly to the Kerdi membrane, as opposed to needing the thick deck mud layer over top of a pvc liner.
Preslope under the liner:
http://www.ontariotile.com/preslope.html
Kerdi membrane
http://www.schluter.com/english/products/2002/sectionf/kerdi/801-index.html

Yep, your basically building a big shower floor.

Good luck! It is a job, I have seen seasoned pros(or so they say) screw up. :wall:


Take your time and ask a lot of questions!

Then send Tilebri, a nice gift certificate to go have a nice dinner, for his generous consulting fees!!!

I installed a second flloor laundry in a closet. This closet had double doors so when open there was a 4' opening. we used apartment sized appliances. they fit perfectly side by side and front to back in this closet. I simply added a 4" high board at the door opening. I then lined the floor and up the 4 sides with a membrane and then installed a simple shower drain in the center of the floor. Of course it was tied into the drain I had to install for the washer. I then glued some rubber strips to the membrane where the washer and dryer feet would sit so they wouldn't cut the membrane. This may not be the most professional solution but it provides the necessary protection that you are looking for. Installing a tile floor and curbs may be necessary for a shower or where there is constant use but you are simply protecting yourself from a very rare occasion of the washer overflowing or the water lines breaking. Of course I would plumb the water lines with lever type turn offs. And leave them turned off expect when useing the washer. That will graetly limit yuor exposure. If you do have an accident, this will contain and drain 99% of the water. Just don't hang that Picasso on the wall just under the washer.