Slatted Shower Mat

[como]

Hi All,

EDIT: I've moved this from the design forum as I think it is more of a general question.

I have been asked by some friends to make a slatted shower mat, the type which is placed outside the shower. I've googled around a bit for ideas but can't seem find anything.
What they've asked for is a curved mat which follows the curve of the shower tray and will be about 12" wide. The shower tray is a corner one ie. quarter circle.

I've got a very rough idea of how the thing will look, but i'm a bit stumped when it comes to construction, what would be the best method for holding the slats together. Also what would be a good timber and finish to use in a bathroom environment. They may also want the wood colouring, and I was thinking of using chestnut spirit stain, so any finish that is applied would have to be compatible.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

 

[SketchUp Guru]

That was funny. I was typing this reply in the Design forum and then it wouldn't let me post it. I got a message saying, "Sorry, only can post to this forum." Just "only" can post? :lol:

How about making a grate such as would be used in the cockpit of a boat? Make up a bunch of slats that are perhaps 1"x1" and as long as needed and another bunch that are 1"x2" with notches cut in one edge to fit the 1x1s. Make a grid from the slats that is oversized a little bit. Lay a template over it to cut it to the desired shape. Cut a rebate around the edges for a trim band. Make it out of teak or some other weather resistant wood. In the US there is a wood called Ipe that is popular for residential decks. I imagine you could use that. At least with the teak there's no need to put any finish on it. Just let it weather.

Sorry about my poor explanation of the construction. A few drawings would make it all clear and I'll do them if you want. Give me a better idea of the shape and I'll work it out to dimension.

 

[como]

Hi Dave,

Sorry about the confusion with moving the post :shock:

I did start making a very crude sketchup drawing of the mat, this is as far as I got when I started questioning my design. I do like the idea of a trim band as you suggested as this would remove the pointy ends from the slats.
Anyway here is the drawing, what do you think?

Regards

Mark

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I like it mostly. The little short pieces are toublesome and I can imagine catching a toe on the end of one of those thngs.

What is the radius of the exterior curve on the tub and on the exterior curve of the grate?

 

[como]

I'm not sure how to measure the radius in sketchup, what I did was to bring the back edges in by 10cm then a created a curve out to the 110cm point.

If you like I could email the .skp file to you to play around with.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I sent you a PM.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Lets see how this goes. I'll e-mail the SKP to you but this is roughly what I'm thinking.

On the left you can see the two components that make up the grate. You glue up a bunch of these to make the grate. For simplicity I show it as a rectangle. In reality, I would not waste so much wood but instead I'd trim the pieces so they are just a hair longer than needed for where they need to go on the pattern. Trim it to the pattern of the desired shape. Cut a rebate in the edge for a frame that would be rebated to fit over the grate. Sand everything flush and round the edges and it is done.

I didn't make real smooth curves for the model in an effort to simplify the drawing and depending upon the available space, I might consider leaving the outer edges straight with only a curve up against the shower and perhaps a small radius at the outer corners. Hope this makes sense.

[/img]

 

[como]

Thanks very much Dave, that's a pretty straight forward solution. I think my friends might just go for that. I'm looking forward to getting the 'go ahead' now, to make a start on it.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Como,
I'd use either iroko or meranti, as both will cope with getting wet. They can be a bit coarse, so will need lots of sanding. I wouldn't stain or finish them at all; they may look a bit scruffy for a while but they will weather to a nice silver-grey colour. Why not tell your client you have a long waiting list, but make it tomorrow and leave it outside all summer. You can then deliver it already mature!

Cheers
Steve

 

[como]

The only problem with that Steve is that they are looking for something that is more of an orange colour :shock: , to match their black and orange bathroom :shock: (each to their own i suppose).
That is why I was thinking of spirit stain as I've used it before on ash and that gave a really nice orange glow to the wood. Would ash work in a damp environment?
What would I need to put over the spirit stain to stop them from getting orange lattice marks on their feet ?

 

[Scrit]

Would ash work in a damp environment?
What would I need to put over the spirit stain to stop them from getting orange lattice marks on their feet ?

Ash is not durable and would rot-out (anyone who's ever had a Morris Minor Traveller will know....). The obvious choice has got to be iroko - which does tend to darken with age, but which is well suited to damp environments. I think that wanting serviceability AND an oddball colour is missing what timber is about. Personally I'd tell them what they have to be prepared to accept - but if you have to use stains, then go to aniline dyes because they don't leach out like stains can.

A few of other choices might be Kapur (strong as teak, but lighter coloured), Guarea and possibly Cedar, which is light, stainable and reasonably durable.

Now that lattice would be an ideal project for a radial arm saw and a dado head........ :twisted:

Scrit

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I was thinking about a box joint type jig for the TS. I'd start with stock wider than I've drawn and rip it to width after cutting the dadoes. :shock:

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I just had another idea for more of a slatted type of thing. More like you drew initially. You could use some wider pieces, maybe three inches or 75mm or something. Cut dadoes on the underside for lengths of synthetic rope which could be epoxied in place. Install some ruber feet to keep the boards from slipping around. Radius all edges and corners and sand it smooth.

It would be flexible and could be rolled up when cleaning the floor underneath.

 

[como]

Another top idea Dave \/, I think i'll draw that one up and offer it as a second option if they dont like the lattace idea, I imagine it would prove to be a cheaper option as well.

 

[Inspector]

Como
When I looked at your first sketch the thought that I had was, instead of slats running across the front of the shower, that they should radiate outward from the shower. You then look down on pie shaped boards, all equally sized, and a border isn't necessary unless you want to keep the toes from going under. The support from below can be from bent laminated, sawn and joined, or cut from marine plywood. Go with stainless screws from a marine supplier.
Personally I think those things are fungus farms and I would rather have something I can toss in the washing machine. Plus the floor below doesn't stay wet. But if that's what they want, then have at it.

 

[matt]

I'd want my slats to curve round, matching the radius of the show tray.

 

[Scrit]

I'd want my slats to curve round, matching the radius of the show tray.

Downsides to that are short grain at the ends and potential warpage/movement problems. It would look nice but be as stable as a hanky in a high wind IMHO

Scrit

 

[matt]

I'd want my slats to curve round, matching the radius of the show tray.

Downsides to that are short grain at the ends and potential warpage/movement problems. It would look nice but be as stable as a hanky in a high wind IMHO

Scrit

Not sure I follow... I was thinking along the lines of bending the slats.

 

[Scrit]

I'd want my slats to curve round, matching the radius of the show tray.

Downsides to that are short grain at the ends and potential warpage/movement problems. It would look nice but be as stable as a hanky in a high wind IMHO

Not sure I follow... I was thinking along the lines of bending the slats.

Ah, well, I was thinking in terms of machining a larger plank by routing/bandsawing curved segments. Doing that would produce short grain at the end of the slats and they'd certainly be more prone to warp unlesspecies such as iroko was chosen.

To bend the slats, however, would require a species suitable for steam bending (such as beech) which is also suitable for a damp environment (scrub the beech then..... ) and which can be stained orange (now completely stumped :? ).

In steam bending you normally bend on the widest face of the wood or the timber is at most of square section, otherwise you are at much greater risk of the work twisting or compression bulges or failures occurring in the bend. That's conventional wisdom and I'm not going to argue with it as my only attempts to bend wood on the narrow face were a complete farce...... The inside and outside radii of each slat would be different, progressively greater as they get further out from the corner of the room, which is also the circle radius centre, so each slat would need an individual former making for the bending.

There is another problem with steam bending; calculating the spring-back is a highly imprecise exercise (and if someone can tell me where there is an accurate web page on this I'd be truly grateful). In other words each individual radius slat would only need to spring back a little too far or too much when they came out of the cramp to be scrap. I feel that in practice that is exactly what they would do. Steam bending is unfortunately quite a wasteful process.

The only way I can see to circumvent this potential spring-back problem would be to bend the slats from wider material than is necessary then machine the required radii on each piece using a very large trammel bar and router. This is starting to look like a real labour of love going that way, and certainly would not be economic fro a tradesman as a one off. Now 50 and that's a different story......

Even machining from planks will require a very large trammel bar for both the vbandsaw (for roughing out) and the router - or possibly a few hours booked on a CNC router (and mine is available at very reas...... OOPS, sorry!) so I feel that whilst it might look somewhat nicer the cost of doing it in time and materials would be hugely more than the cost of doing something like the earlier drawings.

Scrit

 

[JFC]

I had a go at steaming a piece of oak around 32mm x 32mm the other day just to see what its all about and i felt like an iron man as it just bent round with very little pressure . Oak may also not be the best timber for a shower tray but may be ok if lots of coats of varnish are applied . I agree with Scrit that steaming is a very wasteful operation but when its done it does look good . I would go along the lines of steaming my whole frame first and let it settle before scribing in any other members .
Teak will probably be your best bet as its used on boats so there must be something in that .