Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Float centers, it has been said, are nearly in the shower business as much as they are in the float business. In fact, float centers run twice as many showers as floats. No doubt about it, they are an important part of the float experience, as is designing them.
So do you include shower screens or doors? Graham and Ashkahn weigh in and share why the think it’s better to skip the door altogether, and dispel any sort of benefit that it may appear to have for a float center.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: Okay.
Graham: Hello everybody.
Ashkahn: Hey, hey.
Graham: Everybody out there.
Ashkahn: We’re listening.
Graham: I almost went into another intro there. It’s dangerous. So, I’m Graham.
Ashkahn: I’m Ashkahn.
Graham: And today’s question is, “to have or not to have a shower screen in your float room?”
Ashkahn: That is the question.
Graham: Timeless.
Ashkahn: Shower screen.
Graham: Yeah, what does a shower screen mean to you Ashkahn?
Ashkahn: A shower screen to me means, a T.V. screen in the shower so people can watch movies and stuff. Is that what he’s talking about? He or she?
Graham: I did a quick google search and what popped up was a bunch of glass walls in front of showers.
Ashkahn: It makes sense. T.V.s have glass in them too.
Graham: Probably like a screen to block water and it may or may not also project moving pictures.
Ashkahn: So yeah those little glass partitions.
Graham: So here is the funny thing, it didn’t even really matter what shower screen meant in this context because my answer is going to be the same no matter what.
Ashkahn: Well, okay.
Graham: Which is no, I don’t think it should have a shower screen.
Ashkahn: Ideally not.
Graham: But especially if the definition of shower screen is actually what the definition is, which is a big glass partition. And there are cases where I could see, maybe which is what you were getting at, it would be useful, but just in my mind the less things there are to clean in any room, the better. And glass shows any spots and then little bits of salt so well. It just needs so much extra time during a transition cleaning if it’s in there.
Ashkahn: To me its like a last ditch effort. If you are just super, super tight on space, at a certain point a glass partition is less annoying than people’s clothes getting wet all the time because there is no where to put your clothes.
Graham: Maybe some kind of intricate cubby system or a hook and pulley sort of thing where they hang their clothes up and they get hoisted up to the ceiling.
Ashkahn: Okay that sounds simple. Really, ideally not. I mean I have the same sentiment. Which is I would have to be pushed pretty far to want something like that in my float room just because it’s super annoying. We have had shower doors before and glass especially really. To make it look good you have to spray it and squeegee it every single time otherwise it just doesn’t look really that nice in the room.
Graham: Yeah, and it’s a really easy way, I mean a big glass wall that looks spotty. Especially flecked with little crystallized bits of white salt. It’s a great way to make it look like you didn’t clean anything in the room.
Ashkahn: Yeah and you should be really careful about how it is connecting to the rest of the room. If you have a real long section on the floor where its touching or the wall, those kinds of crevices are really easy places for mold and mildew to build up. So I would almost want a shower screen that was glass that maybe the hinges are connected and it has a little gap between it and the wall or ground or something to make it so that there is not a bunch of crevices that are going to build things up over time.
Graham: Yeah when we had a glass enclosure, and when we had more than what a shower screen is, we had glass walls surrounding the entire thing with a glass door. All of those were framed in chrome, which in addition to the glass being hard to keep clean, the chrome was also really hard to keep clean. And the unions where the chrome would connect to the glass would get funky over time and it would take even more time to make sure that was pristine. I assume that is what you’re referring to Ashkahn as anything that is really joining the glass.
Ashkahn: Yeah but even without the chrome and anything like that I have seen shower screens in people’s float centers that are literally just a piece of glass and that glass with a line of caulking along the floor and along the wall. And still those areas are just really easy to have build up of stuff and they start to look bad and things. So it’s possible, sometimes you see that glass that can be suspended by just the few connections points that it’s connecting to the wall and it doesn’t rely on standing on the ground for it’s actual support. That sounds better to me than having a line of caulking or something.
Graham: Yeah. Yeah, I’d totally agree. And if you are doing that you obviously need some strong supports behind there. You can’t just suddenly screw one of those onto your wall.
Ashkahn: Yeah, a little gum sticky on there.
Graham: So this goes for really anything. We very much moved to this idea of an open shower concept as being the best. It comes down to wanting to be able to turn over the rooms really fast. When we say these things like, “Oh well it’ll take that much longer to squeegee down this shower screen and make sure it’s all clean and nice for the next person,” those are valuable minutes or even seconds when someone is going into the room and cleaning up. Ideally it’s one of our sayings that we’ll spend $5,000 to save five seconds off a transition just because that’s how important it is when you are trying in this short period of time to turn over a room from someone else, get the next customer in, and have everything be both sanitary and as visually appealing as possible.
Ashkahn: If you are thinking about a shower screen as something that’s protecting the rest of your room from the water of the shower, then you are probably not thinking about your float room construction quite correctly. If anything, the only time I see it is utilities, you have a tiny room that is no way for you to have a place where people can put clothes that’s not going to get splashed by the shower and that is a pretty small changing area. Most float centers have enough space. The distance away from the shower is perfectly fine and it doesn’t get your clothes wet.
But if you are saying I should have a shower screen because I don’t want the water to splash much further past that because then it will it my walls and damage my walls, then you are probably going to be in trouble even with the shower screen. The shower screen is not going to stop the rest of the room from getting wet and getting salty and slowly getting damage. So if you are thinking of it as something that is preventing you from having to do more waterproofing further in the room, I would say that is not the right mentality to go into building your room.
Graham: Yeah maybe at best it’ll delay some of the damage, but even then treating the entire room the float tank is in is pretty much a wet room and wet environment. Beyond the shower enclosure I think is pretty key.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So, yeah our opinion is don’t have them. Don’t have shower screens. Don’t have shower curtains. Take out as much in the room as you possibly can in fact. The less that is in there, the less there is to clean, the less there is to worry about puncturing your walls, the less there is to worry about scratching things or just causing problems down the road. Even putting up the shower screen and using a bracket going into the wall, that’s one more hole that you have to have in your water proofing and one more thing that you have to then go back and protect and caulk all the time. For so many reasons reducing the number of elements you have in your room and reducing the number of times you have to puncture a wall I think is always worthwhile.
Ashkahn: Unless you are talking about T.V. screens in which case sounds kind of cool.
Graham: Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree.
Ashkahn: I’m just thinking full flat, the whole wall is a giant T.V. screen, really just blast people with sensory stimulation right before and after their float. Sounds like the right setup.
Graham: Well if anyone out there agrees with Ashkahn, go on over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and let us know. I’ll be shocked.
Ashkahn: Alright, we’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Graham: Bye everyone.
Recent Podcast Episodes
When DON’T you Feel Like Floating? – DSP 275
Graham has Juliet on the podcast today since Ashkahn is doing some post-Conference traveling.
The duo talks about times when floating just doesn’t feel like a good idea, which is something they have a bit of disagreement about. Juliet shares her experiences being cautious of her experiences in the tank and how she tends to have to be more mindful of when she floats.
How do you Handle Changing Memberships? – DSP 274
This year at the Float Conference, Derek hosted a marketing forum and took questions that he wanted to share with everyone here.
This episode focuses on how Float On handles memberships, including tiered memberships and how to gracefully transition from one type of membership to another.
Are Vapor Barriers a Good Idea for Float Centers? – DSP 273
You can tell when Graham starts to miss Ashkahn when he makes a soundboard made up of sound clips from previous episodes just to have Ashkahn do another intro.
Jake and Graham break down barriers in this episode. Vapor barriers, that is. These tools are a little confusing in the construction world and their efficacy is hotly debated in just regular construction, never mind the demands that a float center has, especially in regards to moisture protection. Fortunately, Graham and Jake know a thing or two about a thing or two and explain what vapor barriers are, how they work, and what the source of contention is.
What to Consider with Plumbing in a New Float Center – DSP 272
Graham and Jake talk about the confusing world of plumbing for your float center. There are any number of unpleasant surprises that can come about when planning the water lines to showers, getting floor drains in place, and making sure everything lines up how it’s supposed to. If the sewer main is too deep or not where you think it is, it can add a significant amount of cost to your build out just to get floor drains installed. Fortunately, the guys have some useful tricks to help mitigate costs and plan accordingly.
Should I use Spray-in Insulation for my Float Center? – DSP 271
Graham and Jake are still in a sans Ashkahn world at Daily Solutions, but they’re not letting it harsh their mellow.
The guys are talking about the different types of spray-in insulation today. It’s a pretty common material in construction and it can be a fantastic insulator for float centers, if you get the right type.
Jake and Graham go over the differences between open cell and closed cell insulation and why, specifically, float centers should avoid open cell insulation. They also provide some excellent pointers on the materials themselves and good conversations to have with a contractor regarding insulation.
Latest Blog Posts
Oh, the Questions You’ll Hear!
When you run a float tank center, you’re going to get asked a lot of questions. Do I float naked? Can I drown? Is this sanitary? Many of these are easy to answer: It’s recommended. Not without a conscious, and determined effort. Yes! There are some questions, however,...
Happy TANKSgiving (Giving Gifts to Monthly Members)
Monthly memberships are an important way to ensure that your float tank center has a consistent, if not dependable, amount of business.
While pricing structures for memberships vary widely across the industry, we’re focusing less on the strategy of what to charge and looking more at the benefits we’re actually offering. Once we’ve established a solid offering, then we can revisit pricing.
Running a successful monthly membership program takes more than just charging customers and making sure they use their credits. With a little creativity, we can find ways to increase engagement.
Your Flow Meter May Be Inaccurate (and what to do about it)
Float tanks tend to use a lot of parts borrowed from the pool and spa industry and, whenever that happens, it’s always important to question whether that pool part works accurately with our salt water solution. We’ve recently gained some insight into that question on...
The Float Tour Blog Roundup!
The following is our collection of links to the all of the Float Tour blogs. My chronicling of our adventure, highlighting all of you out there.
Thank you for the memories.
