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
How to get your Water Tested – DSP 359
Every once in a while during float industry events, during this podcast, or talks given by health department professionals and the like, they’ll say something like “if you get your water tested and…”. But how does a float center do that? Where should they look? Is there just a lab that they can send their float solution to? Are all labs the same? How much does it cost?
Ashkahn and Graham take on the difficult task of making sense of microbiology testing laboratories, regulatory institutions, and acronyms, all so you don’t have to.
A Few of Our Favorite Things – DSP 358
Graham and Ashkahn take a break from all the doom and gloom of the float world to talk about the amazing things that floating has brought them. What they love, the things that surprised them, and the many ways in which they’re inspired to stick with it and pioneer in this wild and crazy industry.
Learning to Trust Your Gut in Business – DSP 357
Sometimes, the hardest part of starting any project is to just take the leap of faith complete step one.
With some words of encouragement and caution, Graham & Ashkahn channel their inner Tony Robbins and encourage a highly knowledgeable aspiring float center owner, to trust their gut and start their float center.
How Long to Run a Filter Between Floats – DSP 356
How long should you run the filtration system for between floats? It’s an eternal question that has plagued float center owners since the dawn of time (Or at least until 1978 when the first float center opened up).
Ashkahn and Graham break down the science behind why you should filter for as long as you do and how to properly plan for it. This densely packed episode is filled to the brim with a summary of knowledge on water dilution, filtration, flow meters, and water sanitation brought over to float tanks from the pool and spa world. Take notes as you listen, there’s a lot to assess.
How to Reward your Employees – DSP 355
Recognizing that your employees rock is one of the most valuable traits an employer can have, but only as long as said employer is able to properly acknowledge that appreciation.
Graham and Ashkahn share their take on rewarding employees for their hard work and how to make it count when you want to give them a gift. The duo has no shortage of examples of how they’ve shown their appreciation at Float On, and this episode is dense with examples of nice gifts and rewards to provide staff, from the practical to the symbolic.
Latest Blog Posts
B-Gray’s School on Nothing
I Got Nothing to Say! Okay, so here’s the thing. Floating is often associated with meditation and ultimately achieving this state of void, commonly and perhaps glibly referred to as “Nothing” by salty tank proprietors everywhere. And listen, I’m totally on board with...
The Daily Solutions Podcast – Our Top 5 Episodes for October
October was a hell of a floaty month. Between the float conference non-profit, Float On’s birthday, Ashkahn’s birthday, and Halloween, let’s just be a little grateful that the ol’ Grashkahmn duo didn’t miss a day on here. Especially since these episodes are so killer....
When (and how) Salt Attacks!
This post was spurred on by work that I did illustrating hundreds of pages for our Construction Packet. As an illustrator, I spend extra time nailing down details, just to eliminate potential sources of confusion. While looking into salt weathering, I came across some...
The Daily Solutions Podcast – Our Top 5 Episodes from September
September came and went like a flash, while everyone was recovering from the whirlwind that was the Float Conference, Graham and Ashkahn were fielding questions about all things great and small in the industry. Here’s a handful of our favorites. When is the Best Time...
