Thoughts on shower types - tile/no tile, doorless, etc. (countertops, new house)

[eirenecat]

Mr. Eirenecat and I are about to undertake an involuntary master bathroom remodel in our new house. We've lived in the house three months, and have developed a living room ceiling leak courtesy of the master bathroom shower--seems a combination of an undetected leak in the existing tile wall that the prior owners had going on for a while coupled with a poorly-installed frameless shower that we had done before we moved in have conspired to create a giant cluster of wet, moldy subfloor, ruined half-wall between shower and tub, and probably a frightening scene behind the tiled shower walls themselves. We're gutting it. A new shower and new tub are in our future.

I would very much like never to deal with leaks, water damage, etc. again and am contemplating what to rebuild the shower with. Tile is lovely and I've been reading about new grouts with Microban, etc in them which supposedly retard mold but I don't know how well those work, and I dislike cleaning grout and combating mildew. I loved the look of our frameless shower for the three months we got to use it, but at the moment I'm not sure I want another one of those, either. (Maybe I just feel scarred by the idiots who installed the one we had. Their company got great reviews, but we had to have them come out three times to try to stop the leaking shower door and it's constant leak helped destroy the floor around the shower.)

I've been reading about using molded granite or marble--supposedly they have new manufacturing processes for that and it's not necessarily your mother's swirled 1980s sink and tub material, anymore. Has anyone put in a poured granite or marble composite shower recently and have thoughts/experiences?

I have also seen some nice looking doorless showers with either tiled or glass block walls. (Was contemplating a molded marble shower surround with a glass block wall.) We have the opportunity to expand the shower area and both Mr. Eirenecat and I are tall people who could use more shower room. I still worry about the probability of water spraying all over my bathroom. Got a doorless shower? Love it/hate it?

If you had the chance to redo your bathroom, what would you build your shower with?

[HappyTexan]

Over the years I've had both a doorless shower and a door shower.
I prefer the doorless shower.

The doorless one we had took the space of a tub but had a raised tile step and was fully open so we had a shower curtain.

That shower door needed constant cleaning and I was always going round and round with various products to try to make it look good all the time.

Never had glass block so I can't comment. And both were regular tile showers. A spray bottle of diluted clorox kept the grout looking white so that was never an issue for me.

[Trainwreck20]

We have contemplated a master-shower redo for several years now, but have never pulled the trigger. In any case, we would likely go with a doorless walk-in shower, possible even a much larger two-head shower setup since we would likely remove the master bathtub and expand the shower substantially. We are on the ground-floor, so leakage is not nearly the concern that it is for a 2nd story unit. In any case, we have not thought very extensively on materials. Tile has worked well for us in the past, but there are so many options out there. The glass brick or other transparent materials would be nice for lighting, and we would likely have a 'shaving bench' in the shower, which could be a solid material or tile. Honestly, we would likely talk ideas with contractors to get their experiences, as well.

[scm53]

I would redo exactly the frameless shower, whirlpool tub combo we have. Our floor is 12" tile, that is carried up the walls of the shower. The floor of the shower is mesh mounted pebbles, which also is on the sides of the tub surround. The tile in the shower is broken up with a couple of horizontal bands of glass mosaic. Like all whirlpool tubs, the tub is plastic. Not sure you have any choices there.

We've been in four years, and the only maintenance has been on the shower bench where I pulled up the epoxy caulk in the corners (that had shrunk) and replaced it with the combo grout/caulk in a tube that matches what is between the tiles. Fifteen minute job at most. Never had a problem with mildew. Other thing we did was replace all of the downlights with narrow LED spots on a dimmer that creates a little drama. So, you can have a beautiful look and watertight integrity. If you like the look, don't give up on it because you had a bad experience.

[Eastcoasting]

Man, doorless shower sounds like the way to go.

Hating the spotty glass.

[eirenecat]

Originally Posted by scm53

I would redo exactly the frameless shower, whirlpool tub combo we have. Our floor is 12" tile, that is carried up the walls of the shower. The floor of the shower is mesh mounted pebbles, which also is on the sides of the tub surround. The tile in the shower is broken up with a couple of horizontal bands of glass mosaic. Like all whirlpool tubs, the tub is plastic. Not sure you have any choices there.

We've been in four years, and the only maintenance has been on the shower bench where I pulled up the epoxy caulk in the corners (that had shrunk) and replaced it with the combo grout/caulk in a tube that matches what is between the tiles. Fifteen minute job at most. Never had a problem with mildew. Other thing we did was replace all of the downlights with narrow LED spots on a dimmer that creates a little drama. So, you can have a beautiful look and watertight integrity. If you like the look, don't give up on it because you had a bad experience.

Would you mind sharing who you used to install the frameless shower, if you don't mind? If we get another one, it will most certainly not be from the company we used in January.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by eirenecat

Would you mind sharing who you used to install the frameless shower, if you don't mind? If we get another one, it will most certainly not be from the company we used in January.

Sorry. It was done by our builder as a part of the house construction.

All y'all that hate the water spots on the glass shower walls might give this a try:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EnduroShi...020D/204835210

We did it and it works GREAT.

[Austin97]

I would go with frameless shower with tile up the walls. I prefer larger tiles not the tiny ones in a tuscan natural color.

To keep the door clean from deposits we squeegee our glass after every shower. It takes 15 seconds and is no big deal. The maids clean off any mineral deposits that do occur each week.

We had mildew but just replaced the caulk in the corners of the tile. It took over 10 years for mildew to take hold.

No one does this, but if you have a fan that blows down into the shower and leave the shower door open, the shower will dry quickly and wont allow mildew to grow.

[cBach]

Right now I'm in the middle of a self redo of the master bathroom. I gutted out the shower area and am replacing a 36"x36" with a 41"x52" custom walk-in doorless shower. It will go up around 5'4", then either be glass blocks or open on the top (depends on what kind of splash will happen, I'm making the design modular though). I'm extending how high the tile will go up, from originally just 6" above the shower head to now about 8' high. If I do glass blocks for the higher section, then I will replace the exterior window with glass blocks to match. I am also framing around the tub, they originally had a rounded base and now I will have a tiled corner and a small area on top to sit. That part is ready for tiling, backerboard already installed.

For the shower, I plan to install a shelf inside the shower to hold all the shampoos, conditioners, body washes, etc... This is because I hate soap trays and never have had a place for shampoos. I sized it according to head and shoulders and added 2 inches for padding. It will be an 18" wide shelf set back 3.5 inches into a 2x6 and will probably have a granite shelf itself. It will hold the body washes in place with a steel rod, which will be painted oil brushed bronze, which is the color of the fixtures.

The shower stall will have a shower bench which will be a triangular seat in the corner. I was going to put two shower heads but the second shower head would mean no shower bench and I think that is a real negative for women, so the shower bench stays and dual shower heads go. I still feel that the shower will be fully capable of having two people, which is what the previous shower was too small for.

I'm kind of fancying the idea of just keeping the height of the exterior walls to be 5'4", which allows me to look in but not the lady I like to be fully abreast of the situation, pardon the pun

I will also put granite countertops in for the his and hers counters. I am keeping the same counters in place though and will paint them and change the hardware. I'm thinking the sink will be glass with an elevated waterfall type nozzle. Hey, looks cool!

[ITO]

If you do a doorless shower, then keep in mind they can be cold. You might consider adding some radiant heating if you go that route.

I love my shower door, but I use squeegee it every time too.