Affordable Shower Kit?

[Robert Adams]

I used a swanstone to replace the tub in my parents house. Did I'd about 6 years ago and has held up very well. There is a dense grid of webbing and it is very stable. No flex at all.

    Make sure to put a coat of thinset down before installing the pan as it will eliminate any issues from dips in the floor. If you weight it down too much while it cures you might as well not do the thinset as it will warp the pan to the shape of the underlying floor instead of staying flat. 

    I actually have two for our house waiting for the bathroom remodels...

[JSpill]

Thank you for responding so quickly to my request. BestBath and Swanstone products seem excellent.The kit that I need will cost more than I thought. I know you get what you pay for, but I was hoping to find something less than @ $3500.00. I see that Home Depot and Lowes sell shower enclosure kits for less than half the price of BestBath and Swanstone. Is the lower price of Sterling and Dreamline kits lower because they are that much inferior? Just wondering.

[Mr_Mike]

My view: Don't use a shower kit. Do a mud floor and tile the walls. Its easier than you think. Use a Vigo brand glass door kit. They use barn door type hardware and are frameless.

Since you are DIY (or even not), you can put blocking in the wall for whatever grab bars you want.

I also used honed travertine. Its naturally non-skid. I use Kerdi waterproofing products. They are bullet proof.

When done, you end up with something like this...

[daddo]

I redesigned our old shower and sink in the master bedroom in our old house over 5 years ago and this shower has held up much better than I had expected. In fact, it is the same as it was new. Easy to clean and keep.
You just need to frame it well.

It was to be a temp until I could get to it to install a tiled shower the same size,  but we had decided to keep it. I think it was a big box store item- possibly HD's.

 Here it is almost finished.

 




 I do agree with mike- what he has is far better and if you can afford the time and money, that is the best route to take. In fact, I see us doing the same in a few years. We just ran out of time and patience.

[Mr_Mike]

Cost wise, I have about $750 in the glass enclosure. It retails at about $1000, but I hit smoking sale. The Kerdi was about $500 and the tile only about $300 or so.

If one were doing a 30x60, the vigo 60" glass doors are about $750. You can always do something way cheaper. I just like the frameless look.

So, the basic shower was under $1000 installed with the valves and everything. Labor not included, of course.

[Robert Adams]

Thank you for responding so quickly to my request. BestBath and Swanstone products seem excellent.The kit that I need will cost more than I thought. I know you get what you pay for, but I was hoping to find something less than @ $3500.00. I see that Home Depot and Lowes sell shower enclosure kits for less than half the price of BestBath and Swanstone. Is the lower price of Sterling and Dreamline kits lower because they are that much inferior? Just wondering.

       I have a sterling base in my pile of stock. I picked it up on clearance for $20 a few years ago. Will open it up and see how it looks compared to the swanstone. Was too good of a deal not to the take home. 

         One thing about tile is if you use the modern methods the prep will cost 2 to 3 times more than the tile itself. Course when it comes to tile floors look at how many floors are still around uncracked after 50+ years and they were just tile on plywood... I like the new products but they are quite overpriced for what they are and I'm not fully sold on them. 
      
             A full mud base like shown is Is a great method to use though I will trust a  reinforced plastic base over it when it comes to leaks. Seamless has allot going for it.

[atgcpaul]

I'm currently converting a soaking tub to a shower.  When that is done, the 30x30 shower area will be demoed and turned to storage.

I removed the steel tub, prepped the walls, and converted the drain to 2".

I went with this Delta Classic 400 shower pan and shower wall kit because they were in-stock at HD, but only OK reviews.  $564 so far

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Delta-Classic.../204342337
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Delta-Classic.../204342331

I have an SUV but the surround kit obviously would not fit in it and I didn't want to put it on top.  I used the $20 HD rental truck to get it home.  The Delta glass doors will add another $339.

I know with enough time I could probably figure out the tile surround, but then I'd be worried I messed up the water proofing.

Anyway, the shower kit is what it is.  The Delta pan has a styrofoam back which makes it pretty stiff.  I don't know what that foam will be like in a few years.  The threshhold area is flexy, but the shower track will be on top so you won't be stepping on that.  After I put the pan down and connected the drain, I could not stand a squeaking noise I kept hearing.  I thought it was the pan.  The pan was partly to blame.  It flexed enough that the drain pipe also flexed.  The drain pipe was rubbing against two different joists.  I had to remove the pan and cut a little more clearance around the pipe to quiet the pipes.

I'm ready to glue the panels to the studs but I'm just procrastinating because that's the point of no return.  If I was focused on this project, it would easily be a two-weekend job.

The shower will definitely improve the bathroom.  We're going to move this year and are strongly considering renting out our house.  We didn't want to plunk down a big wad of cash on a big upgrade so we thought this was a good compromise.

[JSpill]

I'm always impressed when someone is able to do the job themselves. Unfortunately I'm not. The pictures show excellent work. I am going to have to hire someone to install the shower kit. I want something that is solidly made, easy to install,and priced right. Since the apartment is not my full time home I'm not looking for a high end product. It might sound like I'm looking for the cheap way out, but I'm not. Just looking for a quality unit at the right price.

[JGrout]

I'm always impressed when someone is able to do the job themselves. Unfortunately I'm not. The pictures show excellent work. I am going to have to hire someone to install the shower kit. I want something that is solidly made, easy to install,and priced right. Since the apartment is not my full time home I'm not looking for a high end product. It might sound like I'm looking for the cheap way out, but I'm not. Just looking for a quality unit at the right price.

I am going to suggest a call to a local company to me for you to get a recommendation for the same acrylic surround we replaces our tub/shower with when my FIL came to live with us 

We needed full walk in accessibility and even wheelchair accessibility 

They did all the work in two days ( they claim one but ours was not typical) and the cost as I recall was not much more than 2K 

link to a video similar to our bath

link to the installer locally

I am sure they could give you a reference to a local to you  that does these remodels 

Joe

[Mr_Mike]

I'm always impressed when someone is able to do the job themselves. Unfortunately I'm not. The pictures show excellent work. I am going to have to hire someone to install the shower kit. I want something that is solidly made, easy to install,and priced right. Since the apartment is not my full time home I'm not looking for a high end product. It might sound like I'm looking for the cheap way out, but I'm not. Just looking for a quality unit at the right price.

In that case, let the installer buy it and buy what he likes. You will get a better installation if the installer is familiar with the product. And, you put the liability of damaging the unit on him.

Write one check, be done.