Replies

1. 
   plantlust | Jan 15, 2004 06:16am | #1

   Mind, this is strictly based on personal experience.  I've not done any scientific experimenting for proof.

   2 tubs in my house.  Original 1920s cast iron w/porcelain finish butts up against 2 walls.  A hot bath last a LONG time, so I suspect the 2 interior walls do a great job of insulating the tub.  I also bathed an Irish Setter and the Shepherd/Terrier mutt in it and have never noticed any serious chipping/scratching or gauging of the finish.

   Other tub in 1900 cast iron/porcelain freestanding clawfoot tub.  In my humble opinion, a total pain for taking a bath.  The heat disappears practically immediately.  Have not bathed either dog in this one.

   Acrylic or fiberglass is lighter but feels flimsier to me and seems more easily scratched.  My brother is stuck w/a shower insert in his house and I checked it out on the tour after he bought the place (1970s house).

   Edited to add something I forgot - Tile shower enclosure w/epoxy grout.  If you go with tile, I HIGHLY recommend epoxy grout.  Even tho my installer squawked (ALOT), I insisted on the epoxy and I'm glad I did.  No need to paint those stupid grout lines and any water beads up and stays there until you clean it up (I'm abit paranoid about water leaking thru the ceiling).

   My preciousssss, I wantsss my precioussss NOW.

   
   

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   Edited 1/14/2004 10:49:22 PM ET by PLANTLUST

1. 
   kpavelock | Jan 15, 2004 05:01pm | #2

   Thanks so much for your input. Personal experience is what I needed.

   Kim

2. 
   WayneL5 | Jan 16, 2004 07:13am | #3

   You may want something more fancy for a master bath, but for the second (family) bath, a standard fiberglass one-piece unit is a good value.  To me, fancy stuff in a bathroom is money better spent elsewhere.  I jazzed up my bathroom with a higher end vinyl floor and color on the walls.

   In any case, if you go with one of these, the one piece are definitely easier to clean than one with seams.  I'm careful on cleaning mine and never dulled the finish or scratched the surface.

   Certainly both function and aesthetics matter.  Lots of what look good in magazines are not easy to clean.  Can you imagine soap scum on a black shower?  Neutrals are better for resale value, but that doesn't necessarily mean white.  Tan or bone are nicer looking (to me) yet are easy to decorate around.  I think shower curtains are easier to clean than shower doors.  Just throw them in the washer, and in the trash when you get tired of them.

   If you go with tile, make sure your contractor uses an appropriate tile backer board.  Drywall, even the greenboard drywall, is not suitable for within a shower, but ok elsewhere in the room.  I second the recommendation earlier about epoxy grout.

   I've never liked silicone caulk.  It tends to get mold behind it, and it's impossible to remove completely in the future, and you can't run a paint line up on it a little bit.   Siliconized acrylic latex caulk has always worked well for me.

   If you want a jetted tub, sit in them in the store.  Many are not all that comfortable.  I was disappointed in mine, because where you rest your head is right above the pump.  It was as restful as using a jackhammer as a pillow.  I hardly ever used it.  In fact, American Standard reports their research shows that the average jetted tub only gets used 7 times in its lifetime.

   For shower controls, I'm particular in that I like to control volume as well as temperature.  Most only come on full blast and you can't control volume.  American Standard makes a nice one at a reasonable price that controls both volume and temperature.  I had a massaging head once, but didn't like the pounding.  To me it wasn't soothing.  If the water pressure in your home is low, you can drill out the flow control orifice in the shower head to get better flow.  Contractors sometimes mount the head too low on the wall, and it hurts my back and takes away the pleasure of a hot shower to have to stoop.  If you mount it high the water will still find it's way to you.

   I don't like the fiberglass showers with the built in dome top.  It feels claustrophobic and just traps the steam.

   Some other things tangent to what you asked:  I put a phone in my bathroom and find it really handy.  Try to find long towel bars.  I don't know why they don't make bars as wide as a bath towel and I don't like folding or scrunching towels because they are slower to dry.  Make sure you put pleanty of hooks in a guest bathroom.  One of the things that makes staying in someone else's home unpleasant is that when you go into the bathroom you usually take clothes in too, and the only place to put them is on the wet sink or the toilet, which grosses me out.  Some hooks would be nice.  Think about upgrading the bathroom fan to a quieter one.  The $9 fans are wicked loud and you can get quite a bit quieter by spending only a little more.  I bought a fan with a nightlight included and like it a lot when I get up in the night and don't want to be blinded.  Or install a dimmer on your bathroom light switch.  In a guest bath, make the light switch lighted.

   For paint, I really like Zinnzer (I'm not sure of the spelling) mildew resistant bathroom paint.  It's really easy to clean.  If you tint it a color do obey the warning about tinting to 80% of what you would a standard paint.  I wanted peach and got pumpkin the first time because we ignored these instructions.

   Your shower choice needs to be made quite early in construction, because the tub has to go in before the framing is done, and if you choose something special-ordered, you have to allow for delivery time in the schedule.

   I hope I didn't ramble too much.

   
   

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   Edited 1/15/2004 11:18:41 PM ET by WAYNEL5

1. 
   Tish | Jan 16, 2004 05:29pm | #4

   Contractors sometimes mount the head too low on the wall, and it hurts my back and takes away the pleasure of a hot shower to have to stoop.  If you mount it high the water will still find it's way to you.

   Wayne, my husband would agree with you.  He's fifteen inches taller than I am, and the high shower head in our master bath is the first one he's ever had that was really comfortable.  However, if the head gets moved, I can't readjust it.  I have to turn off the shower, dry off, go get a step stool from the kitchen, adjust the shower head, put the stool back, and re-start my shower.  I also use a lot more hot water, because it loses a lot of heat on its way down.  I can't put a rinse-able cleaner on the shower tiles and then rinse if off by swiveling the showerhead, the way I could with a lower one. 

   I'm not going to re-mount the shower head when we (eventually) re-do our bathroom, but I just wanted to say that there are consequences for short people when you mount the shower head for the tall ones.   

1. 
   WayneL5 | Jan 17, 2004 02:49am | #5

   I understand.  Thank you for pointing it out.  Perhaps one of those showerheads that is a hand held which sits in a bracket on a vertical bar.  The head could be adjusted up and down, and removed for rinsing the shower stall down.  They can be installed without relocating the existing piping.

1. 
   Tish | Jan 17, 2004 06:25pm | #6

   Thanks Wayne.  The problem with those is that we've never used one we liked.  We have found them to be not positionable, so that when you place the shower head in its bracket, it sprays the wall and ricochets off the tile over the curtain to the rest of the bathroom, but doesn't send water down onto our heads.  Every one we've used has leaked.  I'm sure that we have not encountered higher quality ones, but over all, when we travel and find ourselves faced with one of those shower heads, we greet it with the something less than joy.

   Maybe if someone has a good one that really works as advertized, s/he will tell us about it here? 

1. 
   WayneL5 | Jan 18, 2004 06:15pm | #7

   There's another alternative, but it would only work in a shower stall, not a tub/shower combination.  I don't know which you are considering.

   You could have two shower heads, one above the other at heights suitable for each of you.  Use a shower valve made for a tub/shower combination.  Plumb the outlet of the valve for the shower head to the higher shower head as normally.  Plumb the outlet for the tub to the lower shower head.  That way you could select which shower head gets the water by turning the shower/tub knob up or down.

2. 
   aimless | Jan 20, 2004 07:40pm | #13

   Tish,

   We have a Grohe showerhead with the adjustable bar that we like very much. I'm 5'6" and my mother is 6'. After showering at our house, she went back to Florida and bought the same showerhead. I don't think it is high-end, since it came from one of the big boxes (either Home Depot, or Lowes, can't remember which). 4 years later I still really like it.

   Amy

3. 
   Tish | Jan 20, 2004 08:24pm | #14

   Thanks, Amy.  I'll check it out.  I'm 4'11" (and a pinch) and my husband is 6' 3".  We're both outside of the range of average heights for our sexes.  It makes for interesting times, shower issues, dancing, getting the wall paint straight at the ceiling, etc. 

3. 
   Nanook | Jan 19, 2004 06:00pm | #8

   we recently gutted the kids bathroom upstairs and when it came to the tub and shower we opted to go with an extra deep tub, I beleive it's acrylic but I am not sure it's called Calbrocca we have five children 4 of which are boys who are going to be teenagers one day, so we wanted something large to accomadate their size and rather than tile the shower area we used an insert kit to match the tub,which was one large piece with another piece for the ceiling and then applied the mastic and silicone along the seams.

1. 
   kpavelock | Jan 20, 2004 01:55am | #9

   Hi;

   Have you been happy with it? Any advandtages/disadvantages?

   Kim

1. 
   Nanook | Jan 20, 2004 03:09am | #10

   Hi Kim,

   yes we are very happy with it, I actually love to be able to get the

   occasional long soak after gardening,(I'm usually over at OTF) even dh who is at least 6' has plenty of room in it, we can bath at least three of the kids in it at once and it is very easy to clean, considering the price we only paid about $300.00 for the tub, it is the best bathtub that we have ever bought and it is a standard length but extra deep by at least 6" from regular tubs,and a little wider, we were on a budget to do the kids bathroom which measures 10x8' so not a very big bathroom and we did eveything for under 2000.00 that is from studs and no floor. I think the biggest splurge for me was the backsplash which I did in small riverstone which was already polished and attatched to backing in 8"x" pieces, selling for around $16.00 a piece (12 pieces)

   I got everything from the Home Depot up here in Canada.

1. 
   kpavelock | Jan 20, 2004 04:42pm | #11

   Thank you so much!

1. 
   Nanook | Jan 20, 2004 04:51pm | #12

   your welcome! hope I helped a little!