First--welcome!!!! You've come to the right place for advice--GW'ers are terrific! (FYI, the Bathroom forum doesn't "move" as quickly, get as much traffic as some of the other forums, so don't get discouraged if you don't get responses quickly).

FWIW, we put a shower in our guest bathroom (it was originally a long, narrow 1/2 bath with a teeny-tiny sink stuck on the wall, a very low toilet, and a sliding door closet at the back end of the room, abutting the garage). Everyone talked us out of having a tiled shower floor--wouldn't be worth the expense; it's a guest bathroom and the shower would only be used a few times a year (except for a stretch of months this past year when we reno'd our two upstairs bathrooms and the guest bathroom was the only game in town!).

We put in a Kohler cast iron shower pan (had read about them here) and it was the best decision we could have made. Cost a bit more than fiberglass and acrylic, but much less than a tile floor. It's safer than some (has no-slip grips which the Kohler acrylic pan does not) and it's very solid and sturdy. I am very much an advocate of NOT being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Even though the shower won't be used very often as a rule, we still wanted to do our part to do this right the first time.

We chose a white pan to coordinate with the white toilet (Toto!) and white porcelain/fireclay sink top. We already had lt walnut travertine floor tile, so chose our accent tile to tie-in the different colors/materials in the bathroom. Our field tile is a a glossy white Daltile tile (it comes in matte, too, which is beautiful, but we felt the glossy tile worked best with the shower pan).

Here are some pics:

As for Toto toilets--yes, they are! We are very happy with our toilets, and with the company itself. They replaced one of our toilet seats (had a gash in the lid, could have been caused by the plumber, but they replaced it without question). They also sent new/redesigned unifits for all three of our toilets to alleviate the dripping noise we were experiencing (they had redesigned the unifits to address this very thing--ours had shipped before the redesign). Not opnly that, they sent a check to help defray the plumber's cost for doing the work. Nice company!

Good luck to you as you embark on this project!

I was going to recommend the cast iron pan too.

The general retail is about 55%-60% of the list price, so I'd venture you can get a Kohler 36 by 48 pan for around $550.

While that might sound pricey, trust me, that's all you pay for. Nothing else on the floor. Just the receptor. They are very well built, they look fabulous, and they feel sturdy underfoot. And like cast iron tubs, they'll last forever.

Best, Mongo

I don't know where you are located, but we've done very well price-wise (on stuff for our kitchen, and all three bathrooms) at Hardware-Design in Fairfield, NJ (off rte 46). Our salesperson, Sean was/is terrific, and took great care of us.

Cat Mom,

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but after doing the kitchen last year, it's time to consider doing two bathrooms. Your guest bathroom looks very similar to ours and I love what you've done. Would you post more pics of the bathroom including the cabinets and sinks. Thanks for the tips on the cast iron pan and the Toto toilet.

Thanks all for the feedback and the pictures. Catmom - your bathroom looks great (oh to have a clean shower floor again!) I like the cast iron and the Corian, haven't seen the Swanstone yet.

I'm in North Carolina and our neighborhood is considered upscale and it's our Master bath. I just want to make sure that when it comes time to sell, we're keeping up with our competition. First quote for the cast iron pan I've gotten is $896 plus $150 for installation. Off the cuff quote for the Corian was $1170 but she said that it was likely a little lower.

I'm also researching frameless showers (yikes!). I had no idea how expensive they are. Right now we have a ghastly brass framed shower.

Mongo - I copied and emailed your educational piece on shower hardware to my husband. I'm so glad I found this forum.

I just checked my sheets, the Kohler K-9025-0 is indeed $896 list. If you source it yourself, online vendors have it for $550, the box stores for $640.

$150 for installation is perfectly reasonable.

For frameless glass, if you can't seem to find anything locally, look at Wilson Glass. Very DIY-friendly, not just for total DIY, but for DIY sourcing and then you hiring out the installation should you choose that route.

The caution I'll offer, and it's not really a "caution", just a head's up: Should you allow the installer to source the materials, your contract essentially says that he'll provide you with an "XYZ" shower. If the Kohler base is delivered damaged, it's up to the contractor to source a new one. If they break your glass doors during the installation, it's up to them to replace the doors at no additional charge to you.

If you source materials yourself, they are totally your responsibility. When they are delivered, inspect them and make sure everything is proper. Store them in a safe place. During installation if the installer causes damage, it's between you and the installer to work out an equitable solution for replacing the damaged goods. And work it out AHEAD of time.

Best bet is to have a clause in the contract that the installer is responsible for replacing any items damaged during movement or installation of those items, or any damage that occurs to those materials during the performance of his duties on the job.

You source them and when they are delivered to your house, you inspect them. All is good so you store them in your garage. Or basement. Or living room. When it's time for him to "touch" them, he inspects them and signs off they they are damage-free. Now they are his responsibility until the job is completed. There's always a middle ground if something does get dinged, but some sort of contractual language is best. Or you can pay retail and let him assume all responsibilities from A to Z. That's what his markup is for. It's simply built-in insurance for him.

carecooks--you have mail, and a new thread with more pics for you so I don't hijack childseyes thread.

Childseyes, my folks are in Raleigh, maybe we can meet-up during our next trip down!

Thanks again Mongo. I'm looking forward to our next quote and I'm liking your hybrid solution - source things for ourselves and have the contractor assume responsibility when he steps in. I'm not really too nervous about that for the cast iron pan, the glass shower is another story. This site has really helped clue me into the questions that hadn't even occurred to me yet. So my next question is about water pressure. We're on a well - I'd like to have a wall mount shower head as well as a handheld. How do I figure out if we have the pressure for that and what questions should I be asking a plumber about it?

Water pressure shouldn't be a problem. Volume could be. But you could be in good shape regarding both.

Your well likely feeds a small water tank with a pressure regulator on it. That tank will be the first thing the water pipe plumbs into in your basement. The regulator (normally on the bottom of the tank, a small box, 4-5" square or so) can be adjusted if necessary.

For volume, an easy check is to use an outside hose bib to fill a 5 gallon drywall bucket. Time how long it takes to fill the bucket, convert that to gallons per minute. If it takes a minute, you have 5GPM. If 90 seconds, 3.3 GPM. There are usually few flow restrictions with an outside hose bib.

For a "point-of use" check you can try using the bathroom tub spigot. There usually isn't a flow restrictor on the tub spigot, but sometimes there may be a flow-through restriction on the valve itself. See how long it takes to fill the 5 gallon bucket out of the tub spout. Or use a 1 gallon milk jug, in that case do it a few times and average your times.

If you get a drastic difference between the two, then you might have flow restrictions in your house plumbing. Too small diameter tubing over too far a distance, too many bends, sediment inside the pipes.

Most shower heads today are limited to a max of 2.5GPM. With two standard heads you're at 5GPM. If you have 7-8GPM you're fine. Even if at or below 5 you'll have full flow at first, you'll be using the reserve water in the well shaft. After a while you'll be running down your holding tank. An alternative to that is to install a large holding tank in your basement, but there are potential extras associated with that too.

In general, if you can run your current shower head plus the bathroom faucet at the same time, you should be fine.

If you do ever run low on water and then your pumps seems to run forever to recharge, then you could have an issue.

Your plumber will be able to easily address any of your concerns.

Follow-up - Cast iron receptor won't fit. We'd need another inch. I'm really bummed about that. And I really don't want tile.

So what started out as replacing our shower floor is morphing into replacing the entire shower and tub surround. Shower is 54" x 39 1/2".

I really liked the guy that came tonight, he did not seem to be a corner cutter but I have to get more estimates. I'm trying to figure out ways to whittle down the cost. The three most expensive parts of the quote:

corian shower pan w/install is $2600 ($750 cheaper for cultured marble).
Tile shower walls (up to ceiling) and tub surround $2900 (with $4/tile allowance)
3/8" frameless shower door (78" tall), $2568.

I'm having a hard time parting with any of those things and am feeling really discouraged. Thoughts?

Can't comment on the tiled walls and 3/8" shower door, but just looked up our invoice for our cultured marble shower pan-which was 48" X 36"- slightly smaller but significantly less expensive.

$746.73 Delivery $85.00

My husband installed it himself. We had custom cultured marble walls, with a 10 foot long, 8.5" wide shelf, and with install came to just under $2000. They had quoted us $1200 at first for the base until I pointed out it was the standard 48 X 36, so that saved us nearly $500.

Have to say the cultured marble base is gorgeous, very sturdy and so super easy to clean, as are the walls. So, you may be able to save a significant amount of money with a cultured marble base--$2000 seems overpriced.