first bathroom remodel questions

16 years ago

I'm just finishing up a kitchen remodel, and I think in the next 6 months, it'll be time to do the bathroom. I feel a bit overwhelmed by starting from scratch again with all the research and planning, but have to start somewhere!

This is a pretty small house, with two bathrooms. The other small bath has only a shower stall, and the main bath (to be remodeled) has a tub/shower combo. It is not tiled, but rather has some sort of one-piece acrylic or plastic liner, and the tub (I think) is cast iron. I think the layout of the room is going to have to stay the same, but I'd like to find some sort of shower/tub combo that is a little more roomy for two people showering at once, as about 50% of our use is shared. The tub space is about 59" by 29".

I dont know whether to go with another tub and tile, or a tub and solid walls (to avoid grout) or one of those one-piece things. My minimal research leads me to think that the one piece units are low end, and not very sturdy, but I like the idea of no seams, no caulk, no grout. Opinions?

Also, with limited space, are there units that could fit in this 59"x29" alcove, but that curve out on one side for more room? Or maybe a shower stall without a tub would give more standing room, but then the house would have no bath tub......but are there even shower units without baths made that shape?

I know I sound clueless, but I appreciate any ideas or links or whatever you may have.

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Comments (7)

sheltieche
16 years ago
One piece unit usually for new housing as it is usually impossible to bring it in the house once it built.
muscat
Original Author
16 years ago
OK, well that is a start! Thanks!
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sheltieche
16 years ago
if you are planning to sell this house in near future, it is better to save the tub.
muscat
Original Author
16 years ago
Yes, that is part of my concern. I wish that the room were not so small, or that this was not the only tub in the house, but that is what I am working with.

How expensive is redoing a tub/shower in tile compared to using some sort of a sheet product, like cultured marble, or acrylic?
sheltieche
16 years ago
hopefully someone else will chime in with better pricing estimates. It will depend if you are going to do your own work or hire pros. With tile- tile itself could cost you from $1 per one s.f. to $5-10 for s.f. depending on the tile, consider that all base, corners, rails and special ornamental pieces are $$ . Tile install could cost from $4 to $10 per s.f. again depending on design and difficulty of the tile work. Granite installed here could cost around $50 per s.f. and acrylic stones like Swanstone, Corian etc somewhere along those prices $50-75?
Shower tub surround from companies like Re-bath, Luxurybath or Bathfitters will cost around $1500. You can buy inexpensive shower surround fiberglass at local big box stores for few hundred bucks and install it yourself.
igloochic
16 years ago
Muscat I wouldn't remove the only tub. I personally prefer a shower but only if you have at least one tub in the place, and your option wouldn't allow that.

I'm doing two places...in our main home, everything is tiled, ceiling, floors, etc. in granite or a high end porceline. The costs to do that are pretty high. But, in the second place, which still needs to be nice, I am doing the same type of thing, but drastically reducing the costs by using less exensive porceline, and not going with the fancy stuff (ie in the family room bathroom I won't tile the ceiling, and the tub will be a decent quality air jet tub verses a water and air jet tub). In the master bathroom, there is literally room for a small tub and a toilet alone (the vanities are in the bedroom with a partial wall to a 15" ceiling). I don't want to spend the money to make it really lovely...but it needs to be really lovely LOL so I'm going to take out the existing tub/shower combo and go with a shower alone. In that space, because it's so skimpy, I'm going to have to go with a tiled and framed in space so it has the appearance of being pricy...but just pick tile well :) I also will do a stock door verses frameless glass (which is a freaking fortune) so that will give me a huge savings.

Then in the downstairs shower, I'm going to use one of the preformed pieces. But honestly, if this weren't the third shower in the house...I'd not do this. I'm only going to feel comfy getting away with it because it's the shower for the sauna, so keeping it simple will be ok I think.

But one big savings...is to use preformed shower pans and then tile the walls only. Having the pan made on site is a pain in the arse and it's expensive (it has been for me so far...but then we're on our third tile guy so perhaps that's part of it LOL) Anyhoo, in the master here I'll use one of those preformed pans, which look nice, but not quite as custom as tile would.

I bring this up, because I've seen your backsplash :) I don't see why, with careful planning, you couldn't do the same thing...apply tile to the wall and use a preformed pan or tub that the tile butts up to (I know there's more to it than that...but it's not as hard as getting proper slope in a shower floor!) I don't know how hard the ceiling is...I'll leave that to someone else to chime in on, but I think you could do the walls pretty darned nicely, given the example of your existing work. Just stay away from the really hard stuff...natural stone, huge tiles (mine are 24x24 so that's why I bring that up) and don't try to build in any fancy nieches.

And post when you're done :oP You know you can do it!
muscat
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks! Lots to mull over.......I have to check a few things, and I know I'll be back with more questions. Igloochic, I appreciate your faith in me, but I'm a lot more nervous about tile that has to withstand water and other stresses than I am about a backsplash......:)