I have had solid surface showers for over 30 years. Solid surface is, IMHO the best product for showers. Easy to clean (Scotch brite and soft scrub if really bad) water proof, and with Mystera and Carporee reallly great patterns and colors.

jenanla, what kind of solid surface are you considering? I can think of two members of the forum who have two different kinds - Arielitasmom has granite slab and jkom has cultured granite. See if you can find their posts.

Thanks for the info. I've only seen swanstone and would like to see other "stone" like options. I'll check out these leads you've mentioned above.

Hello, I looked for all the posts on bathrooms forum by Arielitas_mom (I think that is the membername), hoping to catch a glimpse of the solid granite shower; but could not find it. Searching with keywords ("granite", "shower", "stall" etc) did not help as well.

Can someone knowledgeable please post the specifics of that thread or point me to the album? I heard about it on another thread as well...

Also one dumb question: while installing the whole heavy slabs, do you need special material to stick the entire slab to the wall etc? These slabs are heavy, and they stand vertical in the stall. The possibility, however small, of the slab coming off, is scary. Or am I being too paranoid?

We remodeled our house and two bathrooms in 2006. One bathroom was redone first so we could use the other until the first was ready to use. In the time it took to remodel and get material purchased for the second bathroom, the price of solid surface plastics doubled. We went with stone and tile for our second bathroom.

I live in hotels most of the time and most of the time they are brand new hotels. The one I'm in now was finished in April and has granite walls in the bathrooms.

jenanla, here is a link to a thread regarding cultured marble showers. Search for postings by jkom51, who also has a photo posted on this thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cultured marble shower thread

I wouldn't recommend using cultured marble. We had that in both baths in our home built 25 years ago (and we still have it one). The vanity tops scratched and got so dull. The tub/shower combo walls got discolored and were a pill to clean.

One thing I'll say for them -- they never cracked.

My parents have cultured marble shower surrounds in all 3 baths, built in 1982. The color is a light beige. They look fine. Mother never uses abrasives to clean--usually just handsoap. She's in her mid-80s and still does all her cleaning; loves her shower surrounds for their ease of cleaning.

I've been reading about them and the newer cultured marbles should be much improved from 25 years ago.

Actual "solid surfacing" will be a lot more expensive. Corian has it, but they've routed out fake tile lines and in my mind destroyed the easy-to-clean functionality of their product.

we remodeled our master bath in our old home 13 years ago, we used cultured marble for the double shower (one window wall plus large shampoo niche)and loved it! So easy to clean and looked just as good the day we sold the house(last month) as the day installed.

Cultured marble/granites are softer than true solid surface. It's one reason I prefer the cultured granite in a stone-look pattern; it hides the scratches. Just as using the beige/tan or darker colors better hides the plastic anti-slip film they put on the floors of the showerpans, BTW.

Not only are the resins better in the current mixes, but most people know by now not to use harsh abrasives, which detroy the gel coating.

We used to have an acrylic tub and surround. I would absolutely NEVER have another one. The stuff is brittle, and I used the wrong cleaner on it which pretty much destroyed it. I'd clean it and a week later it would look like I hadn't touched it in a year. When the surround cracked (after 8 years), we suffered with it for a while, then in 2003 replaced it with the cultured granite custom shower. My DH agrees it was the smartest thing we did. Doing Swanstone would have cost us $800 PLUS install costs. The cultured granite price included all labor and install.

Very interesting process, too. They installed the showerpan first. Then they measured for the walls. Only after they were in could we bring in the showerglass folks. So it took actually quite a bit longer than we thought it would, over a month!

I really like our Swanstone panel surround...very low maintenance and easy to clean compared with the old fiberglass mess that was there before. Still looks like the day it was installed.

On the other hand, when we replace the downstairs fiberglass bath/shower, I'm thinking acrylic rather than solid surface surround and cast iron tub. The downstairs shower doesn't get as much use, and acrylic should be a lower cost solution that will last a long time with the current usage level.

-Roger

I agree that cultured marble isn't the best choice for a vanity top, but it works flawlessly in a shower application. I recently used Gel Gloss on cultured granite that's almost 15 years old. Couldn't believe how it restored the shine. Wish I had used it from the very beginning. I'll definitely be applying some to the new shower stall before we start using it.

Love, love, love my Swanstone shower. We squeegee it religiously and I NEVER have to scrub it at all!

A little birdie told me that someone was looking for pictures of my granite slab shower. Here are a few - I love everything about it. The walls were adhered onto cement and lathe...I've heard stories about granite slab showers being the only things remaining intact after an earthquake. No problem with upkeep, and it's a joy to shower in.

We also did our tub surround and had enough left over for a kitchen table:

That granite bath is gorgeous!
I have swanstone in two baths, 2004 and 2007 remodels.
Swanstone is NOT cultured anything. Corian, I hear, now has grooves to look like tiles, fake, and defeats the purpose of solid surface.
Think about this. Never, never, never, having to clean tile grout, moldy, black, grey, whatever color of mold. Never watching tiles, whether granite or ceramic, fall off, because water permeated the grout or caulk.
There is one caveat. Our 2005 swanstone panels are completely straight, to the edge...so that you can easily install shower doors.
Our 2007 swanstone panels have a raised 4 or 5 inch border on the ends of the panels which prevented us from re-installing our costly glass sliders. I cannot explain why it didn't fit anymore. Turned out to be a blessing because we save a few minutes not having to squeegee and wipe the glass. Plain White shower curtain.
Swanstone is not as pretty as beatiful tiles or stones, but it makes the room into a self cleaning room. Use pretty stones/tiles, if you like, on all the dry surfaces.
It's so easy. And so clean!