Marble is beautiful, but is also pourous. Yes, the maintenance is more extensive.....just depends on how well you keep up the maintenance.

Bear in mind that you'll need to have a plumber upgrade the drain from a 1.5" to a 2" drain....and have it centered.

A Kerdi pan works well, as does the Kerdi Curb....but, truthfully, a mud pan and curb is cheaper and, if you have a good tile mechanic, cheaper. Kerdi for the floor, walls and Kerdi drain is a very GOOD move, however.

Pricing is difficult to estimate, depending on where you live and the market there. The Schluter/Kerdi materials will run about $400 or so. The labour for a rip-out, rebuild, mud, and install could range anywhere from 3/K to over 5/K....and I've seen and done them higher than that.

I think you're a bit off, while the marble is not cheap - the bulk of your expense is going to be in labor. Marble install = more money, kerdi = more money, walk in= more if you are talking about a curbless shower.

Thanks lazarususa ... the contractors we spoke with don't know about Kerdi and would use a PVC membrane with a mud pan and curb. It sounds like using the Kerdi approach would be better and not that much more expensive, but the contractor needs to be familiar with it to use it.

Also, is running the membrane only a foot higher than the shower floor adequate? No need to go as high as the shower valve to ensure waterproofing?

Do your estimates include the tile work as well?

antss -- who is a bit off? And what exactly are you referring to? Just the labor? Why is installing marble more expensive (at least from a labor perspective)? We would not (and cannot) do a curbless shower ... our space is too small.

How much time should demo and building through tiling take for a 3' x 6' shower?

Thanks again for all comments!

The labor is more because the material is less forgiving, and therefore ALOT more time consuming.

With respect to the pan membrane, it should come to atleast 8" above the height of the curb.

As for a recent walk in marble shower, I finished one friday. Is that recent enough? :-)

Thanks for the pictures Bill. We have a tub/shower combo and did tumbled marble a few years ago. Would like to take out tub and just make this a shower but did not really want to do marble on the floor. The rock floor you did is a great idea. I think we may steal it. To Op, not sure of the $ numbers but when we did this I think porcelain tile was $4 and marble $7+ per sqft

Beautiful work Bill. "You 'Da Man!"

Bill -- thanks for your input on the labor and recommended minimum height of the membrane. When you said that the labor is ALOT more time consuming, does that mean you have to be more careful cutting and setting the tiles due to the "less forgiving material"?

Your handiwork looks great! Nice tight grout lines ... what marble was used? Any sense of the cost of materials?

neilaz -- good luck to you!

Thanks again.

When you said that the labor is ALOT more time consuming, does that mean you have to be more careful cutting and setting the tiles due to the "less forgiving material"?

That's part of it. When it comes to stone, especially polished stone, if it's not perfect, you'll see it, and you'll feel it. I've said many times it's all in the reflection, because reflections don't lie. Look at the picture above of the reflection in the shower wall tile. See how the reflection is continuous from one tile to the next? If the tile isn't set perfectly flat, that reflection will be broken all to hell. That takes alot of time (as well as alot of skill) to get it that perfect. I don't mean to be tooting my own horn here. I'm trying to help you understand why the need for the extra time, and therefore, the added expense. Just because someone can set tile, doesn't necessarily mean they're competent to set stone.

what marble was used? Any sense of the cost of materials?

The white is carrara, and although I'd know the name if I heard it, I can't remember the name of the grey marble mosaics. As for cost, the carrara isn't much (as marble goes!)-- maybe 6-7.00 a foot. The chair rali, pencil liner, and mosaic listello, on the other hand, are a different story. Each chair rail and pencil liner is about 22.00 a piece, and the mosaic listello's 32.00 a foot. so for every linear foot of that wainscot, the price is 76.00. This is not exactly an economy bathroom! LOL I know the greymosaics weren't cheap, either, and they're also used on the floor for the "dots" as well as that piece on the wall.