The more you’ve learned, the more difficult the decision has become. I wish I could tell you this research has made things clearer. I’ve also visited a cultured marble shop 25 minutes from my home.
I ’ve checked out Onyx, Kohler Choreograph, Corian and Swanstone. My mind is as confused about these systems as it was helping my 15-year-old daughter find a prom dress after looking through 6 stores (and by the way she broke up with the guy 3 weeks later!). I've done similar bases with tile on the walls too but for a space like a garage with hard water, I'd go for as simple and low-maintenance as possible.Mary called me and said, “Mike, I see you write a lot about solid surface shower systems. Going from memory, the Corian walls weren't too bad price was compared to correctly detailed and water-proofed tile either. If I remember right, they just added a metal shower caddy over the shower head for soap, shampoo, etc. This is a detail / method I would recommend to anyone with similar shower requirements. They liked having 8 caulk joints as the only possible maintenance to contend with for the foreseeable future. The answer was terrazzo bases like this with 1/4" thick Corian laminated to the walls. Guys coming in from calls were filthy and the last thing anyone wanted was to add cleaning soot from light colored grout to the chore list. Like you, they wanted easy to clean, no tile / grout, no fiberglass, and had the additional requirement of all bases being mandated to meet Illinois Accessibility Code. One commercial client a few years ago was a fire department that had 11 showers being built in a new fully-staffed station. Some base manufacturers also offer sidewall kits but I have never used one of those. They typically have an intergral drain assembly and a metal flange on three sides that goes behind your waterproofing / finish surface.
There are other manufacturers out there but this is the last one I've used and could find info on the fastest. For a DIY shower or tub walls, you can't beat this stuff.įor single piece heavy duty shower bases it's hard to be a precast terrazo unit along the lines of these from Stern-Williams. It's 100% waterproof, weighs nothing (I think a 4x 8 sheet weighs something like 7 lbs), cuts with a utility knife, and comes in a wide variety of thicknesses. Oh.and I'm done with Hardibacker, Durock and every other frigging cement board out there! If I build a shower or tub surround, I spend a few extra bucks and use Kerdi Board. Yeah.this is not the cheapest way to build a shower.but I know the installation is 100% leak-proof and I don't lay awake at night wondering if my shower floor will start smelling moldy because I f'd up the installation. I'm not sure you can beat these for fool-proof installations if you are tiling the floor. I ended up using a Schluter Shower Pan Kit. I looked into the "proper" way to do it (mortar bed, rubber membrane, weep holes etc.).and quite frankly it sounded like a big pain in the ass while still leaving a risk for potential moisture problems if everything wans't done perfectly. I just built a 60" x 48" shower with a tiled floor and walls.
0 kommentar(er)
