acrylic showers have thier place if you can live with it, it will be cheapest route. they do atleast dry out between showers, can be easily serviced. the only downfall of them is the wasted/lost space. In a average 32 acrylic the actual room inside is more like 28 1/2" and thats anywhere there is no shelf or handle, you loose another 9 inches in each corner, thats where they need the most support (for shipping) I am continuously asked about this question by my clients. Here is my opinion and why. I suggest the use of a poured cultured marble pan. we do the others but this is why. I do not like the way that the drain attaches to the liners in a wet-bed, I have been called back to 3 showers in the last 5 years where they have began to leak. none of the 3 were my fault, but all 3 had to have the floors removed, and rebuilt. all 3 was from the plumbers flange, 3 different plumbers were used by the homeowners. 2 leaked because the seal gave up on its own over time,(obviously they were not tight enough) plumbers had to pay me to redo. the 3rd I was paid by homeowner, because he admitted to plumber to using a toilet plunger to try and unclog the drain, that was full of hair. In doing so he blew out the seal, when the clog would not move. but there are more reasons than that. I have repeatedly been called in to redo showers here in the south (NC)because of mildew/mold. if you live in humid states rubber liners with wetbed is just not smart. it is just that a wetbed. Anyone can say what they want, seal it every year, or not the floor of a tile shower takes days/weeks to dry out after a shower. this combined with the fact that the floor and every wall contracts with temperature guarantees you that in a tile shower the corners Will crack no matter how small. relevent to leakage, no thats why the walls are sealed before the tile, it is enevitable that water will enter behind the tile in some small amounts. and move down to the pan. True they make caulking in every color that they make grout in, and should absolutly be used. but this does not take away from he fact that there is no possible way to keep water from getting under the tile level on a tile bottom shower floor. liners are not there incase the tile fails, its a working part of the shower system. and in this system (the cracks around the corners) there is an eco-system that is perfect for mold and mildew to survive, and spore out into the rest of your home continuously. cultured marble bases removes this continuous dampness, as well as having a standard flange that can be easily changed/worked on in case of any cause. Cultured marble pans are flanged on top, come in stardard sizes up to 4x5 feet, then you could build a bench all the way around the outside of that for a party shower. If you use cultured walls as well, corners are siliconed in, as well as a second sealed corner trim strip. so leakage is an impossibility, so is moisture retention. Recesses, and shelving no problem, even adding them later. smooth single no seamed surfaces are easy to clean and no maintainance. I make money if I do the tile, when I do bathroom remodels, I use outside contractor if they want the cultured marble and I make nothing for that. Facts are facts, I want my clients to get what they want, and what they need is info to make thier own decisions. Other people have said clean and dry your shower after use, I say what are they thinking. I want a VERY low maintainance place to get clean, not a place where I have to do maintainance every night, I wont dry me and the shower after every use. There is still the water in the cracks that you simply cannot get to to dry, along the bottom of the wall to floor seam. if you use the cultured marble base , and tile walls, you will have no worries as well, the possible problem is in the tile floor base.

If you want to be ready...call your town building office. Ask what version of the IRC code they are using. The code is updated every three years, so it might be 2012, 2009, or the 2006 version, etc. To a certain extent it doesn't matter, because the applicable section of code hasn't changed in quite a few years. But you want to avoid showing someone a 2012 code reference when your town still uses 2006. Even if the verbiage is the same. Your goal is to eliminate wiggle room. Go to this website. Click on the appropriate version of the code. Click on Chapter 27 - Plumbing Fixtures Click on Section 2709 - Shower Receptors Scroll down to read the text. Sections that could be of concern to you are: P2709.2.1 PVC sheets. Plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sheet shall meet the requirements of ASTM D 4551. Sheets shall be joined by solvent welding in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. That patch in your membrane? You want to make sure is was solvent welded per the manufacturer's instructions with a proper PVC sheet cement, and not stuck together with the red stuff which might be RedGard waterproofing membrane. P2709.3 Installation. Lining materials shall be sloped one-fourth unit vertical in 12 units horizontal (2-percent slope) to weep holes in the subdrain by means of a smooth, solidly formed subbase, shall be properly recessed and fastened to approved backing so as not to occupy the space required for the wall covering, and shall not be nailed or perforated at any point less than 1 inch (25.4 mm) above the finished threshold. 2709.3 specifies that the membrane or the lining material itself needs to be pitched to the drain at the rate of 1/4" per foot of run. Yours is not pitched, it's flat on the subfloor. It specifies that the base under the membrane needs to be smooth and solid so moisture that gets below the tile can flow to the drain's weep holes. You wrote that the base around your drain appears to be swollen/raised up, soft, and spongy. If that's the case, your membrane needs to come up and the base needs to be redone. Do NOT reuse the old membrane. And the last reference: P2709.4 Receptor drains. An approved flanged drain shall be installed with shower subpans or linings. The flange shall be placed flush with the subbase and be equipped with a clamping ring or other device to make a water-tight connection between the lining and the drain. The flange shall have weep holes into the drain. Your weep holes are clogged with RedGard pookey. No good. The weep holes need to be open so moisture in the mud bed can flow through them and escape into the drain. A flat liner with no weep holes? Your mud bed will saturate with water and with it unable to drain, it can get nasty. My opinion? Neither your inspector nor the crew that built the shower can waffle if you can cite and show them the applicable code. Code is simply considered the minimum standard for residential construction. Not that the following will occur, but If you went to small claims court, the code will be your best evidence that the crew failed to construct the shower using the minimum standards for construction. Take photos, save emails, document the conversations by writing notes after you converse. Hope that helps. Good luck.

We have a long one in our master. I love the extra foot space, but it seems like I'm always dropping something on the floor and of course whatever it is rolls all the way back to the wall and I have to get on my hands and knees to reach under to grab it. The cats also think it's a fun place to hang out. We are going to remodel at some point, and this is one of our discussion items. I'm not so sure I require floating going forward.

So, to be clear, I wasn't really talking about the drywall - I was talking about the backer-board behind the tile. That should be 1/2" cement board or something similar. You won't be able to feel it, you will need a visual. If it's a bad install, two things that can happen: 1. There was no waterproofing and so the water seeps through the grout and such and into the backer board. 2. The backer board sits too far down on the tub, without an air-gap. And because of that it is wicking up water from the edge of the backerboard. You will only be able to determine that (without taking the tile off) by getting a visual of the back side of the backer board. If the bottom edge of the backerboard looks dark from moisture, it will have to be redone. ____________________ Since you say that the door is properly caulked, the other place I'd look is the junction between the tile and the tub. That appears to be grouted when it should have been caulked. Anywhere there is a change in plane it should be caulked, not grouted. To do a better job, fill the tub with water first so that there's weight in the tub before you caulk. Yes, water sitting on that tub/tile edge over time can cause moisture to wick horizontally through the grout and cause the issue you see on the drywall. Caulk the tub/tile joint to prevent water that sits there from being drawn into the grout.