Not sure if you've considered the following as well. Not an inclusive list, but a quick one:

You'll want a sealed vapor barrier on all six sides of the shower "cube". Yes, the ceiling too.

You'll want tight fitting doors. Sweeps, etc. You don't want steam pouring out into your bathroom.

In addition to dropping the ceiling, you'll want to slope it as well. Generally a min of 2" per foot.

Vapor proof lighting. Gasketed and sealed.

Ventilation is normally outside of the steam shower, not inside.

Recently did a steam shower and complete BR re-do. THe tab for labour was $10,000. but the shower accounted for about 75% of that.....

Lazarususa, did you consider not spending the money and skipping the steam shower? Why did you go ahead? Are you glad you did?

Mongoct, I think our contractor has those points covered too - the real expense is going to be in running the additional plumbing and the electrical line. We will spend on the glass regardless and the fan and light are covered. Did you do a steam shower? Are you happy with the results?

I have a steam shower in my master bath that I love. My contractor charged me $600 in plumbing labor to install it. We also needed a 20 amp circuit breaker installed ($1000) but I'm not sure if that was entirely for the steam shower. There was no additional labor or materials since the unit went into an existing closet that was on the other side of the shower wall. I bought the unit myself online.

Oh and the glass (2 sides) for the shower itself cost a small fortune.

Here's a not-so-great picture but you can see the steam control on the wall and the nozzle under the bench. The unit is just on the other side of the closet door.

jodi,

I've built maybe 6 or 7 steam showers over the years, but I had no desire for one when I did my own master bath.

Some people love them forever.

Some people only love them for the first six months. Then they like them. Then they sort of forget about them.

I think the crowd on this forum is fairly enthusiastic about them.

Best, Mongo

Thank you for this thread. I wrote steam showers off as yet another luxury item designed to entice people into bigger helocs, until I thought about my daughter. With her allergies and asthma and reactive airway and chronic colds in the winter (we all get colds, but hers are 3x severe and 3x longer), I wondered if a steam shower would help her. There must me someone out there with chronically irritated airways that's tried one of these--any relief? (and yes we have a neti pot. considering a himalayan salt inhaler too.)

"Lazarususa, did you consider not spending the money and skipping the steam shower? Why did you go ahead? Are you glad you did?"

Where online did you buy the steam unit, how much was it. I got a quote for a Mr. Steam for around 2K.

We put a steam generator in our shower when we remodeled about 2 years ago. We bought an Ameristeam generator on ebay for around $300 and DIY-ed the install. Plumbing and electrical materials were probably a few hundred dollars more. We use it occasionally and enjoy it when we do, but could easily live without it. Mr. Weedy uses it more than I do (it was the one opinion he had about what should be included in our bathroom, so I could hardly deny him), but still not often. I don't love it $5000 worth. We would have skipped it for that price.

I bought my Mr. Steam at homeclick.com two years ago - the prices might be different now. Here's what I paid:

Steam generator MS 225T: $843
Autoflush: $200
Control and steam head: $180

if you cant afford to have one built and dont have the time this is a great alternative

Here is a link that might be useful: steam room alternative

A steam shower can be put in for not much money at all i dont know where these figures are coming from????? Suppose a decent steam generator would cost you at the most $500. Then the piping to it should be no more work than doing a towel radiator, simply do the feed in, outlet to the wall outlet and the overflow to the waste or even the outlet itself (if you dont mind the scolding water coming out after, not for kids, then lose it all in the wall. Am guessing that you'd be building a shower regardless anyway so just make it a full enclosed one and away you go.
You could even get an all-in-one shower ready made from anywhere link the link below for example. and have the rest of the bathroom to play with unless you want a multi person one but i personally dont like walking into a group of people when i go to take a poo

Here is a link that might be useful: example steam units

What's it worth to you?

Too much for my blood these days but we will at least do some rough in so it might be an option down the road.

A Video tour of my last steamer job below;

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Fun fun fun...

Here is a link that might be useful: Roma Chromotherapy Steam Shower Video

I know that I would never look at a steam shower as something I would be willing to pay anything extra for if I was looking to buy your home. I think it will have little return on your investment, but like a lot of things I have installed in my home, I realize it's what I will enjoy but don't expect to have any return on my investment.

Make sure your steam shower is built by a "Master Setter" one trained in Water and Vapour management.

Make sure that the fixtures chosen can be sealed against steam.

Make sure you flood test all this new work.

Avoid Natural stones that may discolour in a steam shower.

This look is not so pretty.

This shower was built the Same Old Same Old way.

2"x4"'s for the curb. Plumber install a rubber lining. No Kerdi on the walls or ceiling. Cement board and Poly only on the one exterior wall.

This happened about 6 months after the family move in. My friends. Their home. A steam shower toast because of poor material and poor workmanship.

Top builder. Inspected Steamer. Crap Crap Crap.

{{!gwi}}

I learned so much reading about tile choices for my steam shower at this page on Houzz Web page.

Here is a link that might be useful: [How to Choose Tile for a Steam Shower[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/how-to-choose-tile-for-a-steam-shower-stsetivw-vs~3523481)