Lenore, who is installing the granite slab shower? Start there and make your priority be hiring a VERY experienced tile professional - one you have vetted carefully to insure that their qualifications meet your design requirements and product selections. Stone slab installations are not for the B team, and especially in a wet area. Can it be done? Yes, depending upon the structure over which a solid surface stone is installed and the methods used. We install solid surface shower walls regularly, but from an empty cavity which we build to meet all specific design and installation specifications, including the pan. A solid stone slab cannot be supported by the pan (it is not meant to support a slab wall). A slab wall is pinned and tied so it is self supported, not supported by a pan. This is a very complex installation. A LOT to consider. As one example, the thickness of your slab? 2cm. 3cm? (effects the weight load on the space). And I could go on. After you have carefully vetted the qualified tile contractor, have this conversation with them. If you question or want to clarify their recommendations, check back or seek professional advice from other qualified sources. Please consult with a professional onsite. Good luck with your project.

The best shower I ever took was in the Willard Hotel in DC. You know, the one that's a few steps from the white house, where all of the Presidents stay the night before their inauguration? I wouldn't say "sterile" or chintzy passes the lips of anyone walking through those doors. Talk about a "Bentley". Anyway we had a wonderful attic room with one of those round windows that look normal sized from the street but are actually about 10 feet in diameter. It also had a jumbo shower that felt SO nice on the feet. It wasn't tile, it was terrazzo. GORGEOUS too. I'm so jealous, vix, but I'm too afraid of ever having to deal with water issues in my bathroom again after the ordeal of remodeling it the first time so I went with the terrazzo look corian. BTW the last hospital I visited had 2x2 tile on their shower floor. There was nothing "Bentley" about it.

It feels totally fine without the mortar base. Keep in mind that it IS plastic and if you push on the sides, there is a little "give" but it's not cast iron, so to be expected. I love the look of it, but to me it feels like it retains dirt more than other tubs, because it is plastic. I feel like I want to scrub it after every bath, as opposed to just rinsing/quickly wiping it and then scrubbing every week. But the overall clean lines look of it is amazing and I did not see any other tubs that I liked as much. I think we covered this in upper convos but remember that there are two heights (we chose the lower one and I would stick with that as it feels more standard. And the other thing is that it comes with a single or double tiling flange. If you need more info on that let me know, and I will give you more details.

I think most of the unhappy stories about tiled floors are due to the use of Marble and not the fact that they used tiles. If you have a a good GC and tile person, there should be no problems with a tile floor. My current 14 year old showers have tiled floors and have had no problems. All my new showers will have tiled floors.