granite slab shower

16 years ago

I want solid surface and of course after I saw Arielitas_mom's photos, I wanted granite slab in my shower too!

But I'm having a heck of a time finding people that will do it. One person told me it was cost prohibitive. Another told me it was a bad surface for the shower (water, stains or something??) and will have problems. Only found one who does it so far in my big city. Most have never heard of it. How do I find these people and find someone who knows what they're doing?!

Arielitas_mom, I see you have a tile floor. I want to avoid tile at all cost. Can I use a shower base with slab? How does that work? Or is the slab way too heavy to be sitting on the lip of the base and must be sitting directly on the floor? So does that mean tile is my only choice for the base? If so, think I'll have to go with cultured instead.

Thanks,

Julie

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Comments (11)

bill_vincent
16 years ago
This one had SOME tile in it, but for the most part, the floor is the same as the perimeter floor outside the shower-- Pie shaped pieces of marble slab.

As for those who tell you granite's a bad surface-- of ALL the natural stone that's used in showers around the world on a daily basis, granite's probably THE best stone you could use, because of its density.
caligirl_cottage
16 years ago
This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's a start. It's called Surroundstone and it's a composite stone that is used a lot in renovations of hotels where they want to have a stone bathroom. You can buy the entire surround for a reasonable price - probably $1,000 and it's not expensive to install either.

You need to scroll down the page before you get to the surroundstone product description.

Here is a link that might be useful: surroundstone
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I know this thread is old but I'm just now getting back to considering the shower (in our total inside out top to bottom reno, tooooo much going on.) So during this reno I've come to believe the plumber my contractor is using isn't the brightest bulb. I've met him, he's a really nice guy, but I get the impression he's been doing this for ever and ever and he's not really kept up with the times, if you know what I mean. First of all, I should say he knew my house well since he was the plumber for the previous owner for 15 years. This is a total gut so he got to totally redo the plumbing (which was previously a hodge-podge of 150 years of plumbing technology.) When determining the size for our new gas boiler, he didn't really do any calculations. Basically he looked at the old oil furnace and picked the equivalent - even though he knew that the house was WAY too hot with it running, since I'd called him over about it previously. Well it turned out that the furnace was twice as powerful as needed for our little 1200 sq ft house - no wonder it was so hot. Maybe 20 years ago when it was installed in the house, which at the time was not insulated, that made sense. But not now, with new insulation, weatherstripped/stormed windows. When my husband questioned him on this, his reply was "this is how I've done it for 30 years" or whatever. I guess by that he meant not bothering to check if what was there was too big and just picking the equivalent? So the new Burnham Freedom CM boiler arrives, there is a huge delay in firing it up b/c it was missing a coil, but that took a week for the plumber to identify. When I asked why it took so long for him to get to the point where he'd noticed, I was told by my contractor that I "had to understand that this boiler is very complicated." When our electrician, who is our cousin and also used to be a plumber, wired it to the panel he didn't think it was all that complicated. Is it? Cousin also questioned the methods he was using to set it up (I'm sorry I don't remember the details but it had to do with 1 of 2 ways of doing it, and this guy was apparently doing to do BOTH.) Now this shower pan thing. I honestly feel like I've called out this guy to my contractor so many times I'm not sure how to approach it without being insulting. (Or for the plumber not to be insulted when he hears what I want as relayed by our contractor.) sorry that was a long rant, basically. But any tips on how to handle the shower pan tactfully would be appreciated - and also exactly what I should be asking for.
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When a hotel puts in something like what you saw, the cost of the engineering design is spread over a bunch of rooms, the installers can be efficient because they are doing the same thing in room after room, and the sizing of the slabs is probably set so that there is minimal waste. They are also probably doing it as part of the initial construction where it's easier to do the install than having to work around the constraints a remodel might pose. Your cost will be higher because you are asking for a unique installation, even if it is simple. As hollysprings points out, the installers need room to maneuver to get the slabs into the room, which can become a problem in a smaller bathroom. For example, a 3' X 8' slab of 2cm granite would weigh about 350 pounds, would have to be carried in horizontally, negotiated around corners in the hallways, through the doorway of the bathroom, and then rotated upright and positioned. All without breaking the slab. If your ceilings are about the same height as the slab height, you can't simply rotate it to vertical because the diagonal of the slab is about 6" greater than the height of the slab. Given these issues, the typically higher material cost per square foot of slab granite over tile, and the labor cost of a granite slab install, I'd be surprised if you wouldn't be paying a lot more for this design than a standard tile shower. I think it's a cool idea, and it would be much easier to keep clean, but there are probably reasons that we don't see this done more often in a standard bathroom remodel. I'm not trying to discourage you...just trying to share some practical concerns. If you do decide to pursue this, I would be interested to hear what kinds of quotes you get. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
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Oakleyok- Your question os a very good one, and I'm sure that there will be a lot of folks that read this thread that will benefit from what you are asking, and the various responses from the folks that are here on GW...... Having done both types of applications, either will work for you. In my experience - the biggest things that swing a consumer one way (tile) or the other (slab) - is: 1. cost and 2. joints IF you have a guy like my Brother Bill Vincent for instance - who is a master of the trade and could do beautiful first class quality work in his sleep, or better yet - in a coma.. You'd be in way good hands. I'm not trying to blow smoke up anybody's skirt here, but that fact of the matter is this - When you hire a master craftsman that has years of experience and a long list of happy, satisfied customers that all rave about the quality of his work (again - like Bill Vincent for example....) You KNOW that you'll be getting a top notch application that you'll be pleased to show off to friends and family, as well as being happy every day you look at the finished work...... THIS.... (in my opinion) is the biggest factor that separates the players from the spectators... Many people opt for slab in lieu of tile for the "joint" factor: they (the customer) prefer less joints for dirt and other foriegn matter to collect in them (the joints). Others prefer the tile method, as there is sometimes - more variation from tile to tile, and that turns people on or off - it all depends on their personal taste & sense of aesthetics. As far as cost goes - speaking for myself - I only do slab now - just because I can - and choose not to offer a tile option to my customers (except as a backsplash application) To use the tired cliche'of: "At the end of the day"... YOU will have to be the one that decides which method you want to go ahead with - based on cost and aesthetics for YOUR taste and budget. Guys like Bill Vincent make your deciding process a lot more easy - since he can do either at a master level, and give you real value which ever way you go. hope that helps you (and I hope that you have a guy like Bill Vincent in your area) kevin Kevin M. Padden Fabricator, Trainer & Consultant to the Natural Stone Industry www.azschoolofrock.com
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I looked into this a couple of years ago when remodeling my master bathroom. I decided against it because I was having trouble finding a tile pro who had actual experience installating them. Later on, I did find a tile pro who had experience installing slabs, but by then I had found large tiles that I really liked. Doing this with natural stone? I'm not a pro, but I don't know if you can cut marble slabs that thin and have them not break. The thin (1 cm?) slabs I'm seeing at my local stone yards are porcelain. Since I just started seeing them a couple of years ago, I don't think there are a lot of tile pros who have experience installing them. Whatever you decide, the waterproofing and ventilation are important for keeping the shower dry, thus helping keep mold and mildew at bay. If you use large format tiles, you can cut down on the amount of grout. For the shower floor you need smaller tiles (thus lots of grout lines). For that reason, a lot of people prefer solid surface shower floors instead of tile.
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mungo
16 years ago
I'm also pretty interested in a granite slab shower, not only for the maintenance, but also because I'm only finding the look I desire in granite. For an affordable solid surface pan I'm looking at www.onyxtops.com

If you stay within the onyx standard sizes you'll save a bunch since they won't have to make a custom mold.

On the granite slabs, I have a quote from a local company for the shower walls (installed, including lathe and scratch) ranging from $3200 to 4100 depending on the class of granite. This is for two walls (one width 36 inch, the other 48 inch) at a height of 84 inches with 3/4 inch polished edge -- no lamination.

Yeah, it is a bit of a splurge. I think I would feel better though after pricing out other options. My instinct is that even a well tiled, interesting shower of that size would run a couple of bills.
jperiod
Original Author
16 years ago
Mungo, I looked at those pans as well, but it looks like the walls have to be installed over the outer flanges of the pan. Wouldn't a slab be way too heavy sitting on the edge of the pan? Maybe I'm naive about how the slabs would be installed? The one company quoted me $40/sf installed for group 1 granite.

caligirl, that stuff's intriguing but it says it's only in 30-48 inch widths. I'd end up with seams in the mid-wall of my 60 and 54 inch showers. A google search didn't turn up much.
mungo
16 years ago
My understanding is that these pans weigh a ton, even the relatively small ones. I'm not sure how much of the weight they carry, versus how much is spread across the wall. Certainly would want to know the answers before proceeding. Please let us know what you learn if you get to the bottom of this.
mungo
16 years ago
I'm doublechecking with Onyx about their flange thickness, and structural strength.

Royal Stone is another option, and their flange is 1.5 inches -- double the thickness of 2 cm granite.

Here is a link that might be useful: royal stone
mungo
16 years ago
The onyx rep says:

As near as I can tell by measuring the mold the flange is about 1" thick. It is also 1" wide at its narrowest point which is 18" from the corner. It gets wider the closer you get to the curb so I don't see any problem using the granite slabs. Have a nice weekend!
mahatmacat1
16 years ago
Julie, if your shower happens to be 36x48 (iirc), you can also use a Kohler cast iron shower receptor. They're gorgeous, come in colors to match other fixtures, are a single solid piece, and have appropriate traction.

caligirl, I couldn't find samples of the surroundstone specifically--are they on the website somewhere? I could find only the real granite colors. We still have a 3/4 bath to do and I'd love to do the shower and counter in coordinating stone...
sean_m
16 years ago
Dumb question, but how do you clean limescale off granite without destroying the granite?

I'd love to do a natural stone shower but the amount of lime scale in my tap water is amazingly heavy. It's enough to usually kill most showerheads in 2-3 years. The Speakman Anystream showerheads are the only thing I've found that handles it well.
ventupete
16 years ago
The question I would have about one solid piece for the shower floor is how do you achieve the required slope to the drain? If it's one piece it would be flat and water would pool. Possibly a fabricator could grind it, but then it might be too thin by the drain.
jperiod
Original Author
16 years ago
I've never owned granite. We have very hard water. Can you use vinegar on granite? You could also squeegee it after each use.

Bill said one customer used granite pie shapes for the floor sloping toward the drain. That'd be very slippery. I was just thinking of using a premade shower base like corian or onyx. Just wondered if they could handle the weight of granite slabs on the sides, but I guess they can.

granite slab shower

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