we are not planning to tile the bathroom walls - just wall and wood baseboard at the bottom. The vanity goes end to end on one wall, the 2nd wall is the windowed wall, 3rd wall is the toilet and entry and 4th wall is the shower and closet. Thanks for your input - was toying with using the wall tile on the face of the bench. for question 2 - what is typically done, any idea? thanks again!

None of the Laticrete waterproofing membranes (Hydroban, 9235, Hydrobarrier, etc) are vapor barriers. So take a pass on those if you want a single-use product. Otherwise you'd have to use a vapor barrier in addition to those waterproofing membranes. RedGard is a vapor barrier. So based on your listing, all that you listed could serve you well for moisture management, both only the RedGard for vapor management. 1) Over the years I've used RedGard, Hydroban, and 9235 in "regular" showers. But not in a steam shower. In steam showers I use Kerdi. There are other products that perform the same function. Kerdi is my personal preference in steam showers. 2) Cinder blocks are impervious to water damage. If wood gets wet, it can swell. No big deal there though, as neither should never see water or vapor, especially with today's membranes. If using cinder blocks or similar, I build on the subfloor and butt the mud slope to the blocks. If building with wood, use kiln dried wood to avoid the shrinkage you'd get from green wood as the green lumber dries out. Wood construction would be built on the subfloor too. Wood framing, then a skin of plywood (if needed), a skin of cement board, then the membrane.

Creative Tile, I also have heard good things.....my plan has totally changed, you can search my name and find my design thread. I'm now doing a 48" neo angle. I want to go USG because they make the custom pan with the drain where I want it, and trimming these pans will obviously create some strange aesthetics at change of plane w/ wall. Problem is, no one wants to sell me one! Here in NJ, only distributor within 90 minutes are HD stores. I call them, and they don't know the custom pan exists. Local tile guy has Wedi, but very pricey, and it doesn't seem ideal for a neoangle curb, also no custom pan. I'm assuming you may have a connection with someone who will sell me one? Online USG email support for neo angle sent me back to uninformed home depot, and a general instruction which doesn't address how to wrap the 135 deg. angle. I'm going to call them one last time, if not I'll take my chances with kerdi membrane with a mud deck. 1 question on the USG product...if i go with the new ultralight foam, does it require full membrane, or just the seams? If it requires full membrane, should I just use fiberrock as it will probably be much cheaper? Any ideas how to do the 135 neoangle curb, I'm probably just going to borrow kerdi methods over at johnbridge, and use the sealant for any questionable corners . Thanks so much for your help!

We have this set up. My tile pro built it like a real steam shower, but we didn't install a steam generator: sloped ceiling, glass to the ceiling, transom above door, tiled ceiling, etc. He is an excellent tile professional who has built many real steam showers, so building our "steam-capture" shower was not a challenge for him. You need to talk to your tile pro about what waterproofing/vaporproofing detailing he recommends. It's been 2 years, so I can't remember every detail of what materials and methods he used, except that I know he used Laticrete hydroban boards and it's a sealed system, not a water-in-water-out system. You do need to tile the ceiling. My pro used extendable support poles to hold the ceiling tiles in place, and only did one row of ceiling tiles at a time (they are 12" x 24") so as not to disturb the adjacent row. The ceiling took 4 days to complete because of only doing 1 row at a time. About the door: We asked the glass installer to omit the hinge stops so that the door can swing in and out. After a shower, we leave the transom open and the door pushed inward while the exhaust fan is running and we are getting ready for work. I don't like the door sticking out into the bathroom while we are getting ready. This also allows for easy reach-in to turn the water on with out getting wet. About the transom: We like having it because sometimes we don't want very much steam to build up. If it's cold out, I close the whole thing up for steam; but if it's hot and I'm sweaty from gardening, I don't want much steam. If that's the case I leave the transom open and I run the fan while in there. Having the transom gives you options. The transom is also useful because you can close the door, but leave the transom open pretty much all the time. This allows airflow which helps cut down on moisture inside the shower. A normal shower has constant airflow because the top is open; it's good for your shower to allow airflow and the transom is the easiest way to do that unless you want the door to be open all the time; I woudn't like that. Bench: We didn't want a built-in bench. We bought a teak corner bench from Frontgate. Configuration: Try to position your valve so that you can reach in and turn the water on without having to step into the shower. Height and slope of shower ceiling: Our bathroom has 10' ceilings. That's too high IMO to get a good build-up of steam; it would all go to the top! So the contractor brought the ceiling down so that the highest point is 8'8" and the lowest point is 8' (this is a 2" slope per linear feet; our shower is 4' deep). This required some framing/bracing work in the attic to provide support for the ceiling tile and the glass above pony wall, so that there would be no support posts needed in the bathroom proper. All the support comes from above. The shower is on the furthest wall from the entry door and a focal point of the bathroom. The high point of the ceiling is against the back wall, so furthest from the entry, and it slopes forward towards the entry. This way, the slope is not even noticable until you are in the shower. Unfortunately, my DS built a steam shower and her contractor sloped the ceiling form right to left. IMO it looks stange/lopsided when you enter the bathroom when it is oriented like that. Fixtures: We have a fixed showerhead on one wall, a rain shower in the ceiling, and a hand-held positioned low on the wall next to the teak bench. Hand-shower makes cleaning easier. DH likes a cold blast from the rain shower, but not me. He doesn't turn the diverter until the end of his shower, so that he can get a cold blast. I always turn the diverter half way so that the fixed and rain warm up at the same time; no cold blast. It's a luxury, but having that option is nice. Our city allows 2 valves, so our hand-shower is on it's own valve. If you are in CA or another place with stricter water rules, you can put a different kind of value and diverter so that all 3 fixtures are being fed by the same valve. Glass cleaning: I wipe the shower down a couple times a week, but I don't do it every time like some GWers do. But since the glass goes so high up I can't reach the top. I keep a squeegee in a nearby cabinet, and use it sometimes, but have to admit that I don't do it every shower. Make sure you get the factory-applied glass coating (such as Showerguard). Privacy: We have a tall-ish pony wall bc I don't like the "shower-show." We've got lots of kids and they sometimes will walk in to ask me a question (yikes!), so I asked contractor to build the pony wall to about shoulder height. What I didn't realize at the time is that I probably didn't have to do that at all because the steam provides a lot of privacy. The glass fogs up and you can't see in or out very well at all. It's also really quiet in there which is cool; feels like you are very far away for just little while. It's very refreshing. Good luck!