you have the look of a mastic installation (tile installed directly to the drywall/green board) If this is what he's planning, get rid of him, immediately. and it mentions several times to use unmodified thinnest. When installing porcelain you must use a latex modified thinnest or the bond will break within 30 days and I myself have witnessed this happening. That was my concern before I first used it as well. Trust me when I tell you, the fears are unfounded. As for the thinset letting go within 30 days, sorry, but I've got several installations that have been down now for a few years, and haven't let go yet. One of them (the first one I did over Ditra, which also requires unmodified) had a 400 pound Wolfe gas stove wheeled over it a week later. If the tile was going to let go, that would've been the time. That was 4 years ago. As for the Hydroguard, I've never heard of it. You might ask him who the manufacturer is, so you can look them up on line and make sure it's both waterproof AND vapor proof, and if not, make sure he's planning on using a vapor barrier.

I don't understand the last post to this thread? Thermasol offers a 5-year replacement warranty on all their controllers. Why would you pay to replace it? Maybe you had it more than 5 years? If so, then it's too bad it failed but how long do you expect it to last? I doubt you could expect a car to last reliably with no problems longer than 5 years, so why expect that of your steam shower. I have a PRO-395 that I installed 14 months ago. It just failed tonight. Not sure if it is the controller board or the heating element, but it stopped producing steam. Called tech support and they are shipping me a new replacement unit tomorrow and paying for the install, all at no cost. I am going to call them tomorrow to talk to them about the fact that it failed so soon. They are supposedly the best and charge a premium for their product. I am curious how they will explain that it failed so soon. Will update this post if they say anything interesting. Update: Spoke to them this morning and they are sending me a new unit, and pay for installation charge. One other thing. Someone in the tread above talked about making their shower with a 10 ft ceiling. Don't do that! That is just dumb, and will affect the experience of a good steam. If you ever want to make your steam shower bigger, do it in the length or width but never in the height. My house has 10 ft. ceilings, but my shower has a 7.5 ft up to an 8 ft. ceiling and that is plenty high enough. The 7.5 ft part is over the bench so the fact that it is lower there makes no difference because you are sitting down.

Glass is fine, porcelain and ceramics are fine too. I'd also recommend not using natural stone. If it's a concern, the negative with glass is that you usually have more grout with glass than you have with ceramic/porcelain. Grout is more vapor permeable than tile or glass. Not a big deal, but I thought I'd shoot that out there. My first choice with a steam shower is Kerdi membrane. It keeps the vapor barrier imediately behind the tile. Still, a vapor barrier behind cement board will perform well. For steam showers that will have the vapor barrier behind the backer board I especially prefer a true cement board (durock or wonderboard) as the tile backer instead of Hardieboard. Again, it's a personal preference. You know the ceiling should be sloped in a steam shower, right?

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I am actually rethinking the crackle tile. I don't think I want to deal with the maintainence. Do you still recommend the Kerdi if I am not using crackle tile or natural stone? What does that do? annkathryn...thanks so much for the pictures.Your bath is simply gorgeous! I want to know if you miss having the body jets? I may forgo them & do exactly what you did (one hand held & one shower head). Since I am going with the BainUltra Amma tub I want to have some jets for hubby's bad neck & shoulder. I am thinking that I may be able to accomplish this with a really good showerhead w/multi settings. Thoughts? Looking for antique brass finish which has proven to not be very easy. If I go with the same shower layout as you, do I need any special controls? I am wondering about all the things they suggest you need(thermostatic mixers, diverters, volume controls, etc.) and what is truly necessary. I am trying to keep it simple (not too many controls we don't know what to do with) and I am also trying to keep cost down a bit(kids in college/don't know how long we will be living here). Want to build a tasteful elegant master bath without spending $30-$40K.Thanks in advance for the help ~Donna