Low maintenance shower surround suggestions?
seekingsun
10 years ago
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Comments (20)
Babka NorCal 9b
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Low maintenance roses?
Comments (19)In my experience David Austins are very high maintenance - of course I've only ever bought them bare root -- so I guess if you bought them as bigger potted roses they wouldn't need to be coddled as much. I have a William Baffin that is 9 feet tall, reblooms in late July/Early August -- but did get Black Spot early this Spring when it wouldn't stop raining. It was the first time I had Black Spot on any of my roses. Knock out is very resistant -- shade tolerant and relatively drought-resistant (for a rose). I use Knock-Outs as ground-cover roses in my front yard, where the hose doesn't reach, so they depend on me remembering to water them. But even if you are growing organically, there are things that you can use to keep disease, bugs and weeds away. I am allergic to most of the chemical sprays and have great success with things that I got from the Gardens Alive catalog. (I don't work for them, I'm just giving my seal of approval -- for what it's worth) Here is a link that might be useful: Garden's Alive...See MoreLow maintenance natural stone for shower?
Comments (4)Agree with catbuilder's post above. When you squeegee, it doesn't have to be an exhausting, back-hurting, time consuming affair (as my DH pointed out to me)--starting at the highest splash point, run the squeegee in a continuous motion across the wall in one direction, curve down and around to go back across the wall to hit the next lowest section and repeat the process until all walls are squeegeed. Then hit the floor--1 swipe toward the drain per section ought to do it. Our shower is ~4x7 and it takes less than 60 seconds to squeegee. With my previous method I was in there for about 5 minutes! My aunt and uncle redid their master bath with natural stone and it was a bear to clean--she was in there for hours with the steamer. It was the only way she found that worked to get the walls really clean. I don't recall what stone they had though (they've since moved). Porcelain is much easier to clean and you don't have to worry as much about what cleanser/technique you're using and whether it will hurt the stone. Have you looked at the Florida Tile Renaissance line as tile option? That line may give you the look you want. We have it in the Grigio color and love it. Our builder has used it in several of his spec houses in the 'Brun' color and it's gorgeous. The Noce color might be more similar to the Emperador Light you mentioned. Another line from Florida Tile that's similar is Las Olas, but it was discontinued about 18 months ago--but they may still have some in the warehouse, you never know! Plus going with a porcelain stone look-a-like will save you $$$! Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Tile Renaissance This post was edited by mydreamhome on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 9:02...See MoreLooking for low(er) maintenance shower ideas (pics please?)
Comments (29)@daratwist, here is a pic of my shower pan. Of note, this is when the shower was brand new and before the doors were installed. This is about 4 years later with my microfiber fluffy drying towel that I use daily to clean the walls and niche and glass. I clean the floor and the sweeps on the doors a few times a year. I am the only one using the shower, except for the occational guest. Otherwise the floor would need more frequent cleaning I believe. The point I'm making is that after 4 years my 12x24" porcelain tile with epoxy grout looks like the day I finished it 4 years ago:...See MoreHow low-maintenance is acrylic grout?
Comments (15)If one needs a pure white grout, epoxy is probably not the grout to choose, since "white" epoxy isn't really pure white to begin with. "White" epoxy is really off-white or cream. Before deciding on tile, we made sample boards with our tile and various shades of white and very light warm and cool greys. None of those colors on these boards yellowed in comparison to our creamy white tile and these boards have been hanging on a wall in DH's work room for the last 8 years. We ended up using a very light warmish grey in the bathroom, which also hasn't changed at all since installing it, despite being exposed to quite a bit of sunlight from our skylight. I realize that many new types of grout are available since we did our bathroom. If I were to do another bathroom I certainly would look at poly and acrylic grouts, but the advantages of epoxy over these other grouts don't stop at the ease of cleaning: Epoxy grout in combination with low absorption porcelain tile is almost waterproof by itself. A sort of additional insurance against possible water leaks. In addition, epoxy grout stays a lot more flexible than cementitious grout when cured. Some top tile setters will guarantee their work even when using epoxy at changes of plane, where per professional standards silicone would be required, they're so sure of the grout withstanding a building's flexing without ill effect. By the way, regular epoxy is used and is recommended for residential and regular commercial applications. It is 100% Solids epoxy, an enhanced performance epoxythat's recommended specifically for extreme environments like commercial kitchens, dairies and meat processing plants, etc. where harsh cleaning chemicals are used on a daily basis....See MoreOlychick
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