Tubs are pretty, but if you have one elsewhere in the house I believe you will be much happier in the long run with a big shower. I love my new big shower! It's so nice to have room to dry off. We installed a Solatube in our shower and we had never done that sort of thing before. It was very easy and it does not leak (my big fear). It looks a bit like a decapitated R2D2 on the roof from outside, so keep that in mind. It really brightens the room, even though we have a wall of windows in there already. You cannot see the sky through them, though. The lake view would be a must for me, whether it is in the bathroom or the bedroom. The bigger the windows the better! Obscured glass doors is a brilliant idea. Cutting through the slab and installing new pipes is not rocket science, it's just tedious hard work. If you hire a plumber to do any of the actual pipe work, be sure to check often that all pipes are INSIDE the walls and do not jut into the area where you will be attaching the drywall, and that the drains and toilet flanges are LEVEL. The screws for the toilet should be positioned correctly too. There are a lot of little measurements that can make your life miserable if not done correctly when the plumbing is roughed in. Good luck! Renee

My home is not as old but had pretty much the same moldy smelly problems from previous water damage. The PO's did lay down new linoleum and install a new vanity and mirror but that only served to cover up problems lying within the walls. The wonderful :( plastic tiles were popping off left and right and underneath them was mold and mildew. I bit the bullet and gutted it. I had a new tub w/shower installed, all new drywall put in along with insulation, tiled the shower walls and put in a new toilet and flooring. I even replaced all the wood trim and put in a new door. It turned out very nice (I think!), it took a month but would have been less, had not my tile guy decided to take a vacation in the middle of it. I kept the vanity and mirror. My total costs ran right up next to 3K. If you can do the tiling yourself, you can probably save some labor costs right there.

thanks Bill! If, however, our goal is to avoid problems (mold, mildew, water damage) 10 - 15 yrs down the line, should we change out the tub surround (yes, I'm going to presume you'll say) AND the floor? Or, can we seal the grout and call it a day on the floor? Many many years ago, I remember seeing a mushroom grow up between the wall and the floor, in a bathroom, of a place that I was living in. Guess that there was a wee bit of water leaking out of the shower!

Get one of the 'zip removers' from the big box store. They are designed to remove hair from the drain. Any number of the Chinese made pop-up drain sets do not have a method to remover the pop-up without taking the lever under the sink out that moves the pop-up. Hair, especially longer hair, catches in the drain mechanism above the trap and then collects soap and other debris. The small can also be from the overflow path built into bathroom sinks. Debris in the path can start to smell. Hot water with some Clorox, and possibly even a small long bottle brush can often clean the overflow.