You are very nice to help this friend. But I found when picking my bath materials it took about the same amount of reearch as the kitchen....I was surprised. I am on the Kitchen Forum all the time. Folks are helpful on this one too. I'll post a thread I read first in it's entirety, printed it otu and highlighted things I wanted. I believe it was "My best bathroom remodeling decision". Link below is a plumber's website of toilet reviews. It led me to pick a Toto--very efficient and fills quickly, does the job in one flush. For the tub, I believe the thread I'll link in my next post here mentioned the Kohler Archer the most. Here is a Bathroom Forum thread about the Archer. I ordered it online from Home Depot's website, did the chat function first to ask about it and the chat person gave me a link for a discount code. Steam shower....use the search function to find posts. Your friend should visit a kitchen and bath showroom if at all possible. Here where I lived I visited Ferguson, Plumbing Plus and Thomas Somerville. Vignettes of sinks, showers, countertops, vanities, shower doors, radiant underfloor heating....there's no replacement for seeting it all in person. Each place I visited would have filled my whole order for a discount but I had already started my online shopping. I'll link to a great site for Faucet recommendations. That and lighting took a lot of time. Then there's medicine cabinets, towel bars, hand safety bars in the tub/shower that need to be designated before the wall studs get recovered, etc. etc. Archer tub Garden Web Bathroom Forum thread http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg121518495783.html?14 Thread 'Do grab bars have to look ugly?' http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg0711240417257.html Here is a link that might be useful: toilet ratings and reviews from a plumber

Thanks for the help, a quick follow-up: The toilet waste line is vented by a 3" line that extends upward. The wye for the tub drain will be between the toilet trap and this vent line for the toilet. So, this vent which would be about 4' from the tub trap could also serve as the tub drain vent. Here is a sketch that may clarify: http://picasaweb.google.com/cjtully/Bathroom#5263299906822545778 The sketch shows a proposed new vent that I can't really run unless it is on the horizontal till it hits the wall. So my hope is that I can wye of the 3" toilet line and also share its vent to add the new tub drain location.

We just put in the Kohler Bancroft toilet and could not be more thrilled with it. It is also easy to clean, inside and outside. Love its flushing capability. We also put in the Kohler bancroft sink. They don't take up much space of the counter but I will tell you that the depth surprised me. They are deep. Hasn't been a problem though and it is better than being too shallow. It is just deeper than what we had and I am used to. For the tub, we stayed white in color but didn't worry about it matching. We went free standing victoria and albert.

We moved into this house a little over a month ago, we are renting to own it. It's a 1998 doublewide that has been remodeled, we are on our own septic tank and it was emptied long before we moved in. A few weeks back I was trying to take a bath and noticed a sewer smell coming from the tub, it seemed to be coming from the faucet but not the water itself. Then it started coming from the bathroom sink drain and the toilet. It comes and goes shortly after we run any of the water in the bathroom or flush the toilet. A retired plumber told us he believed it was the roof vents, we have two. One for the tub and one for the sink and toilet. He told us to run water down them and wait to see if we heard any whoosh sound which would be a blockage passing through. We did this and heard the whoosh sound out of the vent for the toilet/sink. Nothing to be heard from the other one. We thought we were good to go, problem solved. Nope that only lasted a few hours and then got worse. The smell still only happens if the water is running/after its been ran but the smell is worse. And I don't know if it's related but after we did the roof thing the cold water in the tub has almost completely stopped working. Its only a drizzle but you can hear pressure behind it like it's trying but is blocked. I've called the man we're buying the house from but only got his voicemail, which i figured given that it's father's day weekend. But this smell when it does happen is getting extremely unbearable to deal with and we're at our wits end. The other cold water in the bathroom is running perfectly so I dont know what is going on with the tub. Does anyone know what could be going on? And yes we have tried running water down the drains, it hasnt stopped the smell. (Its not sulfur either, I grew up with sulfur water and this isn't that. This is definitely a sewer smell).