Thankyou therenee...my parents really love the shower...I came up with the in-wall cabinet idea when I remodeled my small bathroom in my home. I even made a recessed towel rack on it because the bathroom was much smaller...it looks like this: At my parent's home, we put in a 2x6 wall there instead of 2x4, to have more usable space inside the cabinet...at my house, I still had more room than the newer homes, because of the old lumber that really was 2x4 and because we went with a little bit thicker sheetrock (5/8) on that wall to help with sound insulating

In places where I am using sanded grout and I have chosen a Mapei color - should I use Ultracolor over Keracolor? Either one is fine. I usually use the Ultra, but it really doesn't matter. I have read your posts about feeling that SpectraLock being overkill in a residential setting, but are there any drawbacks to using it other than cost? Not really. One thing to think about, though-- using a medium to dark colored grout will go a whole lot further. in a mudroom where we are using a natural stone, if we used SpectraLock there, is okay to apply a sealer over it? No, it's not. The sealer will turn white when it dries. We would seal the stone with 511 Porous Plus... Before you go out and buy it, what kind of stone are you sealing? The reason I ask is the 511 Impregnator will do just as good a job on most stone for less than half the money.

Bill, Thanks for the advice. Very useful as always. Regarding thinsetting the Durock down, the Thermalboard instructions say not to thinset directly to the board because the aluminum coating will not provide a good bond. They were referring to thinsetting the tile I believe and not the backer board. What are my potential problems if we do not thinset the backerboard down? Thinsetting and then screwing I think it going to make it more likely that someone puts a screw through the pex tubing. Thanks again, Martin

Hi Maria-- That sounds to me like a standard modified thinset. Although it COULD be used, I'll tell you right now-- using the 255 would be alot easier, especially for someone DIYing it. It's more expensive, but worth the money.