Keeping costs down but want quality in basement bath shower--ideas??

8 years ago

We are completely gutting and re-doing the basement in our 100-year-old house in an upscale neighborhood. Originally we were just going to leave the 25-year-old bath alone other than putting in a new vanity. Now, for a number of reasons, we have decided to gut the entire bathroom too. Our plans for the rest of the basement call for quality materials and a simple look that will be in keeping with the quality of the rest of the house. I want the bath to also be nice but want to keep prices down. I've found a great Ikea vanity and sink combo that will work well in our small space. The only tiling will be on the floor and in the shower; walls will be painted.

An issue we have is that we plan to leave the bathroom in the same place as it currently is so as to minimize plumbing costs. The bathroom footprint is very small, and it has to stay that way because of other structural and layout issues in our basement. We can fudge a couple inches here and there, but that is all the flexibility we have.

The shower is what I want some suggestions about. Our biggest problem in trying to keep costs down is that we need to work around a major support post right in the corner of the shower. We know this concept of having the post in the corner of the shower stall functions well because that is the way it is now.

Our contractor has suggested a shower with two glass walls so we will have a more open feel and will save floor space. When I look online for these sorts of showers, it seem they all come with their own standard pan. We will need a custom pan. Then, I read about the quotes people get for glass for custom installations. They sound absolutely astronomical to me, and there is no way I want to pay that for a bathroom in a basement (nice as we think the basement will turn out to be).

Do you have any suggestions for me as to how to keep costs down for doing the shower? We are still in the planning stages and won't start demo for another month. Thanks much.

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Comments (5)

sheloveslayouts
8 years ago
Can you sketch out the room with dimensions so we can see what you're dealing with? A custom pan and glass walls sounds really expensive for a basement bathroom. Is it possible that changing the plumbing might actually be cheaper than the labor/materials required to work around the existing plumbing?
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Joseph Corlett, LLC
8 years ago
My wife tore out our brass sliding doors on our master bathroom shower, put up a shower curtain and that was that. I could send her by.
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needinfo1
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks to both of you. I'm actually waiting for a response from the contractor about costs for moving things about within the bathroom. (switching vanity and shower locations). As benjiesbride suggests we are wondering if this might be our best bet. We'll see.

Joseph--I know why your wife did it. Our current shower has a gross sliding shower door in the aluminum look.

Now, another quick question about something I don't understand. Our current shower is tiled over the pan. Yet, when I look at these ready-to-go units, they all seem to just use the pan that comes with the glass doors. I much prefer the look of the tiled floor but assume that it is much cheaper to just use one of these ready-to-go units with the fiberglass or whatever the pan is made out of. If I want a tile floor, then it means custom glass. Correct?
Hunzi
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I'm wrapping up a simple basement bathroom right now. You haven't mentioned your budget so we don't know what is or isn't reasonable for you - a lot of what some people think is cheap is crazy expensive to me! - and it sounds like you are not planning DIY - so that savings is out. Our bathroom is a tub/shower combo, so we didn't do a pan, but we did use Kerdi on the alcove walls, and just a simple subway tile from the big box stores - (.20/tile!) I can't break out the bathroom costs because it's part of a larger project - (half bath, full bath, laundry room (all 3 from scratch) plus a kitchen flooring project and a pantry) - My DIY totals are around $15K for the whole kit-n-caboodle.

Maybe share a layout - and a budget - and I'm sure there are lots of people here who would love to help!

Oh and yay for old houses (aka Moneypits!!!) Mine is 132yrs old!
needinfo1
Original Author
8 years ago
Posting a drawing won't help since the space is only 50 sq. feet with the room shaped like one of those neo-angle showers with the door opening on that angled side. In addition to the corner post I was referring to, we also have to contend with an area in a different corner that is sloped because it is under a stairway. Our current shower is about 3' x 4' and we really do not want to go any smaller than this.

I've heard back from my contractor who says that since the floor will be dug into anyway, we can move things around at no additional cost if we keep the plumbing within three feet of where it is now. So, at least in theory that gives me some more choices maybe.

We are fortunate in that we are not in the position of saying we can absolutely only spend xxx. However, for a basement shower enclosure there is no way in the world I want to pay $1500 to $2500 just for glass (and probably a lot more if I try to go with what I want which is a shower that has two glass sides). These are ballpark prices I found from an old thread here on how much frameless glass costs.

"$1,400 - $1,900 for most showers including installation, 10 ml glass, door, fixed panel and hardware. Larger showers with multiple sides, special hardware can range from $ 2,500 - $8,000 +"

And another from a month ago. " There are a lot of options in hardware and glass. Expect 1700-2500. Depending on options and how square the opening is."

Actually we are planning to do all of the tiling ourselves after the contractor frames it and gets the cement board up. So that is my DIY savings possibility.

Now I am back to the question one again though of whether a tile floor, rather than using one of the standard acrylic pans that comes with enclosures, will force me into the custom glass category.

Thanks again for the help.

Keeping costs down but want quality in basement bath shower--ideas??

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sheloveslayouts

Joseph Corlett, LLC

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Keeping costs down but want quality in basement bath shower--ideas??

Comments (5)

sheloveslayouts

Joseph Corlett, LLC

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needinfo1Original Author

Hunzi

needinfo1Original Author

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GET HELP

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