I have two Aquaglas units in my house, but they are both acrylic. Acrylic seems much thicker, sturdier to me than fiberglass. We installed a one piece, no seams, in DH's bathroom about 18 years ago - looks as good as new. It also has the dome top with swing-out door with fixed side panels. I have an old one pice tub/shower combo that is about 30 years old (harvest gold - dont' laugh). It is still in immaculate condition. Will be updating that soon with another acrylic shower. Will probably go with AquaGlas again. I will point out that the one's I have looked at in bathroom fixture stores are much better quality than those at Lowe's - but they cost more also. It is recommended by the pros to put a mortar bed under the units, but I know that we did not. DH says he thinks they put some 2 x 4 type braces under ours. Regardless, even not using the mortar bed, mine are are very sturdy - no flexing at all. When guests use our showers, they always comment that they don't feel like the typical builders grade fiberglass showers. Tuesday

We just had our bathroom tiled in the US Ceramic subway from Home Depot, I think the color is called "snow white." It's definitely off white, and how it looks with your tub will depend on your tolerance for mismatched whites. We installed an American Standard toilet and tub (Americast), and those go very well with the HD subway tile. That's partly why we chose that brand of toilet and tub, in fact. Our sink is bright white and it's fine because it's small... but I don't think I'd like the difference if the tub were that color. The white shower curtain that I brought home looked awful against the Home Depot tile. (We ended up with one that matches the wall paint instead.) Whichever one you choose, check out the in-stock trim too. Lowe's has a couple of different whites but there are different trim pieces available for them, and you don't want to be stuck having to use trim you don't like. Home Depot had limited trim pieces available for their US Ceramic snow white (the only edging was plain bullnose). I wanted a Victorian or chair rail cap and was able to find it at a local tile store that also carried US Ceramic, but I think I was lucky. I am pretty sure Home Depot also carries "ice white" tile but I can't remember if it comes in subway or only in square tile. I know they had both "ice white" and "snow white" grout, anyway. All that said, I really really like the Home Depot tile in our bathroom... it's soft and not "clinical" looking and is very pretty with our greenish-blue wall paint. But then our tub matches it, too. Good luck to you with yours! p.s. Oh yes, do remember to check out your flooring with the tile as well... we had to rethink ours when we saw it at home under the "real life" lighting. Matching whites is a bear but we got it to work out in the end.

From the johnbridge site: I have installed several Americast tubs. The ones I did by following the instructions and not having a mortar bed eventually developed cracking of the lamination in the bottom from the stress of movement, and looked bad, real bad. The ones I installed "improperly" and used a mortar bed are fine, and have had no problems. That includes the one in my own master bath that has been there for 3 years. The Americast tubs are a nice product, the versatility of a enamel surface, but with insulation properties, that is why I still install them. The problem is they are not strong enough to not have a mortar bed. If you only weigh 120 lbs and only shower alone, you may be fine, but any significant weight makes the tub flex. So in conclusion, take out the tub and set it in mortar. Or you can do what I am about to do in another bathroom and Demo a 4 year old remodel because the "properly" install tub looks gross from all the dirt settled in the stress cracks. And guess what, American Standard sure ain't gonna pay for all that.

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