Nancy, yes, I have been reading about your Transolid shower. I was hoping you had time to help.

I will look for LG Hi-Macs shower pans. I think if I put the niche about 5 ft high, then water will probably not get into it. Maybe water from my wet hands, but that is about it. I like the idea of using the Kohler grab bar, too. So, holes will be drilled into the wall panels and must be caulked? That is one place the shower can leak. I will need to look at the grab bar.

Do the corner shelves and baskets attach the same way as the grab bar? A hole drilled into the wall panel?

I didn't know what to call the wall between the toilet and tub so I just called it a pony wall. We use a Moen grab bar now for a towel rack. Great minds...

Do I need to put the wall panels up to the ceiling? On the ceiling?

If I put a niche in the wall opposite the shower head or on the outside wall, do I need to use a niche from the solid surface company? Or can I have the tile person make a niche out of tile? If it is high enough up, I doubt it will leak.

You are so right about some of the contractors not wanting to read and follow directions...."I have done it like this for 30 years!" is something I have heard quite frequently.

Thanks for your help.

Here is a link to Swanstone showers. Look in the description to make sure the product is Swantone, not Veritek or some kind of acrylic. They are not a solid surface, only the Swanstone is. https://swanstone.com/en/products/shower%20walls?f=Material%3dswanstone

Here is the link to the Swanstone acessories, including corner molding for where the two panels meet at 90 degree angles, shelves, and niches. https://swanstone.com/en/products/bathroom/accessories

See how the shampoo shelf (ie: niche) has a rim all around it? That allows you to use caulking behind the lip where you will not see it to seal that niche in place. When you suggest using a tile niche, I do not know how you can do that and make it waterproof. I guess you can get a Kerdi niche and then tile it, but you would have to see how to waterproof or seal the Kerdi niche into the hole you cut into the Swanstone walls. I am not sure how Kerdi niches work. I believe they use kerdi tape to seal the niche to the Kerdi covered walls in a Kerdi shower. How do you do that in a Swanstone shower? You can't.

You must use some kind of waterproof thing (like a Kerdi niche) to build your niche because the grout in the tile work is not waterproof. You can't just use wood to build a box the size of the niche you want. Even cement board is not waterproof. Water vapor can migrate through the grout in a tiled niche and wet surfaces underneath. Since Swanstone or any solid surface is waterproof, you do not have to use any waterproofing behind it. So using a tiled niche is a big headache because you are suddenly mixing systems. Swanstone relies on that lip around its niche for the sealing by the silicon. A tile-in niche will not have that, nor the template that Swanstone probably gives you with the niche to use as a template for cutting the hole in the Swanstone panel.

To tell you the truth, I did not look to see if the hole around the shower handles and control and the screws for the grab bars are caulked. Mine all have a metal piece hiding the screws/bolts so I don't know if water even gets behind these metal plates to get to the screws. Yes, baskets and most shelves are attached the same way. My solid surface shampoo shelves just came separate in the box with the hardware and are installed using silicon. I have not tugged on then to see how solidly they are attached, but they seem solid to me.

No, you do not need to put the walls as high as mine. I prefer to not have any painted wall above my shower. Transolid does its showers just normal height and you have to buy a kit if you want it to go higher. I had to order the panel for the ceiling. If you look at my shower, the normal height ends where the molding goes around the shower at 6 ft high. Swanstone sells walls both 72" high and 96" high.

Thank you. I understand it better now.

Your shower is much prettier than the Swanstone. Is yours the White Carrera color?

Yes, but look at the Swanstone in Ice or in Tundra. I do not like how the swirls on my back wall start and stop where the upper and lower panels meet. I also think the attempt to make the Transolid showers appear to have tiles by putting in thin "grout lines" in the coloring (they cannot be felt, so are just white lines) looks stupid because the swirls of color continue from "tile" to "tile."

They are barely visible from a couple of feet away and are made so it looks like 1 ft x 2 ft tiles. THAT size will go out of style. If my shower pan (63" x 37 3/4") was not too big for Swanstone walls (36" max with no trim to make it larger available), I would have gotten the larger white or gray base from Transolid and the Swanstone Ice or Tundra walls. If you do not mind the silly white lines or the way the design of swirls goes on the back wall, go for Transolid.

See the color change just above the bar? The top and bottom are two different panels on the back wall and Swanstone won't do that. My side walls are all one piece. See how you can barely see the tile" lines? How the swirls go across two "tiles?" Silly. But I settled for that to get an extra 1 3/4" depth.

Click on my pictures to enlarge them.

In this thread, poster HB has his/her Swanstone Ice shower toward the beginning of the 246 responses. There are two posts, a distance apart, both marked by "3 years ago." They used to post the entire date, which would let me to aim you right to the date of the posts, but Houzz apparently changed that! Look for HB's posts 3 years ago for photos of Swanstone Ice shower.

Nancy, I see what you meant about the lines and the color change. I had not noticed the color change before on your pictures.

I found the posts you discussed. I added a post asking for HB to post pictures that show what they look like after 3 years of use. I hope he has time to do so.

Thank you for your help. It looks like Lowe's or Home Depot is the only place I can find them. I wish I could see a shower in person. I am going to try to get samples, but I would like to see a full size panel.

A bathroom showroom near me has 2 ft x 2 ft squares of Swanstone Ice and Tundra (and the other colors in their group) to see. You can try looking up the showrooms in your area and calling to ask if they sell Swanstone and if they have any of the larger size samples to see. You can also send for samples of Swanstone. They send you about a 6 inch square piece. I bought my shower never having seen a Transolid one at all in any color, with just a piece around 3" square to judge color by.

I mostly notice the quirks of my shower color when I am sitting across from it. It never bothers me any other time and no one else says anything, so it may be a thing that others do not notice. If you do not get the same color I have and get a calmer color, it probably will not even be noticeable. It is just the alternating swirls of color in the faux-marble look that make it look obvious where the panels break. Other colors that have less variation probably do not even have color differences between panels.

Swanstone does not discolor. People report that they have one for 20 years and it still looks new.

Here are the Swanstone Colors. Veritek is not real Swanstone, do not look at those!

I have heard about Veritek. We looked at every bath showroom in South Tulsa and none of them carried it. I doubt the bath showrooms in other parts of Tulsa would carry it since they are not in a good part of town. I may need to drive to Dallas...4 hours. We drove 2 hours to Tulsa to look for tiles, so we stopped at the bath showrooms.

In the meantime, I can order samples of Ice, white, Tahiti white, Glacier, and Tundra. I have black marble floor tile with white veins (previous owners). I think all 5 will work with my floor.

What did you use for countertop to match your shower? Thanks.

I installed a Kohler Cast Iron shower base and have not found it to be cold however my shower is not on concrete. Kohler states that is Bellwether Cast Iron shower bases with the "Offset Drain" -- available 60x32 or 60x34 with left or right drain -- can easily replace an existing bathtub. List prices on Kohler website are substantially higher than Home Depot, build.com, etc.

I have been looking at Cesarstone, but I have not figured out whether or not it is solid surface all the way through or if it can be repaired.

I was looking at Swanstone shower pans. From sheetrock wall to sheetrock wall on my alcove tub, it is 57 3/4". I don't know how wide the space is with the sheetrock gone. I can't measure how large the current tub is. I assume there is a lip on the tub that goes behind the sheetrock. If so, the tub should be wider than 57 3/4". So, I don't know what length to buy. I could call Swanstone on Monday, but they won't know about my tub or how it was installed.

I see why many people use white as a base. $782.00 vs $1096 for color pans. Big difference!

My counter is on a custom vanity I designed for my handicapped bathroom. Both the vanity and top are walnut finished in Waterloo

Darn, on my tablet and can’t fix that! Waterlox! Darned spellcheck! I can post a picture next time I am on my laptop. Let me know if you want to see it. Having eye surgery in 10 hours, so may be gone a few days. Just a cataract.

Sometimes I hate spell check! Thanks. Good luck on your surgery. The wood countertop sounds beautiful. I would love a picture when you have time.

I spent all day looking for solid surface shower bases. I finally found The Onyx Collection at the last kitchen and bath place I went to. I looked at a cut away section, and it looks like the color/pattern goes all the way through. I was able to see a shower stall in one of the speckled colors. I need to read about their product, installation, and warranty though. They have colors comparable to Swanstone. Price too.

Lowe's sells Swanstone and also sells The Onyx Collection, but they only have color samples of The Onyx Collection. Swanstone has been out a while so I don't know why they do not have samples.

Nancy, how has your walnut countertop held up and what have you done to it since installation?

We have an oak bathroom vanity top in an upstairs bath that still looks new, but a trifle dated.

I am looking for a dual threshold shower base now, and it looks like The Onyx Collection is my only choice. I know other people have two wall showers....surely.

The main problem with Onyx Collection is that they add a gel coat to the solid surface.

Hi Patti, sorry I missed your earlier post!

Yes, that gel coat makes the Onyx Collection not a true solid surface. Did you look at Grifform for shower pans? They can make you anything you want. For a price! Check them out and use their tool to get an estimate. Sometimes, it is best to get exactly what you want. Their Corian base is true solid surface and you can get a solid color base from them and use the Swanstone Ice or Tundra walls.

My walnut top is holding up great. We keep a microfiber cloth out to wipe any drips. Here it is with the light reflecting off the Waterlox:

Without the lights above, so no reflection:

Below the sink is a swivel towel bar for the microfiber towel.

I don't think that it has changed much, maybe a little duller, maybe a few drip marks, but not sure that is even true. I will have to clear it off and give it a wipe and see! Not today, sinus headache from hell.

It is so pretty. Yes, Grifform is pretty expensive.

Do you know what the walnut is sealed with?

Do you remember where you bought it?

I just found this info regarding The Onyx Collection. I know Corian uses something different, but I don't know the difference as far as durability.

Onyx Collection:

"63% of our products is a hydrate crystal--Al2O3+3H2O. Alumina is also the main ingredient in Corian© and all "solid surface" products. The main ingredient in our product (alumina trihydrate) is in roofing materials and the plastics inside automobiles to slow flame spread and as a smoke retardant. It is in the plastic coating on the wiring in your home (in a much smaller percentage).

Different than Corian:

Our other 37% is a special polyester resin we developed over the last 22 years (and continue to improve) to get the properties which allow us to say "Yes, Guaranteed Forever".

We all try to get properties which make our products work best for our applications. Our application is the bathroom. We believe our resin serves this purpose well. Corian© uses acrylic resin, others use various blends of polyesters or modified acrylics. We prefer our resin for our products and it serves us well.

We use cultured marble type molds to cast our products. The solid surface industry casts sheet goods and fabricates their products. The cultured marble industry uses calcium carbonate as their main ingredient.

Our Gloss finish does have a gelcoat on the surface (about 15 mils) similar to cultured marble. Our Gelcoat is ISO-NPG. ISO-NPG gelcoat is a tight molecule--very resistant to water penetration.

Our Matte finish does not have gelcoat on the surface. We use a different blend of resin for Matte. Our products are real hybrids. The resin in the matte finish--we substitute 30% of the normal ortho resin with ISO-NPG resin. This increases the ability of the product to resist moisture penetration. This is necessary without the ISO-NPG gelcoat coat which is on our gloss products.

We achieved our Matte Finish "look" by lightly sanding the panels and then applying a permanent sealer to the surface. There is little to no shine on Matte Finish Panels. Many colors are available in a Matte. "

So, I could get a matte base instead of glossy, but they do not have many colors. Only 17 matte colors.

Top is Snowswirl. It is not listed in either the glossy or matte. Will call tomorrow to check for gel coat.

Middle is White matte.

Bottom is Platinum matte.

Jim bought the walnut veneer on the body of the vanity, so I do not know where. I bought the solid walnut top at a local sawmill. Just call local sawmills and ask if they sell and fabricate solid black walnut heartwood 1 inch thick tops the size you need. Mine is three boards glued together. Waterlox is the only thing on the bare wood. No stain. I think there are something like 6 coats of Waterlox on it. Know before you call what kind of radius you want on the corners and edges and whether you want just the top, or the top and bottom edges rounded.

Thanks.

I now do have a small bare spot on my walnut counter where the Waterlox finish was eaten off and I see bare wood. It is smaller than a pencil eraser. I have no idea what did it. Waterlox smells pretty strong, so I won’t be trying to coat it.

Oh, no! We reused our old oak sink countertop in the upstairs bathroom. We didn't even refinish it. I bet they put marine grade clear coat on it. Yellows, but the oak is yellowish.