See where it says "vitreous"? That means this is the ONLY type of tile even tougher than porcelain. It's made specifically to be nonabsorbent so as to be a good candidate for outdoor use. Short answer-- this tile would be a good candidate for WHATEVER you like to use it for. :-)

The building code for 1 & 2 family dwellings is mostly prescriptive which means it actually sets minimum and maximum values and sizes structural members for a given location in the house. This is not intended to be used as a design guide but to place limits on what you might design yourself. Using the code as a design guide can result in deficiencies but that is not the fault of the code writers. The joist size tables do not consider long span bounce. The wall systems described are the ones most commonly used but the code does not intend to forbid the use of others. The waterproofing requirements are not extensive or adequate although the addition of the requirement to install materials according to the manufacturer's instructions was intended to fill that gap. Concrete foundations and slabs should be designed to ACI 332 since the IRC does not consider many common detailing problems. Placing pipes in an outside wall is a design problem that may be addressed by some codes but there is no reason to prohibit that condition. If there were to be a restriction it would have to be based on a map or list of locations similar to the requirements for wall vapor retarders. You can base your decision about the location of pipes on anecdotal information and other people's opinions or you can design the wall to avoid freezing of the pipe. If you choose the latter, you can use the formula normally used to locate the dew point in a wall in order to determine where the temperature would be 32 degrees or lower. Ignoring air infiltration for a moment, a water supply pipe 1 1/2" deep in a 2x4 stud wall and insulated with 3 1/2" of fiberglass insulation would probably freeze at about -10 degrees F. Ironically, removing 1 1/2" of the insulation on the warm side would lower the outside temperature needed to freeze the pipe to about -50 degrees but for fiberglass insulation air-infiltrations makes that prediction unreliable. So the design solution is to air seal the stud cavity and place R-10 or greater insulation on the cold side of the pipe. This is best done with spray foam (Icynene, etc.) and if the studs are 2x6's, the R value would be as much as R-14 which would put the temperature of the pipe at about 55 degrees when the outside air temperature is -30 degrees F. At that outside temperature the house temperature would need to drop below 45 degrees for the pipe to freeze. This design is roughly equivalent to a double 2x4 stud wall with no insulation in the interior wall and 3 1/2" foam or dense-pack cellulose insulation in the outer wall. The way it was done in my house back in 1903, was to put a "double wall" of wood lath and rough plaster at the middle of the full 2x4 stud cavity throughout the house and at the shower pipe the space behind the pipe was filled with vermiculite plaster. This pipe has never frozen but because of the risk of air infiltration I don't count on protection below -20 degrees. Remember that these calculations assume that the interior temperature is 68 degrees or higher, so if you set the thermostat at 55 degrees or the bathroom is under heated or you close the shower door you should adjust the calculation.

I spoke to one of the workers today and told him it was industry standard to use this plastic. I don't know anything about curbs or mud, or any of those other words. I asked him about this book, and of course, he looked at me like I was crazy. My husband spoke to the contractor who said this is totally unnecessary, and that he has been doing this for years this way, even in his own house. -- I told him .- this puts me in a weird predicament because I don't want the job to be done wrong, and I'm not convinced that this is right. We are at a stand-still. I want to take a hammer to those tiles-- I am waiting to hear from the store-owner who sold me the tiles and ask her advice about what I can do now..... I am also going to ask her about the glass shower tiles with cold and hot water. This is why I hired a Contractor -- I don't want to make all these calls and teach myself how to install a bathroom, or a floor, or a fireplace! Creative - I cannot thank you enough. I looked through the book you are referring to. The contractor thinks I'm reading into everything because this isn't the first thing I've complained about.... This is the text he sent me this morning "The vinyl on floor and up walls about a foot and up seat area and on wall behind you do not need on walls unless steam shower nobody puts on wall you are reading to much No concern my own shower is done like this"

cgcl- Whatever heat is supplied by a heated shower floor is trivial compared to the heat of the water. A shower runs at about 105 degrees F, skin temperature is about 98 F, and you would never try to heat a floor to those temps. Even if you have a heated floor, it will still be cooler in comparison to your skin. On the other hand, as soon as water at shower temperature hits the floor, the floor will be heated in a few seconds far more efficiently than resistance wires in the floor can provide heat. The fact that your shower is large doesn't affect things because I can't imagine taking a shower while standing somewhere that the shower water isn't hitting. It's your money and your project, so do what you want. But, to me, a heated shower floor is an unnecessary and expensive complication that won't make any difference. Further, because the mass of the shower floor is large, there would be so much thermal lag that you would need to have it on all the time: you couldn't just turn it on when it's time to shower and expect it to quickly get warm. I can think of a lot more things to spend money on in a bathroom that would actually add value....