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Remodeling Design Dilemma Bathrooms

Steam shower for bathroom remodel. Any advice on dealer, pros/cons?

3 years ago

I'm trying to create the perfect spa feel for our master bath. Our new design will be modern and sleek. I love wet saunas and was thinking a steam shower might be awesome to have, but wanted to make sure it's installed correctly and worth the investment. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

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Comments (5)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
I often use the frefab ones for renovations they are really quite a amzing to have with all the bells and whistles and I find affordable too compared to all the stuff that needs to be done to build a steam shower in a reno.
AJCN
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
My sister has a steam shower built by a tile pro hired by her GC. While they enjoy it and everything is working fine, nobody told her that marble is a bad choice for a steam shower. It’s been a pain for her to keep it clean. If you choose pre-fab you don’t have to choose tile. If you choose to have one built by a tile pro, it’s best to choose porcelain tile. It would be useful for you to read as much about steam shower construction as you can. Some sources of info are:

- TCNA manual

http://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications.html

- lots of good info here about hiring a tile pro

http://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/

- when you get ready to try to find a tile pro ypu can go to that site and search for a pro in your area.

- here, you can also search for a pro: http://www.tile-assn.com/

- also, you can go to manufactures’ websites such as Schluter and Laticrete (there are others) and read/watch their instructions to familiarize yourself with the process.

- I usually stay far away from YouTube, because you can easily go down a rabbit-hole of misinformation. But there’s a tile pro there n the Boston area, Sal Diblasi, who posts videos that are actually helpful and informative.

FYI, our shower is built like a steamer, meaning it has the sloped ceiling, full glass, transom window above door, etc, but we don’t like steam actually pumping in, so we didn’t install a steam generator. At first we thought we would want steam, so I went to all those sources of info I just listed above. Learning about it helped me to ask the right questions, and helped me to make a better hiring decision.

If you don’t choose pre-fab, you need a very experienced pro who has done lots of steam showers. The waterproofing of a normal shower is not good enough. It requires vapor proofing and other details that are different from normal showers, such as sloped ceiling, choosing the right size steam generator, decisions about transom or not, etc.
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Julie
Original Author
3 years ago
I’m so grateful for your detailed opinions. Thank you, thank you!!
AJCN
3 years ago
I’m assuming you are going to hire a GC for this project. Be clear with the GC that you want a licensed, certified tile pro on your project, not just his “tile guy I’ve used forever; never had a call-back.” That won’t fly with steam showers.

If you post some pictures, and a drawing on graph paper of the layout, there are some designers on here that can offer more advice.
PRO
Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Marble is only a BAD choice for a steam shower if you use cheap marble, the prep and install isn't done by a qualified professional, and you don't have the proper maintenance in place. Have installed many marble steam showers, but keep in mind that these clients are very committed to the regular approved cleaning requirements and are not afraid to have us in every year or two for an inspection and professional maintenance as well. Depends what you want and your tolerance for maintenance, (and the qualifications of your tile contractor.)

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