What she is asking is, with the shower and the shower pan and pony wall, does the pony wall sit inside the shower pan, taking up some of her 48", or does the 4" wall space get taken away from her vanity space and the 48" shower pan then sits within the "L" formed by the back wall and the pony wall? Is that what you were asking, Abbabug? Where does the 4" wall space come from? I am confident in answering that the 48" shower pan remains all shower, and the pony wall comes out of the space that was left for your vanity. So you will need a smaller vanity than before you added the pony wall. You can always buy a smaller shower pan. There are companies who will even make custom ones, so anything is possible. You can do a 46" pan and split the difference, though it may cost more. I looked into the ones below because I am doing a roll-in shower. These are not ones you tile, but you use them with tiled walls. I am a total amateur here, though, so someone who has building cred, please back me up or tell me I am wrong. I believe you could do a 3" - 3.5" wall if you use metal wall studs. Anybody? Here is a link that might be useful: Custom shower pans

Hello! I just found this very helpful thread in my search for for ideas/caveats for installing an alcove tub in a wet room/shower enclosure (total enclosure dimensions are 5'6" x 5'0", so the tub could be placed on either wall depending on tub length). This is for a guest bathroom which will be used by guests of all ages, including our ageing parents. My mother in law only takes baths, but father in law only showers and has mobility issues so we want to avoid him having to step into a tub to shower. We want to avoid blowing the budget on the tub itself, so want to avoid cast iron (due to cost and weight), and limited space won't allow for the added width of a tub deck for an undermount/drop-in tub. I did come across the American Standard Studio fold over edge acrylic/fiberglass alcove tub (photo attached), which seems like a decent option to allow us to tile the front apron, but it only comes in 60" x 30" (which is OK, but it would be nice to know if there are any workable 5'6" tubs we could consider). As this thread is 3 years old, I'm wondering what the latest recommendations are for the type of tub to use in a wet room and how to waterproof it. Any ideas appreciated!

Thanks Mongo. I went down to the local tile warehouse and talked to their technical guy. He told me the same thing. He carries Ditra and Laticrete's Strata-Mat as uncoupling membranes and the full line of NobleSeal products. For my one inch hex tile he recommended NobelSeal TS goes down on the floor. Additionally my base won't be just plywood. The tile guy will be putting in a lath and mortar bed to level the floor and provide a solid base. I asked why he doesn't use a cement backer board and he said that he doesn't like the way it follows any variations in the plywood or the joints. He says a mud job gives him a "truer" surface. He is going to install the NobleSeal TS although he remarked that it's probably overkill on my fairly small bathroom with a 1" hex. He normally installs Ditra with larger tiles in bigger bathrooms. He also uses Hydroban on all the surfaces around the tub.

Not to belabor and perhaps it is a function of my slack housekeeping skills, but I did not find the need to wipe down the tub in my tub/shower combination every time I showered. The tub in a wet room setting would receive far less of a deluge of skin etc than the tub I was actually standing in. In terms of "scum", most people at this point take the precaution of using liquid shower soap since it is bar soap that causes scum. I have tiles in my shower and I don't wipe them down every time I shower - nor do I wipe down the floor - my Showerguard shower door - the marble curb nor the marble bench. I hose them down with the hand held before exiting in the event there is any noticeable blobs of shampoo or conditioner. I just don't understand how a tub would become such a pestilence of debris - if I rinsed it off - if necessary - with the hand held it would dry just as my.current walk in shower does - which has marble bench, floor, glass frameless enclosure and 3" x 6" tile. Why would there be a need to clean and/or otherwise physically tend to a tub in a wet room environment versus a tub out in the open. Presumably when one cleans the bathroom, the tub out in the open needs to be cleaned just other items in a household need to be cleaned for other than hygienic reasons just because they become dusty and dirty from what is floating in the air.