we decided to hot mop our floor and do a mud bed to keep the house period accurate but i ran across this great alternative. i'd consider this if we didn't go mud. We are using Hydroban on the wall, as Bill has suggested. it's called Kerdi and many people seem to rave about it. I imagine the resident tile experts Bill and Mongo have words of wisdom about how well it works. I seriously considered it but hubby wanted tar... it has not been fun. Hot mop people are in short supply here in LA. I'm really hating this job right now. All the jackhammering and demo involved in changing a pan is horrible. If there is an alternative that works as well, i think it's worth considering and this stuff below looks like it may be. They have a kits and sell a fabric you can cut custom. Browse the site and check out the fabric, i imagine it would be great to do a curbless shower or a bathroom european or japanese style with a drain in the center. Seems like this would make it possible, just create a full wet room. I'd love that with a soaking tub... I need a soaking tub after this nightmare... Here is a link that might be useful: kerdi

acrylic showers have thier place if you can live with it, it will be cheapest route. they do atleast dry out between showers, can be easily serviced. the only downfall of them is the wasted/lost space. In a average 32 acrylic the actual room inside is more like 28 1/2" and thats anywhere there is no shelf or handle, you loose another 9 inches in each corner, thats where they need the most support (for shipping) I am continuously asked about this question by my clients. Here is my opinion and why. I suggest the use of a poured cultured marble pan. we do the others but this is why. I do not like the way that the drain attaches to the liners in a wet-bed, I have been called back to 3 showers in the last 5 years where they have began to leak. none of the 3 were my fault, but all 3 had to have the floors removed, and rebuilt. all 3 was from the plumbers flange, 3 different plumbers were used by the homeowners. 2 leaked because the seal gave up on its own over time,(obviously they were not tight enough) plumbers had to pay me to redo. the 3rd I was paid by homeowner, because he admitted to plumber to using a toilet plunger to try and unclog the drain, that was full of hair. In doing so he blew out the seal, when the clog would not move. but there are more reasons than that. I have repeatedly been called in to redo showers here in the south (NC)because of mildew/mold. if you live in humid states rubber liners with wetbed is just not smart. it is just that a wetbed. Anyone can say what they want, seal it every year, or not the floor of a tile shower takes days/weeks to dry out after a shower. this combined with the fact that the floor and every wall contracts with temperature guarantees you that in a tile shower the corners Will crack no matter how small. relevent to leakage, no thats why the walls are sealed before the tile, it is enevitable that water will enter behind the tile in some small amounts. and move down to the pan. True they make caulking in every color that they make grout in, and should absolutly be used. but this does not take away from he fact that there is no possible way to keep water from getting under the tile level on a tile bottom shower floor. liners are not there incase the tile fails, its a working part of the shower system. and in this system (the cracks around the corners) there is an eco-system that is perfect for mold and mildew to survive, and spore out into the rest of your home continuously. cultured marble bases removes this continuous dampness, as well as having a standard flange that can be easily changed/worked on in case of any cause. Cultured marble pans are flanged on top, come in stardard sizes up to 4x5 feet, then you could build a bench all the way around the outside of that for a party shower. If you use cultured walls as well, corners are siliconed in, as well as a second sealed corner trim strip. so leakage is an impossibility, so is moisture retention. Recesses, and shelving no problem, even adding them later. smooth single no seamed surfaces are easy to clean and no maintainance. I make money if I do the tile, when I do bathroom remodels, I use outside contractor if they want the cultured marble and I make nothing for that. Facts are facts, I want my clients to get what they want, and what they need is info to make thier own decisions. Other people have said clean and dry your shower after use, I say what are they thinking. I want a VERY low maintainance place to get clean, not a place where I have to do maintainance every night, I wont dry me and the shower after every use. There is still the water in the cracks that you simply cannot get to to dry, along the bottom of the wall to floor seam. if you use the cultured marble base , and tile walls, you will have no worries as well, the possible problem is in the tile floor base.

Hi Phyllis, Glad to comment on this. My tiles looked like this too - any tiles that were pure white stayed white, while any with even a bit of grey veining went really dark. That contrast while wet made me REALLY nervous. But after some time, they all looked beautiful again. One further comment - I hand picked each and every tile hoping for a beautiful installation. It sounds like you may have taken that extra effort too. I would do what you are doing - just watch each day and I expect you'll find the tiles getting lighter and lighter. Once your fears have calmed, just start in again and you'll be rewarded with a wonderful backsplash!!

Since my original post, I did buy the home, closed on the 29th, but that almost didn't happen - one of the main reasons was, tada, this bathroom! During the walkthrough the day before closing I came to find out that they had to replace the shower pan, which meant, they replaced the tiles in the shower, and with them being tiles from the 60s, not only did they not match, but as a repair, it was an AWFUL job! I was pissed and upset to say the least. I couldn't understand why the owners didn't offer me the option of a credit to do the bathroom over as I saw fit, instead of doing this on their own, it just made no sense. We finally got them to give us a credit and I'll be ripping out the entire bathroom. What they paid to have done in there was just a waste of money and almost cost them the sale of the house - and cost them more at the end with the credit given. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with this bathroom. I've taken off that gawd awful accordian door (Freecycle!) I'm looking at tiles, trying to find a 18" vanity base to free up some more floor space, probably put in bypass shower doors as I can't stand getting wet when I turn on the shower as it is now, and there's no light in the shower, so this will bring in natural light. I'm still not sure how to deal with the door. I haven't found a good door to put there. THe original door swong in, door handle on right when it was there. I'm still toying with the idea of a pocket door. I'm going to get an estimate on switching the toilet and vanity, still not sure how much of a difference it would make. Too many things and possible options. Want an elongated toilet - does anyone know who makes some really short toilets when it comes to floor space? Good source for 18" vanities? Vanity there now is 41" thinking about a 36" wide instead, will give a bit more room. So, that's my mini update on this bathroom. I've been almost 3 weeks doing non-stop cleaning. As clean as they people were/appeared, you have NO idea what I've found deep cleaning! This morning, I'm off to paint the closets in the master bathroom - they painted the bedroom, but didn't take the extra step to paint the interior of the 2 closets, so I have a tan bedroom and light green/blue closets!!!