I guess I did not notice that Lori's question was last year's. Mongo, I am doing planning. We are going to be doing a gut remodel on our 1978 home's only full bathroom. It is a basic smallish bathroom, 8.5 ft x 5 ft with a bathtub alcove hanging off of this space on the back right. A long counter with 2 sinks and the toilet are on the left. A window is on the wall at the end. An adjoining bedroom closet uses up the floor space in front of the bathtub. I am changing the tub to a roll-in shower. We are going down to the studs and removing the tub due to water infiltration and rot. I have a licensed contractor who has done two kitchens and multiple other jobs with us who will do the work. I am not able to clean well because I have asthma and can't use smelly cleansers - even bleach is out. And I can't scrub due to joint issues. That is why I might need a roll-in shower some day. I have a connective tissue disorder and any of my joints can become disabled at any time for days or longer. So these two issues make me a really bad candidate for grout. My grout always gets things growing on it. I figure that I was made for a solid surface, a squeegee, and a good fan. I was thinking of using the Swanstone system, with their ADA roll-in shower pan with trench drain. (In clicky below) It is designed to replace a standard 30 x 60 tub. So that was my Bathroom Design #1. In order to make it work, I had to steal 6" of space from the adjoining bedroom next to the shower. The whole wall on that side of the bathroom has to be rebuilt in a new location for this plan to work. It did give me extra space in the back of the bedroom closet in which I designed a shallow cabinet to provide about 8" deep storage in the space preceeding the shower. That was extra nice! Then I refigured the bathroom to make one of the medicine cabinets at sitting level. I have it on the wall between the toilet and the door. It has a small fold-down shelf below it. Even today, standing on hard tile to do my hair means I am in pain before I even get to go out. In doing this change, I also put the vanity on the same side of the room as the shower. The advantage of this change is that I do not have to move the bedroom wall by the shower, I just have to steal 6 to 8 inches from the back of the bedroom's closet. I have to recess the vanity into the closet a little in order to make room for the wider room doorway. But with this change, the shower is only 52.5" wide because the vanity is longer than the original bedroom closet was. I can make the shower deeper, though, since I am now rebuilding the wet wall in the shower and I am not fighting against having a vanity on the opposite wall. I originally made it 34" deep in this model. That takes the shower to the edge of the window. However, when I went to the one website I know of to order a custom-made ADA roll-in shower to fit my space, I learned that they do not make shower floors less than 37" deep. So I changed my wet wall to 37" and it just sticks out a little more on the side of the vanity. On the opposite wall, the window is located so that a 37" deep shower runs into the window. I have still ended my corian wall at 34", where it fits nicely next to the window. There is tile on the wall under the window, so that will be waterproofed underneath. I understand that if I make the replacement window (we will be replacing it anyway) with tempered glass, I can make the window be partially inside the shower. I also understand I have the option of spending $1000 or so and purchasing an in-wall carrier and putting in a wall-mount toilet. Then I have the extra space I need to expand the shower floor out an additional 3 inches. The sink in the vanity is the Kohler Brockway with two faucets. It is my way of getting two faucets in the smaller space of a 36" sink. DH did not want to lose the "double sink" functionality of this bathroom. It is the only full bathroom in the house. I have the sink pulled out so that it sits a little proud of the vanity. It is common for the Brockway’s “belly” to be exposed in this manner when used in a vanity. People then paint the belly any number of amusing colors. Having the belly exposed like this makes the sink a bit easier to use from a wheelchair or seated walker, too. I can always remove the cabinet doors if I am in a wheelchair long-term. Another advantage of moving the vanity to the same side of the room as the shower is that when it was on the other side, my wheelchair-friendly plan was to remove the vanity altogether and hang the Brockway on the wall. It is meant to be wall-hung in a public lavatory setting. It comes in several configurations up to 6 ft long with two or three faucets. With the vanity partially recessed in the adjoining closet, I can keep the vanity if I am in a wheelchair. I considered making our half bath a roll-in wet room instead, but I cannot get a wheelchair in there because it is situated in a narrow hallway and there is no way for a wheelchair to make the turn into the bathroom. The full bath is situated in a big end of a hall where all three bedrooms and the bathroom all open into a large space. I have room to have the door open outward and there is room to maneuver a wheelchair. Michigan and my city both only require a bathtub or a shower in a home. I figure the Brockway sink is 18" front to back and the basin is 8" deep. Great for bathing babies and small pets. For toddlers you can get a plastic tub and set it in the shower. I am more interested in aging in place than in resale. To make me a handicapped shower anywhere else in the house would require so much remodeling that it is not worth staying here, but we already have an attractive ramp to the front door and a ramp going from the sunken family room to the kitchen, thousands of dollars invested in real linoleum flooring, and a remodeled kitchen and music room/library where the living room used to be. Not worth moving to me! I can fit a tiny 4' tub into the half bath, I think (can't find that book of graph paper!), so if we had to, I would do that. Oh - and we have a very nice basement, entirely unfinished, in which anybody can build whatever they want. So, what are your thoughts on the design? Here is my Sketch-Up of the final plan, with wall-hung Toto, 37 x 52 shower, and vanity in the adjoining closet. It leaves a 25" deep closet space that is 4 ft wide for the bedroom. I suppose I could lose the ledge behind the Brockway if I absolutely had to deepen the top of the adjoining closet. That would bring the mirror and lights closer to the user and give the closet at least 6 inches more space starting at the vanity top at 35 inches high. I really do NOT want to do that unless I absolutely have to, though. We need the counter space that ledge provides. Have you heard of GRIFforms shower pans? They make them of Corian or Hi-Macs. The estimate I got back from them was $1885 for basic white or beige Group A Corian, plus $305 to ship. This is for the pan only, no walls. I figured I could get them locally. GRIFforms Here is a link to them. Do you have experience or opinions on Corian pans? Any other critiques? So, what are your thoughts on the design? I tried a regular Toto toilet in this design, and I still have about 2 ft between its base and the shower drain. It is fine for walking, not sure if we need the extra room for wheelchairs. I guess we could face the prospect of putting the toilet in the wall if a wheelchair ever becomes a regular part of my life, instead of doing it now, as well. Tearing out all the tile....ahghhhh! Here is a link that might be useful: Swan ADA shower base

There is nothing technically wrong with that PEX installation other than the fact that it looks a bit amatuerish and if you are really intent of messing with it you could make that one change I noted on the PEX but, that would only give you a net gain of 0.3psi so at this point I don't think it would really be worth the effort. Now in regards to the fixture cross. A fixture cross is nothing buy a variation of a sanitary cross (Double tee) where the top inlet and the two side inlets are smaller than the outlet....In fact, you could produce the same fitting using a 2" sani cross and installing 2" x 1-1/2" reducer bushings on the top and two side openings. The fitting at the top of the photo where the two aux vents tie into the vertical riser is a sani-cross that is inverted, and when attaching vents it is required to be installed in that manner. The fitting in the center of the photo where the fixture arms are attached is a double wye. Not that the side arms come off the fitting rising at a 45deg angle, then they installed 1/8 bends (sanitary 45 deg elbows) to turn the line to the horizontal plane. Under the IRC the bottom of the fixture arm pipe at the trap weir may not be higher than the top of the pipe at the vent opening. (see attached illustration). Now that is very important, because even though the code gives us maximum developed lengths for the fixture arms, that will only hold true if the fixture arm is installed with the prescribed 1/4" per foot pitch. Under the IRC the maximum allowable length of the fixture arm is technically equal to the diameter of the pipe divided by the pitch of the run, thus if you were to install a 2" pipe with a 1/2" per foot pitch, the maximum allowable length would be 2" / .5 = 4'. The fixture cross in the illustration is compliments of Harvel Pipe company, one of the leading manufacturers of plastic pipe and fittings.

Lots of useful points here, thanks. After doing some measuring, we would up tentatively deciding that we'll put in a 36" sink cabinet. We'd have so little room in a 24" cab around a garbage disposal (assuming same model we have now, and assuming the drain is in the center) that we'd be hard pressed to store trash under the sink. So with a 24" cabinet, we'd probably wind up losing 15" somewhere else to making a dedicated trash pull out. Thus it's actually efficient to just go to the 36" sink base. (The 30" doesn't work as well as 24 and 36 sizes, for various reasons involving window placement and ikea sizing.) If we stay with this decision, it seems we'll have a lot of latitude in selecting a sink size / configuration. I'll almost certainly go ahead and move to a larger sink - the question will be whether to maximize the potential of the large cabinet or keep the sink scaled to down a bit since the kitchen is smallish and the window in front of which the sink will be set is just 30". With the current cabinet choices open to me, my main work areas in the kitchen will be 33" to the right of the sink cabinet base, and 54-61" on the left of it. Plus however much smaller the sink opening is than the 36" span of the base cabinet. A little more prep space is always a good thing, but so is making dirty mixing bowls disappear.

ORB will technically work with chrome, yes..speaking of your lighting the rest you'll see after you know your other choices. The hardware need to have smth similar..say you have a lot of round, softer lines(existing lights, trim)-so I'd pick it when choosing faucet too. Unless you want to get away from it-and then existing lighting might or might not work. In short, it's not only about finishes. I would try to keep to the current vintage vibe-easier..and is attractive enough, well at least to me. Checkerboard flooring might be cool..I'm just thinking aloud. now, thank you for mentioning your bathtub and toilet are ivory (lucky you..I like ivory)..yes, something to take in the account, definitely, but easier to work with than with the existing vinyl -vinyl is bossier. can you post a picture of gray vanity with white/gray countertop your daughter envisions? There are many shades to gray..some will be too cool and stark while others might work. Lilac gray. Green gray. If warm enough.. I like the idea of a nice woven shade..will slightly repeat ORB as well, since they share this vibe of warmth, you know?.. I like the idea of deep drawers that mayflowers suggested, perfect for towels. Well deep drawers are kinda great to have whenever.