I think a bench would be optimum. Tile will give you the most value, I wouldn't worry about grout coming out at this point. Also given you live in the north--carpet in the bedroom is the way to go.

Sorry about the damage, but yay to turning manure into roses!

Yes to tiled shower and a seat. Consider having a handheld near the seat as well. As we've run into health issues, having a seat with a handheld nearby has been a real blessing. Our shower surround was made out of corian which matched the vanity top. We had the seat made of it as well with appropriate support underneath. We find it warmer to sit on than tile or stone would be.

Re warmth for tile, get underfloor heating added. We have that in our bathroom and it keeps the floor and the whole bathroom comfortable when the weather's cold. I also have a heated towel bar which is just a bit of heaven on earth for drying off after a shower in winter with warm towels and it adds warmth to the room.

I'm not a fan of pergo anyway, so if the flooring isn't going to match in the bedroom, consider getting a different product...wood, LVT, carpet. Again as it's cold more of the year than not, we have carpet in our bedrooms for warmth under foot and it adds softness and quiet to the room vs. hard surfaces.

It sounds like the time to do it! We recently re-modeled our bathroom with a walk in shower and love it. It is quite large but it has no seat. .I thought we would add one later if needed. There are grab bars which I do use for balance even though it is only about a two inch step up. We also got the tall elongated toilet and a marble vessel sink.

I'd put in grab bars, but not a built in seat. I would think it would be a nightmare to keep clean. A portable shower seat that you can put in and take out as you need to would be a better option, I think. And if it got gruesome and uncleanable you could just toss it and get a new one.

i would do tile. it does take a while for grout to loosen. if applied correctly and sealed, should last 20 years or more.

i would add a bench/seat, love the idea of corian... just makes sense, add support for sure. to me its easier in the long run. yes u have clean underneath, but if u keep up with it and with proper ventilation, should not be a probem. with a portable seat, you have to move E-V-E-R-Y time you clean, would get annoying very quickly, for me anyway.

handheld shower spray, a must

heated floors, definitely!

heated towel bar, yes if budget allows

you can also heat your bedroom floors as well. we did and its heavenly!!

edited to add: we used Forbo flooring in bedroom and heated it.

My favorite tub/shower was in my last house we built.It was a smooth wall one piece acrylic unit. It isn't always possible to install in existing homes though due to door way limitations. Thankfully our present house has good acrylic panels. When we were looking at homes I really really didn't want tile. Acrylic is sooooo easy to clean and as you get older that is important. .The smooth wall is easier to clean than the ones with designs. I have better things to do with my time than scrub grout. Plus acrylic is durable, long lasting and virtually leak proof. as long as the caulking is in good condition. It is easier, less time and mess and cheaper to replace caulking than a whole tile shower. Time after time you hear of tile showers leaking, cracking and/or crumbling in posts.

Personally I don't like tile floors either. My master bath tile floor is like walking on ice in the winter and I have to keep bath rugs down on the floor. I ended up using grout Renew so it is easier to clean. If i ever have to replace it it sure wouldn't be tile again. Probably LPV, marmolium or laminate flooring. I do like the marmolium up at my camp.

I have a tub/shower, but if I just had a shower a bench would be a must for shaving legs.

So we have both. Here in the north we added a bathroom with a surround shower. Because everything opened up when this bathroom was added, the surround was able be installed. It would not fit now. That said, this is very large.

We also just did a new bathroom for a rental. Took out the tub and replaced it with a short. We used a lead pan for floor base and tiled the rest of the shower.

We also have a bathroom with tiled floor and bench.

Explore bench options. We put in a tiled/ corian bench because this bathroom is huge and visually needed it, But, it is cold to sit on.

Surround

Rental

Florida large master

If you like Pergo go with the Pergo even if the Pergo isn't the same style as the other rooms You can get around the matching issue by turning the flooring in the bedroom another way or getting a similar style or getting something that blends, but doesn't compete. The bedroom is it's own room anyway.

We replaced a big tub with a big walk in shower that has a tiled bench. The bench stays too cold to sit on, so is used as a shelf for extra towels. Our shower is large enough that we didn’t have any problem using a portable shower chair when we needed one after some health issues.

I agree with HU. Look at Coretec luxury vinyl tiles. They have many that look like stone.

We did Coretec LVP in our home in Florida, not in the bathrooms.and it is softer on the feet.

Neighbors liked ours and got the version and used it in a bathroom as well.

I'd be concerned with LVT in a bathroom as it's glued down and can lift with moisture. I've had to protect ours in the kitchen by the sink with a washable carpet. I'd also not do that if we had heated floors as the heat can dry the glues and cause the vinyl to shrink and lift. Certainly any product like pergo can't get wet as the backing will expand and be destroyed.

My bathroom remodel removed an acrylic tub and surround, and replaced with Onyx brand tile panels for a walk-in shower. Onyx is a marble, and the one piece tile panel is easy to clean. I do squeegie daily. I had a bench put in, for shaving legs as I'm a bit wobbly as I get older. And had the grab bars professionally installed, replacing the suction-cup ones I'd been using. The sink and topper to the vanity, along with backspash, are of matching Onyx.

For built in stone/tile bench that is too cold to sit on, before taking a shower if you take the handheld shower spray in hot water setting and spray the bench for about 30 sec or so, your derrière will appreciate it.

I installed this system in my master bathroom, replacing a tub/shower combo. They make it with a zero profile, but I had to use the low profile since my home is on a slab. I love it. I purchased the 48" one and there's more than enough room inside for a stool. The floor isn't tile, but rather a fiberglass pan. Not cold at all!

I thought I wanted a seat in the master bath shower until my MD warned me that they can be very slippery, causing falls. I've used a bath chair in the shower while recovering from hip surgeries. I also wanted body sprays and had three installed. Now those are my 'grab bars -- never use the sprays!

Big YES to heated floors. As long as you're re-doing the floor anyway, it should be easy to lay an electric heat mat with wall control. Ours is still working fine after 21 years. We did need to replace the control last year.

YES to spray arm. Ours is adjustable up and down on a bar. No need for both a shower head and a sprayer.

No to 'rain shower' unless you have huge supply of hot water or instant water heater.

Corian is warmer than porcelain tile. Vinyl is warmer, too, but tends to feel 'plastic-y'. Marble is a nightmare to keep clean without scarring the surface.

You can limit the grout by using larger tiles. Use colored grout as well.

Today's products are good options for bathrooms , Annie.

I put a teak bench in my walk-in shower, and I like that I can position it where I want it. There was a large oval tub originally, and so the shower space is pretty large.

Body jets are not allowed here due to the amount of water they use, but I do get plenty of hot water from the rain shower and hand-held shower. I really like my pebbled floor, and because the foundation is a concrete slab, leakage is not an issue.

Because the humidity is so low here, I dry off very quickly. In a cold climate, I would want a heated floor, but that is not an issue for me.

Bathtub to walk-in shower conversion · More Info

I agree with Colleen, shower stall with a separate stool. I don't like showers with built-in seating. They take up too much space and never seem to be in the right spot. Grab bars are a must, especially for older people who are less steady on their feet.

Arcy, I don't live in the north. I also will never put carpet in my house again.

Thanks for everyone's help. I did have a built in seat in the shower when I lived in Germany. I loved it. Used it to shave my legs. I also liked the detachable sprayers which made it easy to clean both shower and the separate tub that had one too. I hadn't thought about heated floors. I'll have to ask how much that adds to the cost. Also heated towel rack sounds wonderful, I hare being cold.

We redid our master bath three years ago. i decided a bench would be nice in our rather roomy shower, but the workmen were worried that a tiled bench would cramp it too much. They suggested a corner of the space could make a nice seat in the shower and still allow for a roomy shower area. That suggestion worked great.

My problem with a bench would be not having very bendy knees. No way could I bend enough to clean underneath it. I would have no issue moving a portable chair around.

Annie Deighnaugh I would love to hear more about the Corian shower surround. Is the floor/pan Corian also? How did it compare price wise to traditional tile, if you did compare?

I don't want to do tile although maybe modern grout and sealer isn't as maintenance demanding as my old stuff, and I haven't been impressed with the enclosures I see at the big box stores.

Some place I showered had an enclosed seat at one end of a large shower. There is no need to have the area under the seat open unless you want to. Add the grab bars next to the bench because the day might come where they would help you to stand. I also stayed at one place with heated floors and loved them. The owner told me they also were the cooling system in the summer which I do not think I would love although I do like walking on cool tiles in the summer.

Handheld wands with an extra long hose are a must. Hopefully the need will be a long time in the future but if you would need bathing assistance it is easier for someone to turn the hose than to have you stand and turn around under a fixed head.

As far as shaving your legs you may find that using something like Nair or having your legs waxed as easier. Before I had my cataract surgery I thought I had shaved my legs only find to my horror after I dried off I had left strips of hair on my legs.

I redid one of my bathrooms and replaced the shower pan and retiled the walls. It took me a long time as it was just me stumbling my way through it and learning as I went. It took forever, cost more than I had bargained for and after all was said and done, I wished that I had just done a vinyl enclousure instead. It would have been so much faster and much easier.

I did put in a shower pan, so the shower floor is not tiled, but I had to put up water resistant wall board and it took forever to tile it and all the mess!

I had, years ago, already put up a new tub and vinyl walls in the upstairs bath and could kick my self for not doing the same with this shower stall bath.

Maybe for some it matters to you. All I really wanted was a new and clean and refreshed bath area. i used a pretty good quality. Not all are as good as some others. You can get them in solid materials, too. I think that tile is often highly over rated.

I always use a hose in the shower/bath. I love it for ease in cleaning the bath and it makes little difference as to the the use of the shower.

One thing that I really dislke are these shower heads that get you wet all over but not enough in any one place. I went the extra nickle and bought one of that type, a Kohler. I absolutely hate it! Unless you have fantanstic water pressure and are willing to waste a lot of water by having a large area of spray, dont use one of these rain head types.

I would take into consideration your neighborhood and what the other houses have. If most of the houses have inserts, I would give that serious consideration. Also think about how much tile would be and is it worth it to you.

My DD had a water heater leak last year. Her house had matching carpet in the bedrooms even though they were on opposite side of her house. Because her master got wet, she got new carpet in all the bedrooms. It was matching before, it needed to match after per the insurance company.,

So...you may end up with al new floors in your house.