Patrick, even though our shower is of a decent size, I wanted the ability to completely remove/flip up which ever seat I finally chose, both for cleaning, and for space, should you not want to bang our knees on said corner bench if we became physically less adept. The bench I chose has stood up well, is warm when wet, not slippery, and is sturdy enough to use to stand on to change lightbulbs in the bathroom ceiling! I will say that originally I wanted a teak flip up bench/seat, but the costs were astronomical for the interior wall bracing, brackets, and teak seat. I'm of a heavier weight, and didn't want to pull the darn thing out of the wall, hence the extra bracing I refer to. The seat and brackets (stainless, and hinged brackets were what I was considering) were only going to be available to me from a boat building/marine grade store, and they saw me coming with my wallet open! As you've read, I finally just purchased a really nice, sturdy bench, which is perfect height for washing dogs, shaving human legs, and just sitting to towel dry hair etc after showering. Take your time, give this some thought, and realize that propping one's butt up on a slippery bit of granite should you choose it, gets old as you get old! :) I did use a cardboard box to generally get the idea of size and height I wanted for my bench...give it a try! Good luck with your project! You'll love the new shower, regardless of seating!

I have found great success in using AWESOME Cleaning Solution, you can buy this product at any dollar store, and depending on the condition of the tile on the wall, when you get this product spray the tile down, I normally get inside of the shower or tub when I clean it, instead of bending over or reaching in, It makes it easy to clean this way, spray the shower walls down and inside the tub and wipe, that's right spray and wipe, tip: use a towel when wiping your tub walls and inside of the tub it covers a wide range in area when cleaning, now if its really dirty then get an eraser pad to go along with the job as the posting said above, and that should get your tub back to its normal status. Please be advise when using strong cleaning product, always invest in a mask for your health protection, If you have mildew, the eraser pad, nor will awesome, do the trick, you will need to make vinegar and water solution, or just spray bleach to kill the mildew. Bleach do not clean as we think, its actually dangerous and harmful to our health, I only use it when I run into a bathroom that have mildew that the cleaning product can't handle. Most store brand product that you buy is not effective when it come down to getting the job done, you can do it yourself with theses two easy steps I have listed, and once you get to doing it, you can step back and look at the results you have done, you want need someone to come in and clean your house, that will charge you 100.00 to do the job. Try awesome and I guarantee you, you will get the job done. Good luck

I've been using Kiss My Face shower gel and hand soap; the label says Ph balanced and no problems so far. Got it at my local health food store. I use Miracle's natural stone tile cleaner. My shampoo is Matrix Amplify, which I am not giving up, so I'll have to live with it if it causes etching! Good luck in your search. When I was trying to find products it just didn't seem like there was a lot of information about Ph neutral products safe for marble. I thought about going to the college bookstore and buying some litmus paper so I could test the Ph, but I never did get around to it! :-) Let us know, if you find the proverbial silver bullet!

Perhaps it’s semantics but the plumbing inspector came out several times to check the construction of the shower including approving waterproofing method as well as needing a 24 hour flood test to check the integrity of the shower pan. And of course the installation of the rough as well as the fixtures had to be approved as well. Based on my understanding it seems as though it is the construction of the unseen elements that impacts the functionality and waterproofing of the shower. Perhaps I’m not understanding but theoretically one could have an ugly tile job but a waterproof shower.