Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Home projects for winter, 2 by missingrosie

missingrosie wrote:
My 'dream' no care easy access shower involved solid quartz walls and ceiling. Quartz sheets at half thickness (1/2-3/4" ?? ) can be purchased for shower walls and ceiling. Floors made from quartz sheeting not good because of slipping. No grout lines except corners and even those can be covered. Quartz cleans with just mild soap and water, cannot mold, no stain no seal. It seemed perfect.

Quartz is heavy and until it is up in place...is delicate like granite. It is also costly like granite. It was just too expensive for us ( the actual product ) plus the contractors we consulted (4 estimates) not used to working with it in that application (countertops fine) and want to charge for their gaining experience and the their risk in breaking it 😳.

I could not afford to have it. So, we went with a largish tile subway pattern ( less grout lines) and all white (looked cleaner to me even though I realize that is psychological )

Went with no barriers entry so great with aging in place should a wheeled chair be needed. And, everyone said I would regret no door / no curtain but I love it. I thought it might be chilly with no door but the shower room is small and it warms up and it stays warm. I put in a good exhaust and the room dries up fast - even the tiled ceiling.

I also like the fact that I can use a steam cleaner on the toilet area floor and go right into the shower and do the floor and walls if needed.

I saw Kohler prefabs that were just as costly as the tile and so..I think prefab cost depends on the manufacturer ..the prefab material...and it is the same with tile ..the manufacturer and the material.

We put in a new toilet and what I remember about choosing a toilet is height ( again aging in place issues ) the fact that the ' chute ' needs to be glazed all the way down ( some inexpensive toilets only glaze the first few chute inches and so paper can drag 😳) and the toilet types that go straight to floor without the flared base ( no bolts show) are easier to clean since it is a
straight ' wall ' from the seat to the floor. It is great not to have to clean a base. The rest was
mostly cosmetics. In the photos you can see the no base toilet. The ledges on the niche were the only quartz I was only able to get! the walls are inexpensive ceramic and the floor is a porcelain tile - less absorbency and harder.

This message was edited Jan 9, 2015 10:53 PM