Opinions please on bathroom remodel

[Bethk]

We finished our kitchen last year and are now working on the master bath and bedroom. BTW the kitchen turned out beautiful! If I could figure out how to post pics I would.

I'm having a hard time making up my mind on the bathroom. We totally gutted it. It did have a garden tub and we want to install a shower. What I'm having a hard time deciding is whether to put in a shower the size of the old tub (from wall to wall) or put in a corner shower and have a small linen closet next to it.

The linen closet would be nice but as one of my co-workers so kindly said, I will want a shower big enought to put my walker in when I get old. Lovely!

For those of you who have redone your baths, what did you do and what do you like about it and what do you wish you had done differently?

I appreciate all comments.

Thanks!

Beth

[Sylvia]

What I loved? My extra deep bathtub. It's great to soak in. It's standard size though. I also love having extra outlets. If you're tearing out the drywall make sure you put outlets where you want them.

[Greg]

Sylvia is right on, a full size tub if you have room or can make room. Dont forget shutoff valves. Greg

[Yanita]

Well...

When we renovated our master bath last year we installed a very wide 2 seat shower. Complete with grab bars etc... My decision for that was old age creeping up.

We also used an antique vanity as the base cabinet for our sink. Since it was a vanity you can pull a chair up to it and sit if needed, also a wheelchair.

About 3 years ago my Hubby sustained a back injury, during his recovery it required the walker, wheelchair, and the toilet seat lift...yeah right, the walker would not fit the various angles required to get into the bathroom. The commode was in such a tight area the toilet seat lift did not have room side to side.

At the time we had a garden tub, very dangerous for the situation. One slippery step, no grab bars.

So remembering all the hassels we went thru when we did our remodels we allowed for all these variables.

Our second bath does have a standard size tub complete with shower. BUT, when we renovated that we also allowed for wheelchair/walker accessibility.

With the ever increasing cost of renovations I only wanted to do this once, hopefully we got it right.

Just my thoughts,

Yanita

[Brenda OH reregister]

if you send me your email (mine is [email protected])

I have a photo that might be helpful, I just cannot remember how to get it to post on the forum.

it is a bath remodel where I made a small closet to enclose the end of the bath tub to put up the tub surround. this also gave me a very solid wall (3/4 plywood) that I could easily put a towel bar onto, because I put a 2x4 into the closet opposite where the bar was going which was great for holding the anchors.

this meant I installed a 60 inch tub, and had a 1 1/2 foot wide, 7 foot high closet with shelves after the remodel.

the folks I showed the home to and the buyers thought it was a nice addition

Brenda

[Bethk]

Thanks so much for your replies. It helps a lot. As Yanita said, we only want to do this once so we want to get it right. I too am thinking long term and age.

I would love to see your pics Brenda. My email is [email protected].

Can someone tell me how to post pics to this forum? I would love to post my kitchen pics.

Beth

Again, thanks for your replies and suggestions. It's much appreciated.

[JD]

Hi Beth,

There are instructions for posting pictures with screenshot examples in the Website Questions forum. You can find them here at this link.

viewtopic.php?t=2414

Good luck with the bathroom project.

JD

[Bethk]

Thank you. I will check it out.

[Brenda OH reregister]

Trying the photo thing:

I never got the upload photo option
turned off the firewall, still no upload picture button

anyone else having these difficulties?

[Yanita]

Hi Brenda,

Try again, I just checked on your new registration and found that your upload pic abilities was not activated.

It is always best to let Admins, Mods know when you are having a site problem before you reregister. About all site problems have an answer in the website questions forum. Please ask your site question there.

Thanks, and should you need further help please let us know.

Yanita

[Jim from Canada]

A larger shower is always nice. It's great to have your other half to wash your back. We will be putting a large one in when we remodel the bathroom.

Jim

[WildIrish]

Trying the photo thing:

I never got the upload photo option
turned off the firewall, still no upload picture button

An easy way to post pics to this forum (or ANY other forum) is to upload your photo to a photo hosting site like http://tinypic.com/

They'll give you a link to use in forums. Copy that, and paste it into your post. Voila--instant pictures!

[Bethk]

Ok, we have definitely decided to go with a full size shower. I don't know anything about the quality of the different brands. We want to make sure we don't buy something that isn't going to hold up.

What brands do you recommend? We found one at Lowe's we really like but don't know how to gauge the quality. I believe the brand was Aqua Glass.

Thanks for your help,

Beth

[Greg]

Beth, if you can't get any answers, just try a Google search, there are some sites with reviews & Epinions. Just remember to take some of them with a grain of salt.
Usually any fiberglass tub / shower base will work fine and be trouble free if it is correctly installed. Greg

[JD]

I have installed the Aqua Glass Eleganza unit a couple of times. Might not be spelling it right. It is an ABS unit with kind of a thin feel. You can squeeze the soap dish and other extrusions and get some give in it. Very similar to Sterling Vikrell, though I think the Sterling products are a bit stiffer/stronger. Neither of these products are as strong or sturdy as fiberglass, but that is just the nature of the materials used. I do think the ABS products will last a long time, depending on installation and use. What it is is affordable. High quality shower units can easily go over $1000 for base and walls (34x48)

Ashville Mobile Homes - http://ashvillemobilehomes.com sells fiberglass units at a reasonable price but delivery will add to the price. Maybe you could find a fiberglass unit locally or order one from your local home store.

The ABS units work well for most people. It depends on your preference and budget.

JMO
JD