Glass or Plexi Walls or Shower

Hi, I'm new. My husband and I are building our first house so you will probably get lots of questions from me in the future. Sorry in advance!

I'm really wanting to avoid tile overload in our master bath. Our shower is 5x7 and I just don't want all those seams and grout. I've read alot about glass sheets on here, but not enough. I need to hear from someone who actually DID IT or really knows the ins and outs of this process. I'm interested in using glass on walls, floor, in shower, outside of shower, anywhere I could use it! I would either back paint it or paint the surface before affixing the glass.

So any pictures where this has been done or just some info...I really appreciate it.

Jill

We toured many many modern homes here in SoCal while we developed the plans for our new home and we never saw glass on the shower walls that were part of the house walls. The biggest challenge in shower design and installation is to ensure water-tight walls and I suspect that any good builder would be wary of using a system that does not ensure that.  

We did start to see back painted glass more as backsplashes, but they do not get direct water at them.

However, there are lots of larger tiles out there these days, plus you can go with thin grout lines, so it looks a lot less fussy.

We used 24" x 12" tiles in one of our showers, manufactured by http://www.irisceramica.com/

Also, another source for our tiles http://www.porcelanosa-usa.com/

has large glass looking tiles in its collection.

Thank you for the links.

It seems like you could waterproof or seal the glass and seams...I mean they make shower walls and doors out of it. Those tiles in the links are gorgeous, I'm just not too sure how budget friendly they are. I'm looking for a somewhat inexpensive, somewhat unlikely material they could be used with a little tweaking.

So if glass sheets can't work, which I'm not convinved they won't, I'm open to other options! I know this is the place for creative people to offer outside the box ideas, so please speak up! I know we can get an awesome bathroom without going broke.

I cannot understand why glass sheets would not work. It seems to me that they'd have to be set in mortar, and so you would either need to paint the back side before setting them, have them frosted, else plan on the mortar showing through. Glass sheets are often used for back-spashes in the kitchen. Perhaps google that for more info. I briefly researched painting the backside and setting that, but it's been well over a year, and we're on a different course at this point.

All this said, there is maintenance with glass, in keeping especially hard water deposits off. That might be why so many don't opt for sheets. Glass tiles are pretty common now, again, I think any size "tile" would work, but the glass would likely need to be thick enough.

Another option for modern sheets with minimal grout is to use stone or cement sheets (look in the archives for doing this, there was a recent post...)   I've found that in the last 6 months, stone has come down considerably in price.  I don't know that this is the case with cement. These manufacturers warned us late last year that their prices were going up 20% in q1 of this year.

Previously Jill Hayes wrote:

It seems like you could waterproof or seal the glass and seams...I mean they make shower walls and doors out of it. 

But shower glass walls or doors are not set into the main house walls. They are free standing and normally manufactured and cut offsite. Tiling is an established trade and tilers know how to cut and hang tile and guarantee a sealed wall. Try asking them to do this with an unfamiliar material -- glass -- and I doubt you find them as comfortable. Remember that glass is cut in a very different way.

Those tiles in the links are gorgeous, I'm just not too sure how budget friendly they are. 

Both these tile products are priced competitively, particular Porcelanosa.

Previously Jill Hayes wrote:

 I'm open to other options! I know this is the place for creative people to offer outside the box ideas, so please speak up! I know we can get an awesome bathroom without going broke.

I presume you saw this thread.

http://livemodern.com/forums/materialsmethods/97901912?b_start:int=0

do not let anyone tell you that what you want to do is impossible. 

Yea, I definetly have read that thread a couple of times^. It sounds like a great solution, only I'm looking for something with a different texture and wider color options...and a little more...whats the word...airy? spa like? I don't know how to put it in words, I just thought that glass would give me what I wanted.

It's hard, if possible at all, to mimich the gloss you get from glass, unless you go with - yes - tile. and I'm not opposed to tile! but finding tile in a large size and for a good price didn't seem as easy as just finding someone to sell me some glass.

and Brano - Thank you! That was very kind of you to put that in there.

Thank you everyone...keep the input coming! I have so much to learn.

The thing that concerns me about glass adhered to walls is that glass doesn't move (much) and wood does. So, in a humid environment, and especially when building new with green wood, you expect that the wood will contract as it dries and perhaps move with the humidity in the bathroom. Glass won't (as much). Consequently, you can expect the glass to crack, as it has on my glass backsplash in my kitchen. I suspect that large sheets of glass are particularly susceptible to cracking in this application. You could go for 3/8" tempered glass, but that may be an expensive solution.

thx richierod. that's the kind of thing i haven't accounted for. see why i ask these things?? i'm still not ruling it out. but that's definetly something to think about.

Another solution.... I have a big 4' x 10' sheet of 3Form in my master shower, the other side faces a hallway that is illuminated by a big 4' x 10' window. I get lots of light in my shower and it's almost like being outside, but with privacy. The 3Form is mounted using aluminum extrusions, much like a shop window. It is, of course, waterproof. Now, if you really want glass all around, you could build your walls but leave a small, narrow ledge around the perimeter of each wall where you could mount the aluminum extrusion, and then the glass. The cool thing about this idea is you could treat the wall behind the glass anyway you wanted... paint, or faux work or even a giant picture of something - it will be behind glass so it won't be exposed to any moisture. This way, you get your glass jones taken care of, and you eliminate the expansion/contraction issues. Won't be cheap, but it would certainly be one-of-a-kind!

 -R.

Originally I was looking at covering 3 framed shower walls with glass, then considered green frosted acrylite panels, and eventually used white cultured marble panels.  They are very modern and clean w/ near zero seams (4' x 8') sheets.  Affordable compared to glass and tile.   I put in a glass block window in one of the walls and glass floor tile for shower floor.   I used a floor to ceiling free standing tempered glass wall for the 4th wall to "get my glass on"