alternatives to tile in shower

My wife and I are getting to the point where we need to start selecting tile for the bathrooms in our new home. I was reading the modern bathroom tile thread with interest. However, we'd really prefer if we could do away with tile altogether in the showers. Our experience is that tile grout in the shower starts to look icky without an extraordinary amount of effort to keep it clean.

Anyone have ideas on tile alternatives? I'm thinking big panels of some sort. Richlite came to mind, but I don't think it's really designed to be wet all the time. I was also reading about spandrel glass in the kitchen backsplash thread. I think that could give a very interesting modern look, but not sure how easy it would be to cut out holes in a big sheet of glass for the shower head and controls.

Would love to hear other ideas on shower wall surfaces that are inexpensive, easy to keep clean, and look good.

Take a look at Frigo Design Stainless Steel Shower stalls or build your own out of stainless steel. Also I have toured the Wilson House, the house of the creator of WilsonArt and his shower walls were out of WilsonArt panels. I like the look of glass shower walls and any good glass and mirror company should be able to cut the holes, it will likely take thicker glass. Last look at Miracote, a rubberized plaster that can be used in showers.

I was thinking the same thing for my shower, metal roofing came to mind. I never did a project with it but I figure it would be waterproof as well as economical. Let us know what you end up using.

Lynne
www.designbyphoto.com

I'm also looking into bathroom stuff, and am wanting to stay away from the hassles of installation, issues of waterproof-ness and cleaning of tilework. There is this stuff called Swanstone. It is a solid surface type of material. They make panels, like that which was mentioned above, for tub surrounds and shower surrounds. They also make shower pans. It looks pretty good, is available in lots of colors, and best of all, watertight and no grout to clean! That said, I'm thinking seriously of doing the Mirecote rubberized plaster with an integral color. It's beautiful. -R.

I have used richlite for a couple of showers with no problems. It is essentially the same material as Formica with solid color and much thicker. 1/4 material is thick enough. I scribed a 1/16 gap at the corners and filled it with clear silicone and it looks very clean. There aren't many colors but they are nicer colors than the Swanstone.
Andy

Don't forget plaster. A good system would consist of either metal lath or Durock as a substrate with a Portland cement plaster system. On Durock your going to use two coats to a thickness of 1/2 on the board. For a traditional system, use 3/4 three coat. Both should have a fine-aggregate, smooth troweled finish coat. This finish can be tinted to almost any color.

Normal Portland cement will be gray-blue depending on the color of the fine sand aggregate. White Portland cement can be colored to just about any lime-proof color available. The fnished work should be sealed with a penetrating siloxan sealer and then perhaps waxed depending on the sheen you want.

This is a pretty highy skilled install but using a Durock substrate makes it a bit easier.

We did a Swanstone shower for our kids bath/shower. Personally it doesn't seem any different to me than those plastic showers you see at home depot and lowes.

The Corian shower panels I have seen seem much nicer but they also cost a friggin' fortune.

I considered a bunch of alternatives but just ended up using 18x18 tiles that only had a 1/16 grout line and color matched grout in the master bath and 12x12 mesh backed glass mosaic in the guest suite.

I came really close to doing the Miracote thing, but my wife wouldn't go for it

I think we're going to use this product for the shower walls and backsplash in the kitchen:

http://www.glasskoteusa.com

It's a durable, opaque (or semi-opaque) finish that gets applied to the back of the glass. Their web site says it can be applied to just about any kind of glass, and it comes in 4000+ colors.

They have some cool bathroom and kitchen photos in their gallery section.

Not sure on cost yet though... I'm waiting for a call back from their local distributor/applicator.

The gallery pictures are very nice, but I guess my concern would be you would have to keep the glass squeaky clean all the time. You don't think this would be a problem?

I'm going to check out this route too thru local glass company. Solid frosted glass panels on for shower walls would be cool.

I have looked everywhere for frosted glass tile either mosaics or 2x2, 4x4 for shower and it has been very very expensive 35-50 sq ft for materials.

To clean glass shower panels i think most keep a squeegee in the shower and give it a quick one after showering. Applying RainX on it might help too.

Anyone know if acrylic/plexiglas/lexan panels would work for shower wall application?

I don't think cleaning would be that much of a problem for us. It's not like these will be transparent glass panels where you can see every little water spot (although I have seen plenty of high-end shower stalls like that). If we use a light-colored coating on the back of the glass, I don't think water spots and streaks will be all that visible. And when we do want to get it looking totally perfect, it'll be a quick, easy job. Compared with tile, where the grout lines still look dingey after a ton of tile cleaner and scrubbing.

I like the idea of glass, not only for the ease of maintenance issue, but also for the relative ease of installation as well. My question is this: Since you must install tempered or safety glass in doors and windows if the glass extends to the floor, do you have to do the same in this instance? -R.

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer. If a glass wall panel did crack, the pieces would still be adhered to the wall, so I can see the argument why safety/tempered glass might not be required in this application.

Also, in our case, both of are bathrooms are shower-over-tub, so the glass wouldn't be going all the way to the floor anyway. Just down to the rim of the tub.

I was browsing another forum about bathrooms and ran across this..

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg0610401419651.html?9

In this thread the original poster mentions that she used
http://www.Granitetransformations.com

for her shower walls. I'm not a fan of granite but I like the way the cristallino looks..quartz-y.

I think she said that it was around 3 grand for her shower.

Not really sure how that compares to the other solid surfaces.

That mosaic stuff is pretty cool too. Pre-grouted. Stain resistant? I would have to see it to believe it.

I've seen the granite transformations and mosaics at home shows. The granite and mosaic panel are too pricey compared to what they are supposed to replace IMHO.

Slenzen, not necessarily, if you add up the cost of tile *and* the cost of labor. My shower is coming to about that with a pretty inexpensive tile (discontinued, so I got it for 3.10 sf). It's definitely less than silestone/caesarstone/etc. slab. I posted on that same thread over there that if I'd known about Granite Transformations before we went with our tile, I *very well* might have gone with it, because doing away with groutlines has got to be worth at least $1K of trouble/irritation/sweat etc...oh well. We're doing epoxy grout on the floor (with transparent quartz slices) and regular grout (prob. sanded) on the walls. If I could, I'd do the granite transformations instead. Drat.

You know, speaking of solid surface products, I think a nice candidate could be laminates, like Formica. Yes, they are so out of fashion now, and some people may laugh out loud at my even mentioning the idea. But look, laminate is waterproof and a monolithic surface; you could glue it to MDO which is a substrate designed for outdoor signage - so at least water resistant; it comes in a million colors and patterns, some quite nice; and it is CHEAP! Am I missing something? -R.

I researched laminates in the process of the remodel, and I decided against them because they do have such vulnerability on the edges, even though you may caulk and caulk. There *are* laminate surrounds, and people who make them, I know because we have one upstairs (I fear there's rot behind it but I'll think about that tomorrow). The local person I found who does them was surprised I was a residential customer inquiring because usually it's in lower-end multiunit dwellings. And yeah, the previous owner's ex was a slumlord, what a coincidence...

So even though it could be really cool, especially given some of the recent laminates, I decided not to risk the edge vulnerability and just go with tile with a vapor barrier and wonderboard and a nice high shower pan liner. Wish I'd known about granite transformations, like I said. Already a regret, and we haven't even built the darn thing yet. But I've got 1K of nice tile sitting in my living room...

James Hardie sells a shower system in NZ, but I don't think they do in the US. It's basically finished Hardipanel with stainless steel connectors. http://www.jameshardie.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/category/pi_categoryid/8

I like the look. But I need to see what it would take to import it.

-Chad

How about this concrete veneer??

http://www.werkform.de/english/arbeiten/index.html

....if it's available in the states.

I used 4'x8' sheets of the smooth James Hardie product and ran it all the way around the bathroom. Its painted with exterior grade paint and is holding up just fine in the shower with daily use. Its a nice seemless look to incorporate the shower walls other walls.

krdakins,

What did you do about the seams? Did you use a membrane behind the hardiboard? How did you affix/fasten the sheets to the studs? Are there exposed fasteners? Any pictures you can post?

I am looking to redo my tub surround, and I've been kicking around the idea of using some sort of cement board product, so any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

http://www.degussa.com/degussa/en/products/archive/productstories/2006/wallcovering/

This is marble on a roll. New.
The pictures aren't very good at all.

Wouldn't it be great to get samples of all the new materials like wall coverings, floor coverings?

Even if they were teeny tiny samples that you had to pay for...like a subscription of sorts.

and prices...I'd like to see some prices on the web. You either have to guess, go through a rep or try to get a specialty store to get the info for you. Frustrating to say the least.

kradkins, pics and details ASAP! I'm supposed to start tiling next week but I would LOVE a more seamless possibility if it exists..I'd even sell my tile on craigslist if I can do this...

I was typing too fast--forgot to say please after the ASAP Sorry!

PLEASE, if you would share pics and details it would be most helpful

flyleft- I feel the same way! Then I thought Gah! This person has only posted once- what if they never come back?!

Oh well, it's too late for this bathroom. I've just started cutting the factory edges off the tiles today.

But there's always the second bathroom....so kradkins, where are you?? Please come in! (closing eyes and rubbing temples in circles)

I thought I would try to revive this topic

Has anyone tried to use a sheet flooring product on a tub/shower surround wall? I've used Lonseal's (www.lonsealspecialty.com) Loncoin (standard coin pattern flooring used on airplanes, airports, etc) for the floor of my half bath, and it's been great. I am now thinking of replacing my current tub surround (ugly plastic panel system) with sheet flooring over hardibacker. Any thoughts?