new large shower -- walk-in versus enclosed

[devans0]

We did our walk-in in the basement. It adjoins an exterior wall and is chilly when leaving the shower while wet.

Grabbing a towel and drying before leaving the shower is comfortable. We installed thick marine grade plywood behind the shower walls to have a solid anchor for any eventual grab bars.

 

[RunningBum]

My floor heat is on 100% of the time in the fall/winter/spring and has its own thermostat. It could be programmed to be on only part of the time if wanted, but I especially appreciate it during the middle of the night when I get up and enter the room. I didn't notice any increase in our electric bill once completed. I'm sure there is some cost, but we also made sure that every light in the room was led, (and there are a whole lot of lights in that bathroom) so our electric bill actually decreased over our prior averages.

Mine are on full time when it's cold too. My system is hot water tubes under the tiles, fed by a gas boiler. What I've been told and read is to just set and forget.. My cat spends much of her day up there during the winter, so it's not like its wasted heat! It works pretty well because I've got zoned heat, and the main floor heat rises and keeps my upstairs master BR fairly warm, but the bathroom is tucked back beyond the closets and doesn't get much of that, so this keeps it warm. My programmable thermostat only kicks up the upstairs heat for about an hour in the morning, and an hour, if needed, in the evening.

I've got the same under my finished basement floor but not turned up very high. It's just to take the chill off.

 

[kgtest]

We're planning to remodel our master bath. I read the old threads about tub vs. bigger shower and for us, it's a no brainer for bigger shower.

We have plenty of space, so I'm looking for input on walk-in versus a large traditional enclosed. In either one, the main shower space will be roughly 5'x5'. I'm especially interested in input on two considerations for walk-ins:

1) Does it feel cold? With a smaller enclosed shower now, I've noticed the heat and steam build up in the enclosure and it can be a little chilly when first opening the door and stepping out. I'm concerned a large open walk-in might be an issue there?

2) Slippery/fall risk -- how big of an issue is this? I love the visual look and no chance of toe stubbing on the "one floor" design the accompanies walk-ins. Plus obviously the future proofing. But what about issues with slipperiness? A lot of porcelain and ceramic tiles can be dangerously slippery under the right amount of moisture whereas an enclosure can/often uses a shower pan engineered to be non-slip.

Plus any other pros or cons to either shower option and then shower design in general. Any surprises in terms of ability to clean in both the short and long term? What about considerations for a DW and shaving legs? Is a fixed bench or a movable seat/stool better?

I have a walk-in...its great, no need to open or close a door , or even step over anything. Its no colder than a regular shower. I have a large shower head that dumps a lot of hot water so that helps.

As for slippery, I haven't had issues but my little kid seems to. He falls walking tho.

My wife at one point wanted me to replace the head with one with a line so we could wash the baby in the shower, but we just use the other bath for that.

Some extra nice to haves in the bath are heat lamps in the shower and outside it, and a heated towel rack.

 

[CRLLS]

Some very nice showers here. It almost makes me want to renovate mine again. As for flooring, when we did our master bath some years back, we put in a cork tile floor on concrete slab. It is glued to the concrete and then varnished with 4 coats of poly. It has to be about the warmest floor, short of carpeting that I have felt. It is naturally mold resistant. It is a lot warmer than tile (duh) and noticeably warmer than Pergo-type flooring. We do have radiant in floor heating set for a room temp of 70 deg.

 

[someguy]

Some very nice showers here. It almost makes me want to renovate mine again. As for flooring, when we did our master bath some years back, we put in a cork tile floor on concrete slab. It is glued to the concrete and then varnished with 4 coats of poly. It has to be about the warmest floor, short of carpeting that I have felt. It is naturally mold resistant. It is a lot warmer than tile (duh) and noticeably warmer than Pergo-type flooring. We do have radiant in floor heating set for a room temp of 70 deg.

I would love to do cork outside of the wet shower area because it would always be warm and is easier on the knees. Plus it would be good for sound absorption and it looks really cool in smaller areas. But tile is so tried and true and it's virtually maintenance free.