Master Bathroom remodeling - any thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[Fat Nick]

We weren't planning to redo the master bathroom for a few more years, but the wife is pregnant, and we've decided we'd rather redo it while she's pregnant than try and redo it with a kid running around, so we're moving forward...

We have a very large space to work with, so one of the things we're doing is expanding the shower. I'm trying to think of ways to make it a nicer shower without going overboard. I liked the idea of body sprays, but truthfully I've never used a shower that had them. They have systems in the $1,300-$2,000 range that look pretty nice. I'm not sure if we'd have to run larger lines for them or not, so that's TBD.

The wife doesn't love rain showers, and a handheld sprayer isn't a must-have either. I'd like to do something nicer than just a normal shower head, and the only thing I could think of were the body sprayers. Anybody have any experience with this? What did you do? What's the thought on body sprayers from those who have them?

 

[encaitar]

Get a mix. You can have a regular shower head, a rain shower, a hand held, and body sprays all on their own controls. To do all of it you might need to do something with the water lines coming to your shower. Maybe even need a pressure booster.

Obviously, there are systems out there that can do all of this now, but they are expensive. I would be cheaper to do it yourself, but also more difficult.

This is close to what I have in my house and I love it.

 

[Dentist]

i just re-did my master bathroom and put in a bigger onyx solid state shower which i love

i put in this pressure boosting shower head and my wife and i both really love it

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ARY08O2/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Best $27 i've ever spent.

who has time in the shower for body sprayers and all that extra crap

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

If I were re-doing a bathroom or building a house, one thing I'd surely want is a tankless water heater. Haven't researched them lately though. I assume they're still a viable option.

 

[Dentist]

If I were re-doing a bathroom or building a house, one thing I'd surely want is a tankless water heater. Haven't researched them lately though. I assume they're still a viable option.

Interesting how people can have different takes on things.. i just re-did my bathroom and was talked out of a tankless water heater and instead just went with larger tank heater (40 to 50 gal) and I'm thrilled with it.

It would take a long time being in the home before going to tankless would be +EV

 

[Banger]

we built our bedroom last year over a large double garage....made a huge walk-in shower (probably 4x7) with bench, rain head and sprayers on wall. Also, made a great walk-in closet with custom shelving and such. Probably devoted 15% of space to closet, 25% to bathroom and remaining 60% to bedroom. Great space. Good luck.

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

If I were re-doing a bathroom or building a house, one thing I'd surely want is a tankless water heater. Haven't researched them lately though. I assume they're still a viable option.

Interesting how people can have different takes on things.. i just re-did my bathroom and was talked out of a tankless water heater and instead just went with larger tank heater (40 to 50 gal) and I'm thrilled with it.

It would take a long time being in the home before going to tankless would be +EV

Ah, well that certainly makes sense. I hadn't researched it seriously, I just liked the idea of endless hot water.

 

[RUSF18]

Agree on the body sprayers being unnecessary, but what's the downside to having a handheld sprayer as well? Nothing better than blasting soap out of the pits or other crevasses from a couple inches away.

 

[The Commish]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

 

[Fat Nick]

Get a mix. You can have a regular shower head, a rain shower, a hand held, and body sprays all on their own controls. To do all of it you might need to do something with the water lines coming to your shower. Maybe even need a pressure booster.

Obviously, there are systems out there that can do all of this now, but they are expensive. I would be cheaper to do it yourself, but also more difficult.

This is close to what I have in my house and I love it.

That actually looks close to what I've been looking at, which is something like THIS from Moen.

I guess that's kind of my concern. We're on well water. Our pressure is OK, but you DO notice a decrease when someone flushes the master bath toilet. I just worry about cost to run a bigger line up, etc. It might not be worth all that. If it was just an install off the existing line, maybe...

 

[Fat Nick]

i just re-did my master bathroom and put in a bigger onyx solid state shower which i love

i put in this pressure boosting shower head and my wife and i both really love it

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ARY08O2/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Best $27 i've ever spent.

who has time in the shower for body sprayers and all that extra crap

My in-laws have a more ghetto version of that...the pressure that comes out is almost painful at times!

 

[The Commish]

Get a mix. You can have a regular shower head, a rain shower, a hand held, and body sprays all on their own controls. To do all of it you might need to do something with the water lines coming to your shower. Maybe even need a pressure booster.

Obviously, there are systems out there that can do all of this now, but they are expensive. I would be cheaper to do it yourself, but also more difficult.

This is close to what I have in my house and I love it.

That actually looks close to what I've been looking at, which is something like THIS from Moen.

I guess that's kind of my concern. We're on well water. Our pressure is OK, but you DO notice a decrease when someone flushes the master bath toilet. I just worry about cost to run a bigger line up, etc. It might not be worth all that. If it was just an install off the existing line, maybe...

I'd talk to a plumber. It seems to me that if you already notice a decrease, it seems to me, increasing the pipe size would make the problem worse Would you need a more powerful pump or something? Clearly, I know very little about well mechanics.

 

[Fat Nick]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

Tell me more about this Steam Shower...any special concerns?

We're doing something similar...Bathroom is from the late 1990's, when the house was built. Large space with a half-octagon back wall and 3 windows. Basically gutting it and going custom. Removing a raised whirlpool tub and putting in a soaker, custom vanities, new doors (going barn door style for looks and space savings), also removing the horrible framed glass (chrome in our case).

I guess the water heater thing isn't something I've really considered. We're not on gas, so I'd have to go electric, and the current water heater has never had an issue, even with my sister-in-law showering in the guest bath while my wife is in ours, and both take LONG hot showers.

 

[Fat Nick]

Agree on the body sprayers being unnecessary, but what's the downside to having a handheld sprayer as well? Nothing better than blasting soap out of the pits or other crevasses from a couple inches away.

I don't know that there's a downside other than cost...(hose can look a little cluttered??)...we just probably wouldn't use it much. There was one of those cheap add-on ones in there when we bought the house. The first thing I did was took it off and put a normal head on it.

 

[Fennis]

Agree on the body sprayers being unnecessary, but what's the downside to having a handheld sprayer as well? Nothing better than blasting soap out of the pits or other crevasses from a couple inches away.

We just redid two bathrooms, and that's what we did in the Master, where we have a very small shower. Options to have 1 or both running at any time.

 

[RUSF18]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

Tell me more about this Steam Shower...any special concerns?

We're doing something similar...Bathroom is from the late 1990's, when the house was built. Large space with a half-octagon back wall and 3 windows. Basically gutting it and going custom. Removing a raised whirlpool tub and putting in a soaker, custom vanities, new doors (going barn door style for looks and space savings), also removing the horrible framed glass (chrome in our case).

I guess the water heater thing isn't something I've really considered. We're not on gas, so I'd have to go electric, and the current water heater has never had an issue, even with my sister-in-law showering in the guest bath while my wife is in ours, and both take LONG hot showers.

Tell us more...

 

[The Commish]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

Tell me more about this Steam Shower...any special concerns?

We're doing something similar...Bathroom is from the late 1990's, when the house was built. Large space with a half-octagon back wall and 3 windows. Basically gutting it and going custom. Removing a raised whirlpool tub and putting in a soaker, custom vanities, new doors (going barn door style for looks and space savings), also removing the horrible framed glass (chrome in our case).

I guess the water heater thing isn't something I've really considered. We're not on gas, so I'd have to go electric, and the current water heater has never had an issue, even with my sister-in-law showering in the guest bath while my wife is in ours, and both take LONG hot showers.

I'm not really sure...I haven't done much research. All I know is that they come in kits that include different features and they have a "steam generator" if you will that pumps steam into your shower like a sauna of sorts (thus the bench). I'm willing to bet that the "steam generator" need some sort of power supply (electric or gas) so that'd be a consideration, but the rest seems pretty straight forward.

 

[Fat Nick]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

Tell me more about this Steam Shower...any special concerns?

We're doing something similar...Bathroom is from the late 1990's, when the house was built. Large space with a half-octagon back wall and 3 windows. Basically gutting it and going custom. Removing a raised whirlpool tub and putting in a soaker, custom vanities, new doors (going barn door style for looks and space savings), also removing the horrible framed glass (chrome in our case).

I guess the water heater thing isn't something I've really considered. We're not on gas, so I'd have to go electric, and the current water heater has never had an issue, even with my sister-in-law showering in the guest bath while my wife is in ours, and both take LONG hot showers.

I'm not really sure...I haven't done much research. All I know is that they come in kits that include different features and they have a "steam generator" if you will that pumps steam into your shower like a sauna of sorts (thus the bench). I'm willing to bet that the "steam generator" need some sort of power supply (electric or gas) so that'd be a consideration, but the rest seems pretty straight forward.

Just searched for them on faucets direct. Not cheap. Food for thought though. I do love a steamy shower, but I don't love super hot water. I pretty much don't care about anything except the shower, the toilet, and the ventilation fan. The rest I'm leaving mostly up to the wife. We have pretty similar tastes, so I don't usually have issues with what she likes.

 

[Fennis]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

Tell me more about this Steam Shower...any special concerns?

We're doing something similar...Bathroom is from the late 1990's, when the house was built. Large space with a half-octagon back wall and 3 windows. Basically gutting it and going custom. Removing a raised whirlpool tub and putting in a soaker, custom vanities, new doors (going barn door style for looks and space savings), also removing the horrible framed glass (chrome in our case).

I guess the water heater thing isn't something I've really considered. We're not on gas, so I'd have to go electric, and the current water heater has never had an issue, even with my sister-in-law showering in the guest bath while my wife is in ours, and both take LONG hot showers.

I'm not really sure...I haven't done much research. All I know is that they come in kits that include different features and they have a "steam generator" if you will that pumps steam into your shower like a sauna of sorts (thus the bench). I'm willing to bet that the "steam generator" need some sort of power supply (electric or gas) so that'd be a consideration, but the rest seems pretty straight forward.

Just searched for them on faucets direct. Not cheap. Food for thought though. I do love a steamy shower, but I don't love super hot water. I pretty much don't care about anything except the shower, the toilet, and the ventilation fan. The rest I'm leaving mostly up to the wife. We have pretty similar tastes, so I don't usually have issues with what she likes.

congrats on redoing your bathroom, where nothing is cheap. Have fun.

 

[The Commish]

We are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, but have already started looking at materials for our master bath. Our shower enclosure is huge already so I want to add a bench and a steam shower with some body jets. We are also taking out the 1990s gold frame and going frameless glass. We'll replace the jetted tub with a larger one, update the countertops, flooring and tile. We are reserving a good chunk of money for infrastructure (tankless water heaters, heated floors etc). I haven't gotten around to looking at the products just yet though.

Tell me more about this Steam Shower...any special concerns?

We're doing something similar...Bathroom is from the late 1990's, when the house was built. Large space with a half-octagon back wall and 3 windows. Basically gutting it and going custom. Removing a raised whirlpool tub and putting in a soaker, custom vanities, new doors (going barn door style for looks and space savings), also removing the horrible framed glass (chrome in our case).

I guess the water heater thing isn't something I've really considered. We're not on gas, so I'd have to go electric, and the current water heater has never had an issue, even with my sister-in-law showering in the guest bath while my wife is in ours, and both take LONG hot showers.

I'm not really sure...I haven't done much research. All I know is that they come in kits that include different features and they have a "steam generator" if you will that pumps steam into your shower like a sauna of sorts (thus the bench). I'm willing to bet that the "steam generator" need some sort of power supply (electric or gas) so that'd be a consideration, but the rest seems pretty straight forward.

Just searched for them on faucets direct. Not cheap. Food for thought though. I do love a steamy shower, but I don't love super hot water. I pretty much don't care about anything except the shower, the toilet, and the ventilation fan. The rest I'm leaving mostly up to the wife. We have pretty similar tastes, so I don't usually have issues with what she likes.

congrats on redoing your bathroom, where nothing is cheap. Have fun.

Can't be worse than a kitchen remodel....it's gonna be a while before we can do the bathroom

 

[Fat Nick]

congrats on redoing your bathroom, where nothing is cheap. Have fun.

Can't be worse than a kitchen remodel....it's gonna be a while before we can do the bathroom

I literally laughed out loud when my wife told me her initial estimate of what she thought the bathroom was going to cost. I went probably 30% higher than her estimate and I was still a decent bit low.

Fortunately, our kitchen is OK for a while. The cabinets are in decent shape, we replaced a few appliances and the knobs, and re-did the back splash ourselves when we moved in.

 

[Otis]

Christ you guys have done huge spaces and nice bathrooms. Our bathrooms are awful, kitchen worse. We are starting with a major multi story addition and kitchen gut among other things in the coming year or two (need to get like 400 or 500k financing) and we still will be left with two older bathrooms that need a redo later.

 

[Fat Nick]

Christ you guys have done huge spaces and nice bathrooms. Our bathrooms are awful, kitchen worse. We are starting with a major multi story addition and kitchen gut among other things in the coming year or two (need to get like 400 or 500k financing) and we still will be left with two older bathrooms that need a redo later.

Space wasn't our issue, and the house isn't that old. Open floor plan 4 bedroom 4,000 sq. ft with an unfinished basement for just the wife and I (1st kid due in August). It was our 1st house, and truthfully, it might be our last. I'm really happy there so far. Our issue was that the style and quality in the bathrooms made me want to puke. They're still functional, but the horrid trim and pinkish tile with flowers on it... :X

The next project will likely be for me to build a new deck, then finish the basement once the kid gets mobile enough so we have a place for him to destroy, but we've got a few years till that's essential.

 

[Dentist]

i just re-did my master bathroom and put in a bigger onyx solid state shower which i love

i put in this pressure boosting shower head and my wife and i both really love it

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ARY08O2/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Best $27 i've ever spent.

who has time in the shower for body sprayers and all that extra crap

My in-laws have a more ghetto version of that...the pressure that comes out is almost painful at times!

it's solid... hurts so good

 

[Dentist]

Christ you guys have done huge spaces and nice bathrooms. Our bathrooms are awful, kitchen worse. We are starting with a major multi story addition and kitchen gut among other things in the coming year or two (need to get like 400 or 500k financing) and we still will be left with two older bathrooms that need a redo later.

OMG... you're never going to get to retire.

I wouldn't spend that much money on a home, let alone a remodel of an old home.

New York sucks monster dong

 

[Otis]

Christ you guys have done huge spaces and nice bathrooms. Our bathrooms are awful, kitchen worse. We are starting with a major multi story addition and kitchen gut among other things in the coming year or two (need to get like 400 or 500k financing) and we still will be left with two older bathrooms that need a redo later.

Space wasn't our issue, and the house isn't that old. Open floor plan 4 bedroom 4,000 sq. ft with an unfinished basement for just the wife and I (1st kid due in August). It was our 1st house, and truthfully, it might be our last. I'm really happy there so far. Our issue was that the style and quality in the bathrooms made me want to puke. They're still functional, but the horrid trim and pinkish tile with flowers on it... :X

The next project will likely be for me to build a new deck, then finish the basement once the kid gets mobile enough so we have a place for him to destroy, but we've got a few years till that's essential.

I'd kill for a house that big. Awesome. We're at 2200sft at this point, and after massive work we'll probably eek past 3k but not by a whole lot.

 

[Otis]

Christ you guys have done huge spaces and nice bathrooms. Our bathrooms are awful, kitchen worse. We are starting with a major multi story addition and kitchen gut among other things in the coming year or two (need to get like 400 or 500k financing) and we still will be left with two older bathrooms that need a redo later.

OMG... you're never going to get to retire.

I wouldn't spend that much money on a home, let alone a remodel of an old home.

New York sucks monster dong

This is my life, GB.

 

[avoiding injuries]

While doing my basement, I put in a full bathroom. For an extra $150, I was able to put in a waterless urinal.