Granite Slab shower walls

[ponder]

Dh and I are remodelers and we enjoy it. We purchased a 40year old home 2 years ago and have set upon remodeling. We have gutted the kitchen and redone 90% of the home EXCEPT for the bathrooms. We were hoping to put them off for another year or so and had just started some major landscape/drainage projects. Unfortunately, both faucets in the master and the shower are dripping. We have had 3plumbers out to see if we can "patch" the problems and put us back on our original timeline, but for various complex reasons "patching" the problems would be ridiculously expensive and we feel the money would be better spent on the actual remodel. Our options are letting it drip for a while (annoying) or proceeding with a remodel before we had planned.

I have a general idea of the changes I want to make, but had not thought about the particulars, mainly materials. Last night our contractor was over and suggested granite slab walls for the shower. He showed us some pics and I really liked the way it looked. I also find the absence of grout lines extremely appealing. Has anyone else had experience with slab walls? Pro? Cons?

 

[Enerchi]

I have helped interior decorating clients in their homes, but I have not lived with or owned them. Esthetically speaking - they are incredible! Clean, no grout lines, they do have to be sealed but they wipe down easily. They do require special installation techniques (which I know nothing about, but watched the install very carefully) and the seams are silicone sealed post install. They are most effective when surrounded by glass doors.

Oh --- I hope you go for it - it would be a stunning look!

 

[m-2-b]

We just did a complete master bath remodel due to leaking problems and water damage we found later under the tub!!! So I decided to go w/ carrera marble for a classic look. We used marble tiles in the shower (very small grout lines) and a slab surround for the undermount tub. I love it--it's my new favorite room in the house!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Granite slabs can be damaged and repaired before installation--without the client knowing. If the repairs don't interfere with performance then, then why not? If is isn't cost prohibitive....

We just did two bathrooms and need to do two more, but will carry on the theme of full wall tile--grout to be sure--but when done correctly looks "seamless".

Those slabs would be hell to lift! But I suppose not as thick as counter tops but nonetheless.

cheers--Sharon

 

[iheartscience]

Sounds like a fantastic idea-I hate cleaning the grout in tiled showers! I haven't seen it in real life but I bet it would look fabulous.

One thought though-I would imagine that depending on the age of the house the floor may need to be reinforced. I watched a lot of HGTV yesterday and one couple's kitchen floor had to be reinforced to allow for an industrial oven/stove. It was an old house though, 192s IIRC.

 

[ponder]

I too hate cleaning grout. I live in the humid south, and there is always a battle against mold and mildew. Also, it does look amazing. The cost of materials will be offset by the decrease in labor cost. We currently have an enormous amount of floor to ceiling marble tile and a bath tub the size of an outdoor hot tub that will be removed, so even with the weight of the slabs we may actually end up lighter. Also, structurally I'm not worried as we removed the wall below the bathroom during our kitchen renovation and put a really beefy new header in as the weight of the current bathroom was already causing some sagging. As soon as we opened the wall my contractor asked what the hell was upstairs above us. I guess the weight of all the marble plus the weight of the huge tube when full of water was straining everything.

my biggest concern is really how are they going to get the slabs upstairs, but then again we may have the same issue with the glass shower walls.