Thoughts.
We need to tear out and redo the basement bathroom tub/shower combo. We had one of those horrible one piece fake tile plastic surrounds with molded shelf. It has not stayed glued to the wall behind, there are moisture problems in the bathroom, water oozes over the edge of the tub during showers and has bubbled the drywall. In short, a nightmare.
For a tub/shower surround we are going to use tongue and groove cedar.
Before you freak out, gack! wood in the shower, let me tell you this is not an untried idea in this house. When we built, 20 years ago, we were broke and had not a cent for a tub surround, at least not the tile I wanted. What we did have was a stack of clear tongue and groove pine. I oiled it, Hubby nailed it in as tub surround, put quarter round in the corners with a thin bead of caulk behind the trim and that was it. No caulk under, no caulk at each T&G joint. I HATE caulking and you will find a shortage of it in my house. (we have had marital disputes over the application of that obnoxious, gummy substance. Permanent goop in the corners. Not in my house!)
20 years later, that pine is still there and has survived daily baths and showers in a way I never could have imagined. Maintenance consists of wiping it down with a spray cleaner and cloth. Every 4 or 5 years I go at it with steel wool, give the wood a light scrub with the wool as I apply more oil (finishing oil, not mineral oil) and let it dry a day or two. For 20 years of service, it has been fairly low maintenance. And no leaks!
Basement biff is constructed differently and more of a moisture trap. This time I'd like HUbby to fir out the walls and attach T&G to firring, to leave an air space behind. I'd also like him to prop new tub up ever so slighlty on firring and then finish bottom edge of tub with some fake trim to hide the slight gap beneath. Thought being that if we can allow air movement under the tub and up the backside of the surround, better for airing out moisture problems.
Other thing we will do is rip out the lovely pine trim he so carefully crafted with the router. He was bothered by the tiny nail holes he made nailing it up and had to go at it with one of those horrible, ghastly, who-invented-this-stuff nail filler sticks. I advised him not to! I feel that a nail hole in a piece of wood is an honet and realistic mark of crafting and not something to be ashamed of and hide with goo. But he was adamant. Now, all these years later, that white, bright pine has mellowed to a deep gold, but that nail goop has stayed as bright and white and the day he regretably smudged it on. Now the white dots look even more horrible than any little nail hole ever would have! Lesson learned.
The other thing I've seen done, but think would be more difficult is sheet steel (roofing tin) used as tub suround. How to get a tight seal where the faucet and taps come through is what I can't figure out. And how to keep that sharp edge from being a hazard should anyone accidentally fall in the tub, those metal edges can be very sharp! If anyone has used metal as tub/shower surround, please tell me how you did and how it has stood up to use.
We need to tear out and redo the basement bathroom tub/shower combo. We had one of those horrible one piece fake tile plastic surrounds with molded shelf. It has not stayed glued to the wall behind, there are moisture problems in the bathroom, water oozes over the edge of the tub during showers and has bubbled the drywall. In short, a nightmare.
For a tub/shower surround we are going to use tongue and groove cedar.
Before you freak out, gack! wood in the shower, let me tell you this is not an untried idea in this house. When we built, 20 years ago, we were broke and had not a cent for a tub surround, at least not the tile I wanted. What we did have was a stack of clear tongue and groove pine. I oiled it, Hubby nailed it in as tub surround, put quarter round in the corners with a thin bead of caulk behind the trim and that was it. No caulk under, no caulk at each T&G joint. I HATE caulking and you will find a shortage of it in my house. (we have had marital disputes over the application of that obnoxious, gummy substance. Permanent goop in the corners. Not in my house!)
20 years later, that pine is still there and has survived daily baths and showers in a way I never could have imagined. Maintenance consists of wiping it down with a spray cleaner and cloth. Every 4 or 5 years I go at it with steel wool, give the wood a light scrub with the wool as I apply more oil (finishing oil, not mineral oil) and let it dry a day or two. For 20 years of service, it has been fairly low maintenance. And no leaks!
Basement biff is constructed differently and more of a moisture trap. This time I'd like HUbby to fir out the walls and attach T&G to firring, to leave an air space behind. I'd also like him to prop new tub up ever so slighlty on firring and then finish bottom edge of tub with some fake trim to hide the slight gap beneath. Thought being that if we can allow air movement under the tub and up the backside of the surround, better for airing out moisture problems.
Other thing we will do is rip out the lovely pine trim he so carefully crafted with the router. He was bothered by the tiny nail holes he made nailing it up and had to go at it with one of those horrible, ghastly, who-invented-this-stuff nail filler sticks. I advised him not to! I feel that a nail hole in a piece of wood is an honet and realistic mark of crafting and not something to be ashamed of and hide with goo. But he was adamant. Now, all these years later, that white, bright pine has mellowed to a deep gold, but that nail goop has stayed as bright and white and the day he regretably smudged it on. Now the white dots look even more horrible than any little nail hole ever would have! Lesson learned.
The other thing I've seen done, but think would be more difficult is sheet steel (roofing tin) used as tub suround. How to get a tight seal where the faucet and taps come through is what I can't figure out. And how to keep that sharp edge from being a hazard should anyone accidentally fall in the tub, those metal edges can be very sharp! If anyone has used metal as tub/shower surround, please tell me how you did and how it has stood up to use.
