Hello, my house currently has two full bathrooms. One of them has a bath
tub. The master bath has a separate oval tub and a shower enclosure.
Everything is in that "one piece plastic/fiberglass". The house also has
vinyl floors in all the wet areas and cheap white tile in the entry way.

I was planning to tile most of the downstairs (entry, kitchen, laundry,
downstairs bathroom, eating area, etc) using tumbled travertine. I was also
going to tile the floors in the two upstairs bathrooms using the same tile.

Now, one thing that is bothering me is the cheap look of the plastic shower
and tub enclosures next to the luxury look of the tumbled travertine floors.

A few questions:

1) If it was you, would you rip out the tub / shower enclosures, replace
them with steel/cast iron/porcelain tubs (which one) and tile?

2) I see various non-plastic/non-fiberglass options for tubs, but what about
showers? Do you normally tile 100% in the shower stall? floors, walls,
ledges, etc?

3) I really like the look of tumbled travertine and if I was going to tile
the shower and tub enclosures, I would probably like to use it there too. Is
it possible to use it INSIDE showers/tubs since it is porous? or will the
grout and sealer take care of that?

4) My house was built in 2002 in Southern California. Should I have any
weight concerns if I was to go to a cast iron or steel tub since I assume
they are much heavier? (especially the cast iron).

5) Cost is also an issue. I'm estimating floors alone with tumbled
travertine is likely to run $5000 to $6000. What kind of cost is involved in
replacing the 3 tub and shower enclosures and tiling them?

6) Theoretically I could do the project in stages, but I don't see how thats
possible since I can't just leave the showers and tubs with exposed "cement
board" for a year or so until I am ready to tile everything. I guess I could
put the cheapest white tile in at first. Seems like flushing some money down
the toilet that way though. And seems like most of the cost for tiling is
with the labor anyways. Actually with tumbled travertine, its about 50/50.
But with cheap white tile, its obviously more labor.

7) Do I need building permits for this type of thing?

8) What kind of person should I contact for this project? I doubt a tile guy
can install bathtubs/showers. I am also leary of having a handyman/general
contractor put in travertine as it is not your standard tile install and I
have had bad experiences with these types of people in the past.

I'd like to keep the cost down, but dont have the time / ability to do it
myself.

I tried doing a project in the past and it ended up taking 5 times as long
and 3 times the money as a pro since I had to buy a bunch of tools and find
people with trucks to help me haul stuff. etc.

1) If it were up to me I would not touch the bathrooms til the rest of
the projects were done.


2) You can tile the showers, this is what I did. There's a hi-price
option: corian.

3) I wondered about that even for the downstairs bath floor - is
travertine vitreous (having a continuous waterproof glassy surface ?)

4) With any house, an assessment should be made before putting in a
Cast iron tub. They are so heavy, then full of water it's obviously
even more of a problem.

5) Cost of materials for replacing the fixtures and doing the tile
could be in the thousands depending on what you choose.

6) I would not do the master bath before everything else was done, too
big a mess, too much risk.

7) In California you may, in Indiana (here) no, not if you do the work
yourself. I say you may in CA because the codes are tighter there and
you would be doing plumbing if you replace fixtures.

8) If you're gonna do it all you'd definitely want a tile person who
has done travertine, and a plumber to do the fixtures. There may be a
bit of carpentry involved too, if you select a tub requiring framing
(such as a fiberglass tub). Also someone has to do demolition.

Thanks for the info. Comments / Questions inlined.

wrote in message
oups.com...
1) If it were up to me I would not touch the bathrooms til the rest of
the projects were done.

Well, I just had a pocket door installed and some french doors as well.
Other projects I have in mind would be refacing the kitchen cabinets,
granite countertops and crown molding. I was kind of planning to do things
"from the floor up". But seems like this tile flooring and bathtub/shower
needs to be done all at the same time.

I could do the downstairs first and then the upstairs later, but I was
concerned about being able to match the tile, so I would have to buy all the
material, but just not install the upstairs til later to split the cost.
That is another option.

But as I said, with tumbled travertine, material / labor is split about
50/50 and ends up at about $10 to $12/sq ft installed.

Just seems like a shame to have traventine, granite counters and then the
plastic tub liners.

3) I wondered about that even for the downstairs bath floor - is
travertine vitreous (having a continuous waterproof glassy surface ?)

tumbled travertine is a natural porous stone that has a weathered natural
appereance. It is usually finished by filling all the holes with grout and
then applying a sealer. I am not sure if that is enough to waterproof it.

4) With any house, an assessment should be made before putting in a
Cast iron tub. They are so heavy, then full of water it's obviously
even more of a problem.

What about steel? I am not so concerned about having a cast iron tub as I am
of NOT having the plastic one. Seems like porcelin over steel is the other
option.

8) If you're gonna do it all you'd definitely want a tile person who
has done travertine, and a plumber to do the fixtures. There may be a
bit of carpentry involved too, if you select a tub requiring framing
(such as a fiberglass tub). Also someone has to do demolition.

Hmmm...... yeah, there would probably be some carpentry. And substantial
downtime for the bathrooms. That'd mean a hotel or staying with a relative.