"DerbyDad03" wrote:

When I was shopping for my unit I was in a contractor's supply house
asking about options. The contractors are usually willing to offer
advice and one of them recommended staying away from the cheaper units
if you have kids. His opinion was that once the teenagers start
bringing their girl/boy friends home, the cheaper units won't standup
to the abuses that 2 people in a shower could impart upon a shower
unit.

That's my entire problem right now, finding out what is a "cheaper unit".
Obviously the $40 units are going to have issues, but how about the $130
units? How about the $230 units?

As a point of reference, I can get a one piece tub/shower/surround for about
$300. It's 1/4" thick, and very solid, which is how I would define quality.

As another point of reference, you can get tub surround panel kits that are
almost $1000 (which I am assuming (???) are quality).

So, at what point above $40 do they start to be halfway decent/sturdy, and
how far below $1000 can you go while still getting something halfway decent?

I can make a lot of guesses, and read anectodal reports of one or two
specific models, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of objective way to
determine the quality (is it the thickness?). Aem had a good suggestion to
digitally manipulate the panel to determine the quality, but that would only
work on the ones actually in stock in the store (and out of the box).

The companies themselves aren't very helpful either. One $200 unit from
Crane Plumbing (an American Standard brand) was told to me to be 0.110 mm
(yes, a tenth of a millimeter) thick, according to their phone line help
(took her 10 minutes to come back with that information). Now obviously I
have doubts that it is that thin, but the woman on the phone was adamant
about that thickness (that's what it says!) despite not having any reference
in her mind as to how thin that actually was, let alone how thick a
millimeter is (I had to explain to her that a mm is about as thick as the
lead in a wooden pencil).

Thanks,

Jon