I'm in the middle of a huge remodel of my main bathroom. Meanwhile the
master bath is also in need of a remodel but that's going to have to
wait for two reasons. First, these are the only two full bathrooms in
the house so as long as the main bath is out of commission, we need
this one for showers and such. Second, I don't want to spend a fortune
doing both at the same time.

Anyway, the shower in the master bath is trying as hard as it can to
force my hand. From the day we bought the house, the original tile has
had major mildew problems (standard 48x36 shower) that I've been
fighting all along.

I'm now thinking that a quick, temporary solution might be to take
down the metal shower doors (standard two-door glass/metal slider) and
literally glue 3 pieces of thin vinyl sheets that I've seen at Home
Depot (rather nicely in the style and color of my existing shower)
right to the existing tile. Then I could put the metal door frame and
doors back up and I'd be set for a decent period with very little
concern for mildew buildup, etc. Plus any existing mildew would die
and dry up behind the tile so that when it does come time to tear it
all down, things should be rather dry and problem free.

Would this work? Is there a better solution that meets the needs? The
mildew is at a point where much of it has saturated into the grout in
spots and doesn't come clean. Bleach helps but even that is providing
limited results now.

"Rich Heimlich" wrote in message
...
I'm in the middle of a huge remodel of my main bathroom. Meanwhile the
master bath is also in need of a remodel but that's going to have to
wait for two reasons. First, these are the only two full bathrooms in
the house so as long as the main bath is out of commission, we need
this one for showers and such. Second, I don't want to spend a fortune
doing both at the same time.

Anyway, the shower in the master bath is trying as hard as it can to
force my hand. From the day we bought the house, the original tile has
had major mildew problems (standard 48x36 shower) that I've been
fighting all along.

I'm now thinking that a quick, temporary solution might be to take
down the metal shower doors (standard two-door glass/metal slider) and
literally glue 3 pieces of thin vinyl sheets that I've seen at Home
Depot (rather nicely in the style and color of my existing shower)
right to the existing tile. Then I could put the metal door frame and
doors back up and I'd be set for a decent period with very little
concern for mildew buildup, etc. Plus any existing mildew would die
and dry up behind the tile so that when it does come time to tear it
all down, things should be rather dry and problem free.

Would this work? Is there a better solution that meets the needs? The
mildew is at a point where much of it has saturated into the grout in
spots and doesn't come clean. Bleach helps but even that is providing
limited results now.

I would nix the vinyl idea. If there is mildew now it will be saying "feed
me" by the time you want replace it. Sounds like you have a ventilation
issue.

get yourself some Tilex or make up a strong bleach solution (like 4:1 water
to bleach)

kill all mildew in shower, once and for all (use a respirator, bleach will
age your body faster than anything on earth)

if you still have mildew problems, then you need either:

A. to fix the leak that is keeping you shower wet

or

B. a dehumidifier for this area of your house

showers should not have ongoing mildew problems, it is a symptom of one of
the problems above


PS - tell family members to use the fan when taking a shower to decrease
humidity

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 20:42:07 -0400, "cowboy" wrote:

PS - tell family members to use the fan when taking a shower to decrease
humidity

One of the negatives of the house is that none of the upstairs
bathrooms have fans. Both are getting them but it hasn't been
completed yet. The ceiling also has issues, which is a clear sign that
ventilation is a concern. I guess the point is that perhaps I should
just push to have the ceiling fan job completed as soon as possible.

One of the negatives of the house is that none of the upstairs
bathrooms have fans. Both are getting them but it hasn't been
completed yet. The ceiling also has issues, which is a clear sign that
ventilation is a concern. I guess the point is that perhaps I should
just push to have the ceiling fan job completed as soon as possible.


a portable dehumidifier can substitute for a fan for a while if you have too
many other thing to deal with, just be careful with having something plugged
up to electricity in a bathroom, (wet people and electrical items don't
mix)and don't forget to empty it often.

it would also work if you could station it NEAR the bathroom, which would be
safer

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 00:52:35 -0400, Rich Heimlich
wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 20:42:07 -0400, "cowboy" wrote:

PS - tell family members to use the fan when taking a shower to decrease
humidity

One of the negatives of the house is that none of the upstairs
bathrooms have fans. Both are getting them but it hasn't been
completed yet. The ceiling also has issues, which is a clear sign that
ventilation is a concern. I guess the point is that perhaps I should
just push to have the ceiling fan job completed as soon as possible.

Yep.

--
Luke