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Seven-Delta-FortyOne

· Goin' Down in Flames....
Highwayman
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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Looked at a bath remodel today.

They want a steam shower. Never done one before. I’ll be subbing out plumbing and tile, just wanted any tidbits of info anyone wants to throw out.

Im doing my showers with the Schluter system these days, so that should be perfect.

I’ll be doing tile on the ceiling.

I know the steam generator will need its own dedicated 240V circuit, probably 30A, depending on the size.

I guess they have special doors that go floor to ceiling to seal in the steam.

They want glass block on the sides. I’ve demo’d more glass block than I’ve installed, but I assume there’s a good way to attach the door frame to the block. I think you have to set your anchors into the grout?

Anything else you guys want to throw at me would be awesome. 👍
 
#4 ·
Never been on the install end of a steam shower but ran into one on the maintenance end. Had a lot of trouble with mineral buildup inside the steam generator and the shower itself because of the hard water up near Lakehead. If they have hard water and don't have a water softener you may recommend one, save trouble on the other end of things.

Also ran into issues with the control boards, but this unit was from the mid 90s so hopefully that was just age and old technology.
 
#5 ·
Did one for Jaws 5+ years ago-used Schluter throughout and metal studs for dead-flat walls. any longterm updates JW?

John had the steam generator mounted above the john (toilet room).

steam has a necessary slope for the ceiling-forget what it is but it's in the Schluter manual. I would recommend reaching out to your Schluter rep and ask questions (if you have them). If you're not sure who that is for your territory I can reach out to my rep and fwd the request.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Appreciate that @AustinDB My tile sub will be doing the Schluter, he’s a certified installer. But I’ll run those details by him anyway. 👍

The ceiling is sloped already, so that’s a plus.

There’s a bonus room/semifinished attic space behind the bathroom, so I was planning on putting the steam generator back there.

I’ve heard about the calcium buildup in those. I guess they have self-cleaning units, I’ve also installed water softener filters in some commercial jobs I did, so I could use one of those.

It’s some kind of epoxy filter that removes calcium. I’ve installed them for ice makers, dishwashers, and espresso machines.
 
#7 ·
All penetrations must be sealed. Use Kerdi board or the heavier Ditra.

Ceiling pitch is 1/2”/12 minimum, 2/12 maximum, pitched away from any seating area.

Some glass door sets may have an opening transom over the door. See if you can get Arizona’s in your area.

I recommend epoxy grout.

Tom
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
tjbnwi said:
All penetrations must be sealed. Use Kerdi board or the heavier Ditra.

Ceiling pitch is 1/2”/12 minimum, 2/12 maximum, pitched away from any seating area.

Some glass door sets may have an opening transom over the door. See if you can get Arizona’s in your area.

I recommend epoxy grout.

Tom
Click to expand...

Why the maximum?

The existing bath is on the second story, where the roof comes down, so the back half of the niche where they want the steam shower has a ceiling slope of I believe 8:12.
 
#9 ·
Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:
Why the maximum?

The existing bath is on the second story, where the roof comes down, so the back half of the niche where they want the steam shower has a ceiling slope of I believe 8:12.
Click to expand...
Not sure, my guess is the condensation may come off the surface before it reaches the wall to run down.

Tom
 
#10 ·
Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:
Looked at a bath remodel today.

They want a steam shower. Never done one before. I’ll be subbing out plumbing and tile, just wanted any tidbits of info anyone wants to throw out.

Im doing my showers with the Schluter system these days, so that should be perfect.

I’ll be doing tile on the ceiling.

I know the steam generator will need its own dedicated 240V circuit, probably 30A, depending on the size.

I guess they have special doors that go floor to ceiling to seal in the steam.

They want glass block on the sides. I’ve demo’d more glass block than I’ve installed, but I assume there’s a good way to attach the door frame to the block. I think you have to set your anchors into the grout?

Anything else you guys want to throw at me would be awesome. 👍
Click to expand...
Around here upper end shower doors are 3/8" or 1/2" glass. A 30x96 door panel will tip the scale at a hundred pounds. I'm not sure how you'd anchor that to glass block. Seems like you should have the shower door guy involved before doing anything else.
 
#14 ·
BLangley said:
Where do they want the door? Found this one on google using a pivot door. Glass block isn't floor to ceiling, though.

View attachment 537843
Click to expand...
Oh man, cue the music! That reminds me of one of the first bathroom remodels I did with my dad's company like 20 years ago. Came time to order shower doors and he asked the customer if he wanted clear or obscured, customer just said "have you seen my wife?".... He ordered clear :ROFLMAO:
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Good info on the door.

Im waiting on a call back from my glass guy. Didn’t know they were so heavy.

Glass block isn’t super strong anyway.

Design evidently isn’t set in stone, so I’ll be proposing a design contract first, to nail all this stuff down.

Just got off the phone with my plumber, and he’s talking about whether or not to waterproof the entire bathroom, just to mitigate some of the inevitable moisture problems that come from having steam.

Problem is, there is a walk in closet on one side.

Im waiting to hear back from the glass guy on how sealed the doors are.

A really good exhaust fan is going to be a must in there as well.
 
#17 ·
I'd use kerdi board for the entire steam shower including ceiling and water proof all of it. Be sure the lights you put in there are water proof led and seal them up good or it can be a point of mold build up. Lots of things mentioned are really the key important points proper slope per TCNA standard, water softener, dedicated circuit for the generator and a secondary circuit if the opt for some of the bells and whistles that may require independent power is something to consider. Another thing you need to go over with the HO is the material section for the bench and back in particular as not all materials handle heat transference the same and will also impact your generator sizing.

I'd take a look at the steamist units. I think they are alot nicer than the kohler ones that designers seem to spec out from laziness of kohler everything. The steamist has a bunch of cool bells and whistles with special lights, scents, automation with phone apps etc that clients loved. Whatever unit you go with be sure to check manufactures sizing guidelines for the correct size steam generator they are not all equal and need to be correctly sized unless you want some unhappy call backs. Install is super easy and you'll be hitting yourself over the head why you haven't been trying to upsell them to every master bath reno or build you've done.
 
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