Shower wall material
 

Hi all,


I'm on the hunt for a budget-friendly yet aesthetically acceptable shower wall material. I was originally going to do cultured marble but all the local stores say that no one carries it anymore. This seemed odd because the contractors who redid my brother's apartment shower two years ago used cultured marble, which I like the look of, and it seemed pretty easy to install. I'm considering fiberglass and acrylic at this point but wondering what other materials are out there?


Thanks!

Cultured marble has been replaced by real marble. Both are too heavy for a bus and that’s coming from someone with a tile bathroom.

The budget friendly option is Reinforced Fiberglass Paneling (RFP). You can get it at the big box hardware store. You can also get custom printed with whatever you want, though I’m sure that’s expensive.

I haven’t done this for a shower, but could also use a product called Stone Coat epoxy to make faux marble plywood. If you go this route, the panels need to be carefully dry fit and disassembled so the epoxy can be applied flat. It needs to be done in a dust-free place and your panels need to be perfectly level.

We've been struggling to come up with a bathroom wall solution too. Here's one idea that we're kicking around, mostly because it's fun: aluminum sheet, painted National School Bus Glossy Yellow, with big dish shower taps that resemble headlights and various decals and maybe a painted rub rail or two. Maybe a stop sign as well? And a route number plaque on the outside that you can change between route #1 and #2 (our shower and toilet share the same space). It sounds like you're looking for a classier option, but I figured I'd throw this out there anyway :)

Friend of mine made his shower out of plywood.
Then he had Line-X come out and they sprayed in bedliner.
No joints or seams to seal with goopy silicone, ever.
Smooth on walls and ceiling, textured on floor.
Normal thickness for bedliners.
Remains flexible.
Any color you want.
Cheaper if yo drive the bus to their location.

The two plywood side walls and the rear wall of the shower are covered by FRP that's glued on with Roberts 6700 floor adhesive, then I used Armstrong self-stick vinyl floor tiles to make it look nice: they're stuck on with Weldwood contact adhesive. I also used the same tiles on the stainless shower pan. Because the FRP is inside the shower pan's sides, there's no possibility of any leaks anywhere. So far, so good.

John

I framed my shower with Unistrut and used plywood with FRP glued to it for the sides. I used a 32" x 32" off the shelf shower pan. I used silicone caulk to seal it all up. The plumbing is mounted to steel pieces and Unistrut. See the pictures attached:

I like the shower head placement!
Way up high! , there must be a lot of short plumbers out there and they specialize in motels and hotels.

Also, good idea not in center and aimed away from the door or curtain.

I can't wait to see your finished shower!


I feel that I've had relatively few design constraints in my bus or have been able to reasonably work around most of them but this shower is driving me nuts. Try finding a 36 x 30 shower pan (in the first place) with an offset drain ('cause a center drain runs into a cross member).


Looks like I'll be going reinforced fiberglass for the walls. I don't remember the cultured marble they put in my brother's bathroom being that heavy. I think it was pretty thin. Oh well, if I can't even source the stuff.

Don't waste your time and effort trying to find a ready-made shower pan that probably won't be the exact size you need anyway! Just have a shower pan made by a sheet-metal or HVAC fabricator, then you can put the drain exactly where it's best for you. Besides, a stainless steel pan with welded corners and a welded drain spigot will be more durable and reliable than any flimsy plastic pan. Before I installed mine I ground about an inch off the wooden floor at the drain end so the pan would sit at a slight angle, then the water would still drain even if the bus were parked up to one foot lower at the back.

John

There is shower pan material made of plastic cement coated XPS foam. It’s sold by Schluter and HydroBlock and some others. It can be cut to size. There’s drain kits for it too. I like the idea of using two linear drains so that no mater which way the bus leans it will drain

I did a plywood shower pan (so I could give it good slopes). Redguard on the bottom, and fiberglass over the top. Then I poured resin in three coats.

A huge amount of work but got the exact shape and form I needed for the spot.

That sounds like a great option but could get pricey. I talked to a local fabricator a while ago about a stainless countertop and he said it would be cost-prohibitive. I may look into it again.


One thing is for sure: tile in a bus seems like a horrible idea. I hope it's worked well for those who have used it but there's no way it's finding it's way into my rig.

Someone just did this on his bus in the shuttle bus forum or short bus forum on Facebook. It looks great.

I got super lucky with my build. I was able to buy an off the shelf 32x32 shower pan with a center drain that does not hit anything important underneath. :biggrin:

shower material
 

I used plywood for walls a fiberglass shower pan then floor lino in tile look alike. Used floor lino glue still looks like new 8 years later. I used the same concept in my house bath tub to convert for shower I took it apart 15 years later and there was no rot on the drywall at all. It works well in the bus because it can tweak if needed.

Stainless sink/kitchen fabricators are high priced because the sell mostly commercial kitchen stuff that has to meet health inspectors codes, blah, blah, blah. Try a HVAC or plumbing contractor like the man said. They have to have drain pans built all the time. They can do it or tell you who can.

.
Could you set the pan on a raised floor so the plumbing heads away from a cross-member?

1993 or so, we converted a 30' retired military-office semi-trailer into a RecreationVehicle.
.
For our shower, we acquired a mop-basin, the type used in restaurants to empty mop-buckets.
About two-foot on each side, the sides are probably twelve inches tall.
I built a frame for the surrounds, then enclosed the shower with galvanized wavy roofing.
.
It was the talk of the town.
.
I realize two feet on a side sounds constrictive.
Testing the contraption as I stood in it prior to finalizing the framing, I thought so, too.
So... I angled my walls -- coned them in an inverted pyramid -- so the elbow-height was about three feet to a side.
.
.
Years go by.
After dragging our THOW all over tarnation, we sold the trailer to a concrete company to use as an office.
They had no use for a shower, so I dismantled it for them.
.
Still have my mop-basin.

I’m probably a little late to the thread and I’ll admit this is only my 2nd ever post, but I wanted to share what I came up with for my shower. I repurposed the steel ceiling panels as the shower walls and I think it has turned out quite well!

By the time I got to this stage of my build, I had switched over to budget mode. The plumbing, electrical, and structural components of the build were done and I was trying like some of y’all to figure out a cheap and aesthetically pleasing way to do the shower. I kept a few of the original bus interior parts such as the cable trays that run the length of the interior as throwbacks to what once was. So I decided to use the ceiling panels as the shower walls since it would match parts of the interior anyway.

1/2” plywood backing and liquid nails to hold up the steel sheets. I used silicone caulk under each seam and then i covered the corners with pvc molding. I’ve been living full time in the bus for 10 months and have had no issues with water leaks and the original paint has held up extremely well. I’ve had no issues with cleaning it either. Hope this might inspire some creativity in the community!

I bought a premade 32" shower stall. To keep the claustrophobic effect to a minimum I had a wrap made of a tropical beach scene to cover the 3 walls.


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

Cost of the wrap? How difficult to install? Substrate?

The 3 piece wrap was $90. Plywood walls with the plastic shower stall walls glued to the plywood with adhesive.:thumb:

Do you have a link to that? I'd like to see it.

Toilet-shower combo
 

I’m Interested in this thread because my draft floor plan has a toilet and shower combo room. Since my bus has a flat floor, there is lots of room underneath. I’m considering lowering the floor in this area, adding a shower pan, with drain. Thoughts, photos, advice welcome.

Poured Epoxy faux marble?
 

Any one seen or thought about doing DIY epoxy walls using foam? It's build similar to a surf board, so it's fairly tough, & insulative so it won't be cold like real stone/ marble (thought that cold be nice in a hot climate). Here is an example/ tutorial by "Stone Coat Epoxy". I'm considering doing this for my counter tops and bathroom walls/ shower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNjsLL37Wto

I did an epoxy shower pan. Number one issue with epoxy is you pour it on, and it flows. Pieces with curves are quite difficult to control-like a shower pan! This was my first pour, and it came out great but I recommend you watch a bunch of videos and do some experimentation before committing, else you may need to experiment/redo/settle more than you really want to.

The effects can be really cool.

I still have to do the walls and since they are already installed (and I don't want to add weight or any other panels) I'm looking at other methods of waterproofing.

I used the toilet/shower, (wetbath), on my build. It was 36x32 so it fit one window perfectly. The toilet has the holding tank built into it, works fine for my short bus. I can always add a larger tank under if I need more waste water storage. I used cedar wood for the walls with a shower curtain to help keep the wood dry. Trying to find a good stain to water proof the wood.

Is the problem with the curves because the epoxy is self leveling? I am wondering if a drain pan could be made to drain to one end by tilting the pan before pouring the epoxy and then setting the pan level on the install.

Yes-the issue is self leveling. My drain pan had four flat surfaces surrounded by a rim, each surface sloping towards the drain at a quarter inch to the foot or more, so I needed to come up with a pour method that prevented everything from sliding down the drain.

I poured in three layers over the course of one afternoon. The first layer was rolled level and quite thin, basically saturating the surfaces. The second was thicker, with some base color, and I tilted the pan so the biggest part was level, then pushed around the other slopes until just before curing. By that time I knew how long the working time was, and the third layer was a bit thicker but I poured it just before it started to set, and let it 'slide' towards the drain a bit.

I think I could do something similar if I found the right material to form the shower surround. If you like the look of poured epoxy you could probably pour on FRP flat, then heat form it to fit.

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/membe...ture27318.html

Well, just like the countertop, after a long search for something durable, attractive, lightweight, affordable, and easy to install, I've circled back to wood. A few months ago, I conceded to buying a slab of butcher block for the counter and in keeping with that theme, I decided to use my cedar siding for the shower surround. This is rough-sawn 1x6in cedar planks that I've planed smooth and added beveling to the edges. I've sided the entire inside of the bus with this and it's turned out great so far. I will be milling the planks into shiplap for the shower for water protection. Several coats of sealer and a 360 shower curtain should keep things fresh for a long time.


I also wanted to follow up on the shower pan. After not being able to find one in the size I needed, I got several quotes to have a custom stainless steel one made. They ranged from $1,400 to $3,000; might as well have been $10,000. So I turned to materials that I had on hand and my own limited abilities. I built a 36x34" pan out of 1/8" steel and it didn't turn out half bad. Fits like a glove and exactly what I needed. It will be powder coated. Heavy? Lets just say it follows Ford's marketing scheme from the 70s of "Road-hugging weight".

We were going back and forth on how to do our shower, the wife wanted tile but I was turned off by the weight and expense. Besides that, I have never done tile, nor do I feel inclined to develop that particular skill.

We finally settled on PVC wall panels that are essentially "Pergo for Walls". We're going with Palisade, a kit costs less than $500 for the panels, edging, and glue. It looks nice, installation is relatively simple for any weekend woodworker, and it's wife approved!

https://www.amazon.com/Palisade-Show...dp/B09HL6C5RD/

(If you spend so much time in the shower that you have to worry to death about what it looks like inside, you have other problems.) :rofl:

Keeping my wife happy is a problem I suffer willingly. 😉

That's fine in the home, but I put a hard stop to that at the entrance to the bus. Since I'm the one busting my butt to pay for it and build it, I make the choices, and especially the ones that are going to cost me in terms of fuel consumption and possible unnecessary maintenance headaches. Non-negotiable. :popcorn:

Difference between you and I are circumstances. We’re converting our bus together and the bus will be our retirement home so I’m less concerned with fuel consumption and more concerned with enjoying our living space. Otherwise, minimal maintenance and need for tearing things out and rebuilding is high on my priority list. Build strong, build right, and enjoy the ride.

make it look the way you want to and why bother to explain it to this....ZORK
He obviously has his own problems, what a nonsense troll statement he made "(If you spend so much time in the shower that you have to worry to death about what it looks like inside, you have other problems.)"

Too Short to Finish
 

Some poor woman is yearning for more stamina. Good times are not a race to the finish.

We frequently spend time together in our activity-sized shower. Don't short yourselves of the best part of life in a partnership. Add handrails, a bench, dual heads & shower radio. Enjoy some quality time.

Also desirable for leg shaving, dog washing, and AANR camping.

Happy Spouse, Happy House!
 

Yes, yes, yes! Every day, please.

Pay attention to the aforementioned words of wisdom, Zork. Your life won't be filled with so much negative energy if you free up some of that frustration (with a partner). Invest more energy into loving the one you are with & you can find happiness, too. 'It' really is some of the best experiences we have in our short lives. Just do it. Do it frequently.

After 36 years of marriage I have the wisdom part down pat. Only in the US is male assertiveness interpreted as negative energy. This is what divorce lawyers have wrought on you poor sods. :dance: