Smithman added it was Europeans constantly coming
into his store and asking for the acrylic/stainless steel
shower base that finally won him over to the product.
“For years they asked for it and I eventually saw the
product and took the plunge and placed a display in my
showroom,” he said. “It’s a base with the shower doors
that all come as a kit. We have a lot of Europeans in this
area and when they saw it they said, ‘That’s it! That’s
what we want.’”
“Clearly the trend towards contemporary style with a
clean, cutting-edge look has also helped its popularity a
lot. You don’t have to seal the floor underneath. You don’t
have to do anything exotic, because it’s just like sliding a
bathtub in an alcove with three walls around the acrylic
or stainless steel base and you’ve got a bath/shower,” he
added.
Costs for the units can vary a lot depending on size. A
four-foot by five-foot shower, for example, can run $500-
$600, but can range up to $2,000-$3,000, depending
on the drains they utilize as well as other features such
as wheelchair accessibility. These costs do not include
installation.
“But the main reason people are buying these is the
aesthetic,” Smithman said. “And it’s actually cheaper to
install one of these bases over a tile shower, because
a tiler can’t build a shower pan and tile the shower
enclosure the same day. A shower pan first needs to be
built and the base set on top of that, which has to dry
and cure before the tiler comes back to do the tile work.
That adds several days to the job as opposed to throwing
a base down and working on the walls five minutes
later.”
Smithman concluded the ultimate plus to an acrylic/
stainless steel base shower is the ease with which it is
maintained.
“I ask people if they’re tired of getting on their hands and
knees with a scrub brush and bleach trying to get mildew
out of the bottom of their showers,” he said. “Because as
good a job as you do on that grout, it’s going to be less
than perfect. Whereas an acrylic surface is always going
to look the way it looks brand new.”
To learn more about acrylic and stainless steel base
showers as well as the many configurations they come
in, call The Plumbing Place at 941.378.5678 or visit the
6,000 square foot kitchen and bath designer showroom
at 5678 Fruitville Road in Sarasota.
68 SARASOTA SCENE | MARCH 2018