Safe and Accessible Bathing Solutions

New Study Reveals Installation Costs Among Leading Types of Shower Surrounds

An independent study conducted by RSMeans Company has determined that the installation of Best Bath Systems one-piece roll-in fiberglass shower surrounds takes significantly less time and money than ceramic tile and fiberglass mud set shower surrounds.

RSMeans, a division of Reed Construction Data, is a leading supplier of construction cost and materials pricing information. Developers, architects, engineers and contractors in North America rely on their products and services to project and control the cost of both new construction and renovation projects.

The 2009 study measured the average installation time and labor costs for seven Best Bath Systems one-piece shower surrounds in a continuing care retirement community in Massachusetts. Labor was based on the average wages in 30 major U.S. cities. They determined benchmark average costs of installation at:

Best Bath Systems one-piece roll-in shower surround: $126
Mud set fiberglass surround: $178
Ceramic tile surround: $685

Best Bath one-piece roll-in commercial shower surrounds are pre-leveled and require no additional mud set material. Designed for durability with a wood core, fiberglass and a gelcoat surface, they are ideally suited for the bathing needs of hospitals, independent living communities, university dormitories and condominiums where safety and accessibility are of the utmost concern.

Installing ceramic tile surrounds entails hanging cement backer boards, mixing and applying thin set mortar, laying tile, adding reinforced plywood bracing (hidden from view) for safety bars, grouting and grout sealing. Best Bath one-piece surrounds merely require adhesive to secure the unit. Comparing the two by installation time, ceramic surround installation averages 11.75 hours vs. 1.72 hours for the Best Bath surround.

Conventional fiberglass shower assemblies have a cavity that must be filled with a mud set to bond the unit into place. Installation time on average is 2.44 hours or 30% longer than Best Bath, plus the additional material and mixing cost.

Findings of the study revealed that the Best Bath surround installation resulted in a cleaner job site, reduced training costs and easier installation of safe bathing accessories such as shower grab bars and seats at a later date.

Read the complete report by clicking here.

Making a Better Slip Resistant Gel Coat Surface for Showers

Did you know that there is an official industry standard for slipperiness? The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) has developed Standard F462-79 – Consumer Safety Specification for Slip-Resistant Bathing Facilities. They evaluated bathroom surface materials under wet and soapy conditions with a test material that most closely resembled the human foot.

A range of bathtub and shower surfaces, including gel coat, porcelain enamel, acrylic, terrazzo, ceramic tile, and fiber glass reinforced plastic were tested to create the foundation for this standard. Both smooth and textured applications were included.

Testers determined measurement guidelines for slipperiness (“coefficient of friction” is the frictional force across the surface divided by the vertical force created by the person when walking) and “slip resistance” (the way a surface acts in opposition to the movements of the person that can result in sliding or falling) and came up with a coefficient of friction of 0.04 as a minimum passing grade. They settled on this number because most bathroom falls or slips occur on untextured or untreated surfaces, some which rated as low as .003. In fact, virtually all smooth, non-textured surfaces, including acrylic, porcelain and some gel coat applications missed the .04 cutoff.

Best bath textured gel coat shower and walk-in tub floors all meet or exceed the ASTM standard. Our technique takes advantage of the ability for liquid gel coat to flow and set into very small and intricate “divots” in a mold. It ends up as the best compromise between slip resistance, cleanability and comfort under foot. Conversely, in the case of smooth cast acrylic, manufacturers have to rely on molding textures that are limited to how small they can be thermo-formed from a sheet, hence why they can fall short of the standard for slip resistance.

Here is an interesting report created by Melvin Friedlander, P.E. that goes into more detail on how slip resistance is determined, with a chart that contains slip-resistance test results.