topic Re: The Onyx Collection Shower in Home

The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 19:19:58 GMT

Does anyone have one of these showers installed in their home? We were out all day yesterday to see what's available for the shower when we remodel the bathroom.

We are getting older so we want a walk in shower that is easy to clean which they say this is.

It is a porous material that has to be sealed every 3-5 yrs so not sure at what age we would no longer be able to do that?

We thought about using one of their floor pan bases & tile up from there. They have options on the bases. I told DH we are not installing one of those white pan bases.

My SIL is moving in with her son & family. She paid to have a shower installed in her bathroom. It has a solid surface side wall panel with panel at front & back that is supposed to be easy maintenance.

We need to talk to installer to find out what they use.

We also want a large Niche, solid seat at end of shower with a separate handheld shower sprayer with separate water on off handle next to the seat. With regular shower at front with water turn on handle. Also the dreaded grab bars. We don't need the seat & separate handheld shower now but if we live long enough we will need it.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

vermint — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 20:11:29 GMT

@Nightowlz I can't help with the shower you're looking for, but as for grab bars? They actually make some very attractive ones these days. Mine are by Moen--I have one at the shower entrance, one on the side of the shower, and one by the toilet. They are brushed/satin nickel just like all my other fixtures, and are quite decorative!

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Kachina624 — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 21:44:46 GMT

@Nightowlz. I have ordinary ceramic tile showers with white fiberglass pan bases, one a bathtub. For 25 years, after each shower I've lightly sprayed that Clean Shower product that's in grocery stores. I never scrub the shower but it and the hardware shine. Never any water spots or soap residue. No mildew or other crud. It looks brand new. Try it.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

jlkz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 00:01:35 GMT

@Nightowlz

We have had solid panels in our walk in shower since 2001. They are wonderful...I would never put tile in as their upkeep is too much. The panels are soapstone and easy to clean when needed.

Make sure that they go up as high as possible or you'll be painting the walls above if they make them short.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Mom2Dogs — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 00:57:39 GMT

We had an ONYX shower installed a few years ago....we were never told it needed to be sealed.

It was my husbands shower...very easy to keep clean and there were a lot of color choices...we love it. The cost is higher and it is custom fit along with the door but worth it.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Twins Mom — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 02:06:22 GMT

Have two bathrooms done in Onyx - installed 15 years ago by bathroom remodeler. As one poster indicated, did not know it had to be sealed. I was told there was a wax I could apply to walls, but not obligatory. I have a beige speckled shower wall and white floor. Wipe after shower with squeegee and microfiber cloth. Clean with Dawn detergent and microfiber cloth. Only maintenance is a recaulk. We have corner seat and corner shelf for bottles. I do use a handheld when cleaning. Also have stationary shower head. I am so thankful to have such an easy shower to maintain.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 18:35:54 GMT

@vermint wrote:
@Nightowlz I can't help with the shower you're looking for, but as for grab bars? They actually make some very attractive ones these days. Mine are by Moen--I have one at the shower entrance, one on the side of the shower, and one by the toilet. They are brushed/satin nickel just like all my other fixtures, and are quite decorative!

@vermint

We have brushed nickel right now but will changing all the plumbing. What we have now is Delta. It's almost 14 yrs old. I don't like the new Delta faucet I put in the kitchen so not sure what brand we will buy. Was thinking about Moen since we have used that brand with no problems. May have to put my Moen kitchen faucet back in my kitchen.

Will have to figure out what size grab bars, how many we need & where to place them.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 18:43:36 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Nightowlz. I have ordinary ceramic tile showers with white fiberglass pan bases, one a bathtub. For 25 years, after each shower I've lightly sprayed that Clean Shower product that's in grocery stores. I never scrub the shower but it and the hardware shine. Never any water spots or soap residue. No mildew or other crud. It looks brand new. Try it.

@Kachina624

There was a fiberglass surround shower/tub when we bought the house. It was dingy when we bought it. The previous owners scratched it all up. That causes dirt to stick in those areas making it harder to clean. We installed tile.

I really like the tile but DH doesn't. The grout doesn't get moldy. The part that gets moldy is the flexible grout you put between the tiles & tub since there is movement.

Best thing is keep it replaced. DH doesn't want to mess with it.

We don't want white. The only thing white in our house are the ceilings.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 18:47:55 GMT

@jlkz wrote:
@Nightowlz

We have had solid panels in our walk in shower since 2001. They are wonderful...I would never put tile in as their upkeep is too much. The panels are soapstone and easy to clean when needed.

Make sure that they go up as high as possible or you'll be painting the walls above if they make them short.

@jlkz

Soapstone would be nice. I think we would have to go to the place we bought our kitchen countertop from to get something like that. We still need to go there to see what they have available.

We have our tile to the ceiling right now so we will do that with what we buy. We don't want it on the ceiling. They show that a lot. I don't like it.

We had some neighbors tile their shower including the ceiling. She said she had an issue with mold on the ceiling. Installing the tile just covers it up? The mold is probably spreading?

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 19:02:13 GMT

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
We had an ONYX shower installed a few years ago....we were never told it needed to be sealed.

It was my husbands shower...very easy to keep clean and there were a lot of color choices...we love it. The cost is higher and it is custom fit along with the door but worth it.

@Mom2Dogs

I could not find any information on their site about sealing the Onyx? It does say you can use RainX on it.

Did you use smooth Onyx or onelike subway that looks like it has grout lines? Wondering if the smooth is easier to keep clean?

One place we went the person we needed to talk to about the Onyx was not there. The lady I did talk to me told me it needed to be sealed. She did say she didn't know much about it. I will ask again if we go with that.

It's a non-porous surface so I don't think she is right.

DH wants to keep the shower curtain. I told him that the doors would look a lot better.

We are aware it will cost more but we are going to buy what we want.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 19:13:23 GMT

@Twins Mom wrote:
Have two bathrooms done in Onyx - installed 15 years ago by bathroom remodeler. As one poster indicated, did not know it had to be sealed. I was told there was a wax I could apply to walls, but not obligatory. I have a beige speckled shower wall and white floor. Wipe after shower with squeegee and microfiber cloth. Clean with Dawn detergent and microfiber cloth. Only maintenance is a recaulk. We have corner seat and corner shelf for bottles. I do use a handheld when cleaning. Also have stationary shower head. I am so thankful to have such an easy shower to maintain.

@Twins Mom

The person I needed to talk to about the Onyx was not there. The person we did ask some questions told us it needs to be sealed. I don't think it does since it's non-porous. Couldn't find any info on the Onyx site. It did say you could use RainX on it.

We are looking at the neutral beige tones. We don't want white but don't want dark either.

We were going to install regular shower with handheld until the guy at one place recommended a bench seat with it's own handheld spray & faucet.

I thought that sounds like a good idea. Never even crossed my mind. It will cost more but be worth it. We want the solid bench seat since we think that will be easier to clean instead of trying to clean under it.

I'm glad it's easy to clean.

So do you just recaulk around the shower pan or some place else?

Did you buy smooth or one with design to it. Trying to find out if the ones will take longer to clean vs the smooth finish?

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 19:33:32 GMT

We have 2 more places to see what's available.

One place installs Acrylic panels. It looks similar to the Onyx shower install but made with different material.

Tile, Onyx, Acrylic etc each have there Pros & Cons.

Wonder how long we have to wait for the install after we decide what we want.

My SIL just had the Acrylic panels installed for her new shower. She had to wait almost 10 wks. She said hers was $15,000.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Kachina624 — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 20:02:07 GMT

@Nightowlz. I use Clean Shower and have never had any mildew. My tile is all white.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 20:22:10 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Nightowlz. I use Clean Shower and have never had any mildew. My tile is all white.

@Kachina624

I like the subway tile. It seems to be really easy to clean.

We have a bone color subway tile in the kitchen.

Never heard of Clean Shower. I will check it out. Thank you.

The one guy seems to think we will find lots of mold when we remove the shower, tub & walls. I think there won't be any. We have had our walls open before. No Mold.

We just remodeled our kitchen. We could see the bathroom plumbing. No Mold. We have had the wall on other side from other bathroom open where you can back of shower. No Mold. We do squeegee & dry the shower.

There's mold on parts of the flexible grout where tile meets tub. We keep it cleaned off the best we can but you can still see it. We want something we don't have to keep dealing with. It would be just fine if DH would replace it. We still don't want the tub so re-doing our bathroom yet again.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Twins Mom — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 21:24:35 GMT

@Nightowlz

At the time I bought our Onyx, company was headquartered in Kansas. I called them to ask about what to clean it with. He advised the Dawn. Said if dishes don't have soap residue, its good for cleaning Onyx. Made sense. When you run your hand over surface, you can tell if its dirty with residue or clean. As I said, easy.

We bought our half bath sink top at Home Depot, I think. They offered white sink bowl with beige top. Love it. All my surface s are smooth except shower floor. No patterns.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 21:38:55 GMT

@Twins Mom wrote:
@Nightowlz

At the time I bought our Onyx, company was headquartered in Kansas. I called them to ask about what to clean it with. He advised the Dawn. Said if dishes don't have soap residue, its good for cleaning Onyx. Made sense. When you run your hand over surface, you can tell if its dirty with residue or clean. As I said, easy.

We bought our half bath sink top at Home Depot, I think. They offered white sink bowl with beige top. Love it. All my surface s are smooth except shower floor. No patterns.

@Twins Mom

It's still in KS. We will have to make sure installer can get it installed ASAP after it comes in so it won't bow. We were told we need to leave it flat. We can't wait on them.

I did see where they say you can use dawn. They list several products you can use including vinegar. I don't think I want to smell that. I will use it if I need it.If we buy the Onyx I think we will go smooth finish.

I did see the matching vanity sink top they offer.

It says if you leave something on your vanity after a while it could leave a white area under the object.

If we don't do matching vanity sink I will have to find out what else to use that I think would look good with the shower. Right now the tile under mirror above vanity matches tile in shower.

It scratches easy so I don't think it will be a good idea. DH already props his rear up on the vanity when he cuts his hair. It has a couple of scratched areas from the rivets on his jeans.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Twins Mom — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 22:25:49 GMT

@Nightowlz

You asked about where we caulked, I think it was around base to walls as well as wall corners. That's minimal for time period. As I said, I am thankful for this product. Tile and grout, especially little stuff, no way do I want to maintain. I would ask if countertop can take weight if DH sits on it. I put stuff on counter and never had it turn white. I do wipe up wet areas and don't leave wet. I don't leave hot stuff like curling iron on counter without hot pad , trivit, or towel under.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Mom2Dogs — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 22:48:00 GMT

@Nightowlz My DH's shower is in three large smooth pieces - custom measured and cut for the space. I know for a fact that it does not need sealed, we would not have gone with that product if that was the case.

I handed over the job of his bathroom cleaning to him many years ago but I do go in occasionally and do a deep clean...so far the shower looks great and he has had it for about 3 years.

We did add a niche for shampoo and soap...way to small of a space to have a seating area. There was always a door on his shower so we went with another door. The space seemed bigger once the job was done, but I am guessing it was because the old shower was a fiberglass corner unit and there was wasted space in the corner, so his door was larger than before the reno. Yes, to me the product is worth the extra cost.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

Nightowlz — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 00:01:34 GMT

@Twins Mom wrote:
@Nightowlz

You asked about where we caulked, I think it was around base to walls as well as wall corners. That's minimal for time period. As I said, I am thankful for this product. Tile and grout, especially little stuff, no way do I want to maintain. I would ask if countertop can take weight if DH sits on it. I put stuff on counter and never had it turn white. I do wipe up wet areas and don't leave wet. I don't leave hot stuff like curling iron on counter without hot pad , trivit, or towel under.

@Twins Mom

Thanks for the tip. I will have to ask about him sitting on part of the sink.

Whatever we get we will dry it after use as we do now for as long as we can.

Re: The Onyx Collection Shower

haddon9 — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 00:20:17 GMT

We did our master bath two years ago and hall bath last year. We are going to have the powder room done next month. I have ceramic tile that I love so much I used it in the first two and I'm going to use it in the powder room as well.

I'm not familiar with the type of shower that you've mentioned but my tiles are 12X24 with very thin grout lines. They also make stain resistant grout now. The shower floor has coordinating small tiles that are slip resistant.

I just cleaned my shower today and got one of those cordless scrubbers for cleaning bathrooms. It comes with different brushes and you can adjust the length of it. The grout still looks like new but I understand if you want to go in a different direction.

In our old shower we had an off white pan and it got terribly discolored. It looked terrible!

As for the grab bars, I had a long one installed that coordinates with the hardware in the bath and I have it going horizontal (not at an angle) in the shower. I can hang washcloths from it if want to and I think it looks nicer than your typical grab bar and works just as well.