Our solution to a window in the shower.
Here’s the Before-and-After of the bath renovation.
Here’s an index of all bathroom remodel posts
We have a large window IN our shower– not unusual in old houses.
Below is the bathroom before we began the remodelā¦ the layout was awesome.
You can see that our ever-creative, previous owner applied his signature-brand of totally-impractical-I-found-this-in-the-trash-and-couldnāt-pass-it-up-solution.
I will give him credit for ONE thing, though– he used a luxury ledge tub… The side of the tub thatās against the wall has a ledge 4″ wider than normal.
That doesnāt sound like much, but it really is… especially if you’re concerned with being too close to a shower window.
As we planned the new bathroom layout, (which involvedĀ gutting the room down to the studs, and moving the sink over to the same wall as the super-fancyĀ concealed trapway toilet, we considered rearranging the shower location.
But the room is narrow, and we decided there was no good way to align the tub with another wall.
Here’s the window before. Ā It was the original one, and trimmed out in wood… Please don’t ask me about the sill. Ā I DON’T KNOW.
We also considered putting in a smaller windowā¦ Ā and moving it well above the shower area.
But in the end, I didnāt want to give up the natural light– I like the large window!
Also, I like my bathrooms to be BLINDINGLY bright… Iām really not kiddingā¦Ā I would put floodlights in, if Paul didnāt stop me.
Plus?Ā By the time we began the bathroom remodel, I had decided that having a giant window in your shower is a total luxury.
What initially felt like a design-challenge is one of my favorite elements of this bathroom… Ā In the summer, it feels like an outdoor shower.
If you donāt have one?Ā I suggest you go hack a hole in the side of your house RIGHT NOW.
I should say that privacy is not an issue for us, so I get this may not work for you, but either way,Ā here is my not-very-technical summation of how we waterproofed the window in the shower.
I do not pretend to be an expert on any of this. At all.
Mostly I held things.Ā Or handed things… Ā Or provided valuable commentary that Paul could not have lived without.
I have so many good suggestions ALL THE TIME.
Like what?Ā Iām so glad you asked!
Like: all grout should be PERFECT.
And?Ā Guess who is the grout-inspector.
That is correct. Ā I was BORN FOR THIS JOB.
- We (Paul) backed the subway tile in the shower with Wedi board.
- He cut and installed the Wedi boards around the sill, continuing it around the window edge, right up to the frame.
- Then we tiled right up to the window.
- We used a narrow marble sill on the bottom lip.
- Remember to caulk, not grout the change of planes.
We ordered a window with vinyl interior trim, and pebbled privacy glass.
Theoretically the water wouldnāt hurt the window– itās just vinyl and glass. Ā Plus the whole thing pops out for cleaningā¦
But Paul wanted to keep the water from hitting the window directly, so to make it REALLY classyā we cut a piece of plexiglas to cover just the bottom half of the window.
It’s held in place with four small dots of caulk. Itās actually great, because you can pull it out to clean it, it doesn’t block the light, and the window stays remarkably dry.
If you donāt have an old house, you may not understand that sometimes the ultimate solution is unconventionalā¦
And, there is really no way to make plexiglas sound like anything other than how you might fix a window in your Appalachian shackā¦ so I won’t try to convince you.
index of all bathroom remodel posts
April 5, 2019 @ 2:11 am
You just made me feel so better about my bathroom window in my 1965 home. It that will be in the middle of my shower/tub surround. I was thinking I needed to get a smaller one but that opens up a can of worms and a lot more money. I’m leaving that window there as is.
April 16, 2019 @ 5:33 pm
my Girl friend and I bought our first house 4 years ago it was built in 1906. We are in the middle of adding a bathroom to our second floor. Things keep coming back to a window In The shower, not many more options for natural light. How is the window 6 years later?
April 17, 2019 @ 8:08 am
It’s fantastic! I just popped the whole thing out and took it outside for some spring scrubbing… since it’s vinyl it cleans up like brand new! No issues to report! Good luck!!
May 25, 2019 @ 11:31 am
Like many commenters, Iād like to see a picture of the plexiglass in place as thatās what I was hoping to see, based on the post title.
July 23, 2019 @ 4:15 pm
Thank you for this post! I felt like a crazy person on multiple fronts with our bathroom remodel until I found this blog and finally felt confident in keeping our full-sized window! I also adore the wood trim you added above the window and am going to attempt to do the same, because I hate the idea of tiling all the way to the ceiling, and I am sad about losing the look of the (insanely impractical) wood-trim. We ordered our replacement window and start demo in about a month. We are having contractors do the tiling… Any tips on installing/choosing that wood trim, or was it pretty straight-forward with some help from Google/YouTube?
July 24, 2019 @ 8:52 am
After YEARS of living with this window, I still LOVE it, so I think you will too! We used the same window trim as in the rest of the house, so that made our decision easy… good luck!
July 23, 2019 @ 5:57 pm
One more question… did tiling into the window frame require a curved edge tile (such as a bullnose) or other material to make the corners tidy & flush? Did you consider a PVC frame instead of tiling?
July 24, 2019 @ 8:49 am
No bullnose or extra pieces… (but remember to caulk change-of-plane, not grout.) We didn’t consider any other material, but I do see what you mean– we used a marble “sill” piece, and I guess could have done that all the way around… good luck!
July 24, 2019 @ 9:49 pm
Love your marble sill… so cute! You’re amazing (and yes, I remember reading elsewhere that you mentioned caulking — not grouting — change of planes. Thank you for replying and for posting this originally, so that I knew my hubby & I weren’t the only insane people who thought, “We don’t have to get rid of this glorious daylight like all the other blogs say we do… do we?” Looking forward to getting our new window with a *fabulous* caulked-in plexi-glass covering š
October 8, 2019 @ 4:08 pm
Hi,
We’re updating our master bath right now, and will have a window in our shower. I’m trying to see the plexiglass on yours, but don’t. Doesn’t it show? Or, am I missing something?
August 2, 2020 @ 4:57 pm
I am planning to add a long window in my shower that starts about shoulder height so it will be out of the way of water hitting it directly. I’ve been told by just about every window guy that it’s a bad idea due to condensation on the window. I want to be able to look out while showering, but these window guys make it sound like it’ll be impossible to see anything as the condensation/frost will be so bad in the winter. Have you run into this problem at all? Did you intentionally stay away from aluminum windows or just happen to go with vinyl? I haven’t been able to find much info on how much a shower window condensates and I’m desperate for first-hand feedback. It would be so appreciated š
September 30, 2020 @ 9:58 am
Love this post. I have the exact same problem, except previous homeowner has not tried to do any updates in 40 years.
But I can’t see the Plexiglas panel that you say is covering the bottom half of the window, held on by 4 dots of caulk. Is it directly on the pebbled glass? Any chance you would upload additional pictures showing these details? Your solution looks great and I would like to try to duplicate it, so I am trying to understand all the details. Thank you so much.
February 21, 2022 @ 4:52 am
We have a 1950s original pink tub/shower with wooden window sill and Iāve scraped off the old paint and repainted and recaulked (sp?) about 5 times since we have lived here in 11 years. Oh how I wish we could rip out the surround and put up new waterproof drywall and new tile! Yours looks great- how did it hold up?
And did you ever find the Saturday night fever suit?!!!!