Shower on a log wall.

[DaveM]

Does anyone have a suggestion for what to do with a shower that is installed next to a log wall with window?

I like the look of the log wall but I know moisture will be the ruin of it. Fiberglass the logs?

Thanks,
Dave

[StressMan79]

moisture is indeed bad. but moisture and time are the real killers. you kind of need both. "sealing" the logs will only trap the moisture behind the seal. if building a "traditional" log home, the settling will crack the fiberglass, and a BnP will lift away from the glass. I would do several things: try to keep the shower away from logs, physically if possible and use a shower curtain in the (clawfoot) tub if you have to. Put in a big exhaust fan. if you are doing forced air, put the register right below the wall.

alternatively, you could remove the wall near the shower entirely and go with privacy block. It is kind of expensive and not that insulative, but for a small door-sized opening in a bathroom, it might be OK.

the key is to be smarter than the objects you are working with. if you know that something is bad, then find a way around it.

-Peter

[Mark OBrien]

Is it a shower pan only? How is the set-up? If it was mine, I would frame a small section of the wall and build my own showerpan and the put hardi-backer or durock on the wall and tile it. You can get tiles that are rustic or not, according to your choice. My son and I have built dozens of showerpans and it works very well. It would look much nicer than fiberglassing the wall or cutting out a section of the wall and using glass block. Now, you can tile the exterior wall and then use glass block for the rest of the shower, it comes out very nicely that way.
Here is a link to a way you can do-it-yourself. http://www.extremehowto.com/xh/article.asp?article_id=60342
Be patient and take your time and it comes out real nice.

[Basil]

I built a stud wall in front of the logs and tiled the wall. You could do that around the window too. There's no way I'd leave logs in a shower, unless it would never be used. Then there's really no point in the expense of the shower.

[clairenj]

our claw foot tub is along a log wall. About 6' up the log wall, We affixed a peeled branch to a log with copper "tape" the stuff that comes in a roll and has holes, it's about 1" wide. We put the plumbing up the middle of the logwall side of the tub instead of at the end. then we hooked up a hand held shower and reached up and placed it in the branch overhead so that we shower under that. along the log wall I hung two clear shower curtains on refrigerator copper line which we bent in an oval. I used drapery hardware, the kind you can put a window scarf through, to put up the copper tubing. We open the curtains after a shower to avoid moisture on the logs. It has been working just fine for 3 years.

[spin05]

That is exactly what i was looking for nice link. If you make a bigger shower .Can you get that liner in any size????Also have you seen anybody river rock a wall inside a shower?????

[Mark OBrien]

That is exactly what i was looking for nice link. If you make a bigger shower .Can you get that liner in any size????Also have you seen anybody river rock a wall inside a shower?????
That liner comes in a roll about 4' wide. There is an adhesive that you can use to put 2 pieces together, it works great! I've built a shower that was 7' wide and 10' lone using that material and it works great. AS far as a river rock shower, Dorothy Ainsworth made on that looked fantastic out of cultured stone river rock. There is a link to it in Backwoods home online web site. I believe she used the small cultured (fake) stone and then sealed it with some stone sealer. It looked pretty awesome in the pics! I've used natural slate in a shower before with great results. I used a stone sealer that I bought in Lowe's that works great. Here is a link to another site that explains a lot about building your own shower pan, http://www.ontariotile.com/preslope.html