So, you’ve had it up to here (wherever ‘here’ is at) with your nasty brown or moldy tile grout joints or dingy yellowed fiberglass one-piece shower surround.

You’ve decided a waterproof shower or bathroom wall panel system is the way to go. However, the more you’ve compared what’s in the market the more confused you’ve become. What’s the best choice? Is it cultured marble and granite, acrylic or a PVC composite? Is it Kohler Choreograph or laminate wall panels? Too many choices. Every manufacturer, installer and supplier say there’s is THE BEST. What should you believe?

As a guy whose company installs regionally (in Cleveland Ohio) and supplies nationally a wide array of wall panels I wish I could tell you there was one system which trumps (oops – sorry for using this politically charged word) them all. If only it were that simple.

Here’s the reality.

There is no perfect wall panel system.

As I like to say, “Wall panels are like people. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, just like you and I (although my wife of 35 years – Rose – thinks I don’t have ANY weaknesses…. OK, I lied!).

So, in a nutshell here’s the only thing which matters.

At the end of the day (and at the beginning of the day for that matter), the perfect system is the one which works for you.

The best choice will fit your budget and décor, has features you love and is simple to install and clean.

My goal in this article is straightforward. I’m going to present 9 questions you need to ask, so you’ll make the best selection for you.

I’ll give you a money-back guarantee (oops, I forgot I didn’t charge you any money) these questions will help make the selection process easier for you. And if they don’t call our company and DEMAND more answers. Me and my team would be delighted to help you further (and my team will be less wacky than me – that’s a bonus for you).

So, let’s look at the 9 questions.

The saga of a DIY shower remodeling job gone wrong

It sounded like a good idea in the beginning. You were determined to save money. Everyone knows you’re a bit frugal (OK – if we’re being downright real, you’re more than a bit cheap – saving money is practically religion for you). So, you took on remodeling your shower.

Now, however, you’re living in the muck of the ‘never-ending-shower-remodel.’

Your spouse is hoppin’ mad. You’re hearing the constant chirping how you should have hired a pro (even though the best contractor in town was soooooo busy they couldn’t start for 4 months). It hasn’t been any fun sharing your kids messy cramped hall bathroom. It’s got to end soon…. doesn’t it?

You’ve made so many rookie mistakes. These mistakes have gobbled up your time and eaten into the money you ‘thought’ you were going to save. If you only knew 2 months ago what you know today. Your wallet would be fatter, and you would have put a bow on this job by now.

While you’ve never cried over spilled milk, you’ve certainly felt like crying over the lost dollars associated with this shower remodel.

But wait…there’s hope…if you haven’t started yet!

While taking on a do-it-yourself shower remodel isn’t as fun as Chip and Joanna make it look, and you know there will be unexpected ‘crap that hits the fan,’ I’ll tell you with a better planned project you can avoid the project from ‘H-E-double-hockey-sticks.’

Yes – I hear waaaaay too often the rookie mistakes you’ll read below. These problems DO NOT have to be your problems. You don’t have to watch (literally) your money going down the drain (Yes – bad bathroom plumbing pun intended).

As the cheesy commercial would say….

Don’t let this happen to you.

Below I’ll outline 5 ½ (and yes – you’ll have to wait until the end to see the ‘1/2’ tip) rookie mistakes I’ve seen with DIY shower remodels. However, more importantly dish up practical advice so you won’t repeat them and waste your time and money. OK – let’s dig into the tips.

Updated March 23, 2019

You’ve lived through a shower which was falling apart at the seams. You said you would not get fooled again. You’ve made these proclamations (sounds very official, doesn’t it?).

I’m done with dingy and moldy grout joints.

I will not put up with a cracked shower base which caused a leak onto our dining room table below.

I will not buy or own a home which has wafer-thin plastic wall panels. The last one yellowed and looked nasty.

I won’t own another ‘brown-ish’ shower pan I can’t get clean no matter what toxic solvent I use.

I will not get stuck cleaning the bottom track of a flimsy and pitted aluminum framed shower door ever again.

I will spend less money on disinfectants and fighting back mold problems in my next shower.

I will have a shower which will last me for the next 20 years – or it better, because as Dad used to say, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

You’ve heard the old saying, “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”

When it comes to shower remodeling, I will tell you (and I talk to people about shower remodeling every day) I’ve seen many people get fooled again. They have the best intentions to eliminate the nightmare which was their last shower. However, they get fooled and fall into ‘traps’ like these.

• They tell their remodeler they don’t want a cheap-plasticky fiberglass shower. Then their remodeler does what remodelers always do and offer them an upgraded beautiful tile shower. As time goes on they find out they’re scrubbing grout joints until their arms are soar. They ‘traded off’ the difficult to maintain dirty, yellow fiberglass shower pan for another difficult to maintain tile shower.

• They say they want a shower which will last for 20 years. Then after a life event happens (for example, Mom’s mobility takes a turn for the worse and she needs to move in with you) your cool almost-brand-new 5-year-old shower is getting ripped out accommodate her.

• They buy a brand-new home (with the industry-standard-oh-so-impressive – sarcasm intended- one-year warranty) and love, love, love the cool features like the quartz countertops and Shaker cabinetry in the kitchen. They pay no attention to the one-piece fiberglass tub/shower in the boy’s bathroom with framed glass doors (it looked so pretty when it was decorated in the model home). In a few short years the bottom of the fiberglass pan is scummy (you don’t expect your boys to clean up after themselves now, do you?), and the doors are practically falling off. It looks like it’s time to remodel already -and of course, replacing a nasty looking shower 5 years later is not covered under your builders fabulous one-year warranty.

The question is – whether you are remodeling or building a new home – how do you make sure you don’t get fooled again with a shower which fails?

If the title of this article reminds you of the song by The Who titled, “We Don’t Get Fooled Again” – you might be an ever-so-slightly graying 70’s rocker like me. And I’ll fess up and say I’m a guy in the late 70’s who sported a ‘quasi-mullet’ as well. But no, I’m not sharing a picture of my mullet here. While this Who song was not exactly written with shower remodeling in mind, I’ve still included a video below to get you in the spirit of the ‘new revolution’ of a new shower – so you won’t be fooled again.

In this article I’ll present 5 foolproof ideas to help you get a stylish shower which looks sharp and lasts, so you won’t be fooled again. My list is not comprehensive. At the end of the article add your ideas 6,7 and 8. Let’s learn from one another.