There are so many good alternatives on the market. If you are feeling nervous, probably you should listen to that. There are so many challenges with marble in a shower: product selection, skill of the tile pro, cleaning and maintenance, etc. If you can find a porcelain alternative that you like, you’ll probably be better off. I do have marble counters and tub deck in my bathroom and love them, so I’m not anti-marble. I just don’t think I’d be able to deal with it in a shower.

The people that tell you they are totally happy with their marble showers probably hired a top of the line, hard to book, independent tile pro who perfectly waterproofed, advised on material selection, took days and days to construct the shower and charged $12k at least for a tiny shower and $25k for a large shower with benched, niches and such (not including the tile).

And they probably have a cleaning company too.

Marble is a challenging material when it comes to showers. Why torture yourself.

Marble countertops NEED to be sealed often, but marble in the bath may not need sealing. Here is an ARTICLE that explains.

As to mold control, bleach only whitens the surface. Mold lives deeper within and will return. I was having a problem with mold on my shower walls and curtain. I read about Concrobium and bought the spray bottle. I cleaned the tub and tile, wiped it dry and sprayed everything including the new shower curtain with Concrobium. Then I let it all dry. I only repeated this once about a month later. Here is the LABEL to their gallon jug. The ingredients are listed as: water, sodium carbonate, trisodium phosphate, and alkali metal carbonate. These are all strong bases (pH above 10). Because your shower is new, the Concrobium Mold Control will prevent mold from getting started.

Double check with the company that sold the marble and with the installer as to their recommendations about both sealing and mold prevention. However, you may need to further read up on how to protect your marble.

the tile store said he needs to triple seal it

That’s what I chose. deciding between grout. shown I mist. i may do gray dove. Will it be ok since it’s only a floor? Haha. I will steam clean the bathroom floor.

I may keep everything but just switch shower floor. Not sure what now. I also had a marble corner bench and marble corner shelves.

I have a marble shower floor and I don't regret it. It has been about 2 1/2 years and there is no mold or any other kind of deterioration.

My marble is Calacatta basket weave on the floors and the grout is a gray that blends well.

I have a really excellent fan (Panasaonic Whisper) which turns on when it senses the ambient humidity level in the bathroom is a certain level and turns off when it has effectively dehumidified the room. I don't even have condensation on the shower doors or mirror and mold and mildew isn't an issue.

I do keep only cleaning stuff that is safe for marble. These were recommended by Dragonfly who is a Pro who posts often. The marble cleaner which is also good for mirrors is by MB and my toilet bowl cleaner is non-acidic. This was also recommended by Toto because of the finish on my bowl.

I haven't had any of the issues that seem to crop up periodically on this forum. I would imagine that is a combination of fairly good quality marble so there isn't excessive iron oxide as well as skilled labor in terms of both constructing the shower as well as tiling it. For example, my shower is sloped really well and I can actually see the slope next to the drain. There are no pools of water lingering on the floor - when I step out of the shower the floor might be slightly moist but the Panasonic fan takes care of that so there is no residual damp creating a good growth opportunity for mold or mildew.

I did look at manmade stuff but it seemed artificial to me as I was also concerned about maintenance because I didn't want to take unreasonable measures in terms of living with any materials I chose. I do have a cleaning woman but I don't know why that makes any difference - she comes in once a week and cleans the bathroom which would be the same schedule as if I were doing it myself. She doesn't do anything I wouldn't be doing (or haven't done).

So you don’t need to dry it when you are done? And you don’t find cleaning a hassle around toilet area?

If you are asking me, I don't dry the shower after using it. Because my shower is constructed properly there is sufficient slope so no pools and the fan takes care of any residual moisture.

I don't know why cleaning around the toilet is more difficult than with any other substance. I have products that are safe for marble. I also have a steam mop - not super steamy as it is an inexpensive model by Bissel.

Why do you think cleaning around the toilet is more problematic? I keep the marble cleaner in the bathroom and it is a multi-surface cleaner so it is used for floors, counter, mirrors and glass.

Urine can etch marble.

Like Helen I've had a fully marble bathroom now for 2 years with absolutely no issues. And like Helen, I have an excellent Panasonic fan and my shower is built correctly. I also chose honed marble so if it does etch at all, I'd never notice the difference. And no I don't wipe down the shower walls and no there's no problems around the toilet.

Ketchup or tomato sauce can etch marble but people install marble kitchen counters. I am not sure why urine is considered to be more of an issue unless one is toilet training boys.

Etching is a problem that is really a non issue in reality. It just means a bit of the shine is gone and in real life, it is difficult to see unless the light is hitting it at the right angle. Etching actually is just a patina and brasseries have marble counters that have a patina.

i wouldn’t use marble in a children’s bathroom because I wouldn’t expect a child or even a teen to take normal precautions. As a teen, I wasn’t scrupulous about covering a surface when I used nail polish or nail polish remover. I also would have been using hot pink hair dye in the shower. 😂😂 As an adult my life style is such that I am fine with taking minimal precautions and I invested in good workers to build my shower, quality materials and am fine with the maintenance which isn’t more than other materials in my personal experience.

And marble and grout are easily restored by a professional. Periodically the stone and grout in my building is professionally restored and it looks as good as when it was installed 30 years ago. 🤫

I have honed Calacatta marble in my master bath (10 yrs) and have had no problems. I also have a Panasonic fan that I use at each shower, and don't notice any puddling on shower floor. The counters are marble, the floor is marble, tub deck and shower floor are all marble, and we love it. I use cleaners that are safe for marble. The only concessions that I make: I no longer color my hair at home, and I try to use all products with no color to them in the shower, though I doubt if that is necessary.

Thanks Helen. I love the look. I do have a 2 yo and a 4 yo that have their own bath (With carefree porcelain). This is a master bath. but I’m sure they will come in to use occasionally. Proper sloping will be done and we have a brand new fan not sure the brand.

I don’t color my hair at home. Don’t think I ever will. can you put a curling iron on marble counter? I’ll have to check what fan they put. He said it was appropriatly sized for the room. Seems like I’ll be fine. just need to use the special cleaner.

You really shouldn't be putting a hot curling iron on any surface. But as I wrote, these are what I would call normal precautions. I would just get some kind of protective thing to use when you are wielding hot tools. I used to groom my hair at a vintage wood vanity and I just got used to stuff like that since I didn't want to burn/discolor the wood.

You could just get a pretty silicone mat to roll up and take out when you do your hair.

I don't color my hair in the shower but I don't color my hair at home anyway because a salon does a much better job. I also use liquid soap instead of bar soap - again I haven't used bar soap in years because who wants to deal with melting soap in a soap dish :-).

I have a hand held shower and I spray everything down just before I get out including the bench and the shower door. FWIW, after seeking advice on this forum during my remodel, I used Showerguard for the glass and it is great. I would never squeegee my shower after I used it and with Showerguard I don't have to.

Ask your GC whether is has the ambient humidity sensor in your fan. This is really functional since it turns on and then turns off when necessary. So much better than having to remember to turn it on and off.

I also have several lights in the bathroom which are on motion detector and this was also turned out to be great. They are required by Code in Los Angeles for conservation purposes and I thought I wouldn't like them but they are so functional. Not all of the overhead lighting is on auto sensor but for the most part I don't need it. The overhead can in the shower is NOT on autodetect and sometimes I forget to turn that switch on which means that I will often complete a shower in twilight unless I am motivated enough to open the shower door so that the sensor turns on again. :-). I have task lighting in my bathroom where I do makeup and sconces for ambience.