We are redoing our shower. Wife wants to look into the pebble or rock flooring. Anyone have this? Hard to clean? Comfortable on the feet? Anything else you can share?

Don't own one, so I can't comment on the cleanup, but I stayed in a hotel with showers with pebble floors for a while.

Personally, I didn't like it. It felt unstable to stand on. Not uncomfortable, just unstable.

My .02.

My ex-wife insisted on a pebble foor when we remodeled our master shower a couple years before we divorced.

It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was kind of a pain to keep clean.

It's nearly impossible to lay a pebble floor that drains fully, so you end up with pools and pockets of water collecting in low spots along the grout between the pebbles. This, in turn, breeds mildew.

And because of the texture, you can't fully squeegee the water off either.

Therefore, we ended up having to scrub pink slime from various sections of the floor every week or two, even with the use of mildew-resistant grout and sealant.

I would recommend against it.

This is our second house with a master shower with the river rock floor. If we were building I don’t think we’d choose it. Since we’ve bought spec, well we really didn’t have an option.

In my experience it’s hard to clean and has a tendency to trap dirt/soap between the rocks due to the difference surface elevations of the rocks and mortar. Parents have one that somehow had a sharp edge turned upward on one of the rocks. Had to spend some time carefully grinding that down and smoothing it out.

We spent 5 months in a vacation rental where the tub was pulled out and a large shower was built to replace it. The floor was pebble and I liked it.

Absolutely not. Hard to clean and slippery if not cleaned weekly. If not laid properly difficulty in draining.

Nope.
Uneven
Puddles
Mold/mildew

Due to my stroke, I’m worried of falling in the shower and an uneven area would make me use the other bath.

Our current shower is a molded plastic (like cutting boards are made of) tray. And I’m thinking of adding grab bars just because. Or putting those sandpaper flowers like we had in the 70s

I've been in them before. You couldn't give me one.

Thanks for the feedback, seems like similar issues with everyone. This time the forum saved me money! Now Ill go spend that tile money on gun stuff...

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Now Ill go spend that tile money on gun stuff...

Excellent decision!

Late to the party, but you figured out the correct answer.

We did a remodel with a tub to shower conversion. Everyone we talked to recommended against the pebbles for the reasons stated. We went with a 1” square tile. Easy to grade properly for drainage, easy to lay, smooth enough that nothing is getting “stuck”, and the grout lines are just enough to provide good traction when wet.

-Rob

Had the same base as pictured, wouldn’t do it again, uncomfortable in spots and also can be a pain to clean

We remodeled by removing the tub and stall shower and replacing both with a large walk-in shower with pebble floor. We chose a river rock pebble style that had the tops polished flat and don't have any of the problems mentioned above. The guy who did the work removed the pebbles from the 'tile-sheets' and individually laid each pebble (that really surprised us). The result is a fairly flat surface that is comfortable, drains well, and you don't see any straight grout lines. It was a good decision for us.

Maybe it depends on what you do and how it is installed? Our shower is frequently used, cleaned once every two weeks and we have no issues.

No pooling. Used the proper grout for the tile and the base. Was professionally installed.

Was installed more than five years ago.

We had a shower built and used a type of pebble on the floor . If I had to do it over I would look for an alternative .

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

Due to my stroke, I’m worried of falling in the shower . . . I’m thinking of adding grab bars

Do it! Don't wait. Support Shower Safety For Seniors!

My balance is terrible at times. I ordered a couple of bars from Amazon (local hardware stores had them in stainless, but I wanted the white finish) and had the local handyman install them.

I am much safer in the shower now.

I also grabbed s simple, inexpensive, shower chair from the local medical supply store, and I sit in the shower stall instead of standing. I replaced the fixed shower head with one on a six foot hose.

After surgery to implant support hardware for hip / thigh fracture following a fall, a week in the hospital, month and a half in a live-in rehab place, many months of outpatient physical therapy. I do NOT want to fall again and break something else.

I have a rock floor in our basement shower and like it, don't find it slippery at all, feels good on the feet and looks great. Have not heard Mrs. CP complaining about cleaning it. I did seal it real good before it was put in use. Yes, would use it again.

If it was large enough rocks, maybe the larger Mexican beach rocks, it might be OK, but mine is miserable.

It is pretty non-slip though, but I always worry about what I’m supposed to clean it with.

Really don’t understand the why of them.

I am expanding my en-suite shower and was going to do the same with polished river stone but have decided against it.

While it’s easy on the feet it makes cleanups more problematic and I’m willing to bet that the annoyances will outweigh the aesthetics.

Out here the water evaporates so quickly that my shower is bone dry after an hour but we have very low humidity. Any place over 35 or 40% won’t enjoy that benefit.

While I think they look cool I would vote no.

We have it in our shower and I love it. Not slippery, drains well, feels like a little massage on the feet and I feel like I am at the spa every time I take a shower.