Reader Christina writes with a second supplier for terrazzo shower bases — Stern Williams. These are terrific for mid-century homes, I see them all the time in time capsules. One tip: Think carefully about the size of shower pan you get. The Stern Williams rectangle is 32″ wide, the Crane/Fiats are 36″ wide. 32″ is going to be good if you are tight for space, but that’s not much elbow room for a 5′8″ amazon like me. 36″ would be better, I believe, *if* you have the room for it.

FYI, two of my bathroom have Swanstone shower pans that are 34″ wide — as much as we could squeeze in. Honestly, I am not sure which way I would have gone if I had known of the terrazzo options. In other bathroom, I simply don’t believe there was room for 36″. The other – it would have been tight and meant a narrower enclosure for the toilet. This particular decision would have caused me anguish: More room in the main part of the usually already small postwar bathroom, or more room in the shower? Such is the retro renovator’s life, alas.

Snaps to Christina, who writes:

I have an original 1962 terrazzo shower base downstairs and I love it! I’m turning my upstairs master bath tub into a shower-only and I’ll be getting a new terrazzo base for that shower. After much research, I’m getting one made by Stern Williams, ordered via Ferguson. It’s super-heavy, but even with shipping the cost is comparable to Swanstone. So, the only downside is reinforcing the floor enough to handle its weight. I’ll get photos of each to you at some point. Great site – thanks for doing this!

Here’s the link to the Stern Williams site.

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I have three bathrooms, and originally, they all had 60″ (beat to heck) tubs. When I renovated them five years ago, I wanted showers rather than tubs in two of the three. But, I was on a budget and was put off by the high cost to have a plumber prepare a shower base to tile. So…with little other choice…I installed plain white Swanstone solid surface shower pans. In reality, these have been fine. They get dirty fast – but clean up nicely with Lysol Basin Tub & Tile cleaner.

If I would have known then about these Crane Terrazzo shower bases, I most likely would have gone with them. Or – if this Tile Redi easy-to-tile shower base had been available, I might also have used it. (Website: tileredi.com). One thing to remember when tiling a shower base – you must use unfinished tiles, or else you will slip. I am generally quite matchy-matchy when comes to surface finishes, especially in small bathrooms. So if you go with the tiled shower pan, I’d tend to also recommend the same unfinished floor tile for the rest of the bathroom floor.

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These terrazzo shower bases from Crane look like the real deal. The website says that they truly are marble chips embedded in concrete, then polished to a high gloss. I have shower bases in two of my three bathrooms, and when I renovated about 5 years ago, I went with simple white Swanstone solid surface. While the Swanstone has worked out fine, I definitely would have checked out these Crane bases, if I’d known about them. Terrazzo is a most noble, retro material! These bases come in several colors (hint: go neutral) and sizes (hint: go minimum 36″x42″). Here’s the link to the Crane page.

Hey, if you have a Swanstone or fiberglass base, the only thing I can get to really keep it clean it Lysol Basin Tub & Tile Cleaner. The liquid spray is best – my husband actually orders it online. Using this cleaner, I really can keep the white base looking like new – although it may take several soaking applications. Suzie Homemaker (a real joke, you can bet), over and out.

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I would have loved to use this cast iron shower base for my 50s bathroom renovations a few years ago. In two of my bathrooms I was forced to use Swanstone (fiberglass style) bases because I simply could not find any other materials. I’ve seen numerous vintage 50s bathrooms with these square style tubs/showers. The porcelain on cast iron finish is GREATLY preferable,. If you use this, though, do not use the Victorian feet. I’d set the base onto a tile base/surround/alcove with the tile base built out along one side created for a glass shower door. Use 4-1/4″ tile. Look at Olympia Tiles for some great colorways.

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