Home Design & Decorating Room Design Bathroom Design

Prefab Stall vs. Tiled Shower Comparison Guide

Cost, Pros and Cons, and More to Help You Choose

tiled shower

The Spruce / Michelle Becker

When deciding which type of material to use for your shower, you'll consider durability, ease of maintenance, the raw cost of the materials, and the overall cost of the shower installation. If you're considering installing the shower by yourself, that's another major factor. The decision nearly always narrows down to two choices: a prefabricated shower stall or a custom-built ceramic tile or stone shower.

Prefabricated shower stalls are less expensive and faster to install than custom-built tile or stone showers. They come in a fairly limited number of sizes and styles. Prefabricated shower units may not be as durable or long-lasting as custom-built showers, and they offer less flexibility in terms of design. One distinct advantage is that they are easy for experienced do-it-yourselfers to install.

Custom-built ceramic tile or stone showers are more expensive and time-consuming to install than prefabricated shower stalls. But they are more durable and long-lasting, and they offer thousands of style choices. With a custom-built shower, you can choose the size, shape, and materials of your liking for a shower that is tailored to your needs and preferences.

What Is a Prefab Shower Stall?

Prefabricated shower stalls are usually fiberglass or acrylic kits created in a factory and shipped to your home in one or several pieces. They can be installed by a professional crew or by an experienced do-it-yourselfer.

Most shower kits include a shower pan and two or three solid wall panels, although some are one-piece shells, in which the shower base or bathtub is integrated with the walls.

One deciding factor in the choice between a one-piece or multi-piece unit is whether you can get a one-piece unit through the doors of your home. Homeowners often choose multi-piece units for this very reason. The multi-piece prefabricated shower kits usually come with everything you need: a shower pan or tub, wall panels with shelves and soap dishes molded into them, and even the shower door.

Tip

Home improvement centers usually stock a few basic shower stall kits in the store. For a greater selection, you'll need to special-order the unit. One-piece units, in particular, are bulky and cumbersome for home centers to keep in stock, so only a few will be available. Multi-piece prefab units are in flatter boxes that are easier to stock.

What Are Prefab Shower Wall Kits?

An alternative to a full bathtub/shower kit is to use a wall kit, an excellent option if your bathtub is in good shape and doesn't require replacement.

A wall kit includes only the alcove wall panels, not the bathtub or shower pan. The tub stays in place, but you cover the walls above the tub with prefabricated panels that complete the shower enclosure. Direct-to-stud units can be applied over bare studs if you have removed wall surfaces, or directly over existing tile or wallboard walls if they are in good shape.

For a faux-tile look, the panels can be molded with simulated grout lines. Higher-end wall panels made with solid surface materials can closely mimic the look of marble or granite.

Custom-Built Tile or Stone Showers

Custom-built ceramic tile or stone showers are built on-site and are constructed from scratch by carpenters and tilers.

Carpenters construct the structural frame for the alcove, walling it in with cement board panels such as Wonderboard or Durock. Tilers then step in and finish the tile or stone work.

The shower door must be custom-ordered to size and installed by the carpenter. Because experienced labor is required, custom-tile showers are usually considerably more expensive than prefabricated shower units, although luxury-end prefabricated showers come close in cost. A custom tile or stone shower, though, exudes luxury in a way that few prefabricated shower units can approach.

Do-it-yourselfers may use a hybrid option: installing a prefabricated shower pan, then finishing the walls with custom tiling. Tile shower pans are difficult to construct, and installation becomes much easier if you start with a factory shower pan and then tile the walls.

Prefab Showers vs. Tiled Showers

If you’re looking for an affordable shower that you can install yourself, a prefab unit is a good option. Just note that you’ll have limited designs to choose from, and you’ll need to make sure the prefab shower can fit through your door as they are more compatible with new construction-sized entryways than older homes. 

For a custom look, tiled or stone showers have endless design options, are more durable, and will add value to your home. But tiled showers often require professional installation, take longer to install, and the materials and labor required cost more than prefab options.

Read on to learn the pros and cons of each option to help you decide which will be the best fit for your bathroom remodeling project.

An illustration of the differences between prefab vs tileds howers
The Spruce / Wren McDonald

Pros and Cons of Prefab Showers

Many units can be installed by a do-it-yourself remodeler with moderate to advanced skills. In fact, a new shower can be completed from start to finish in a single day. Custom-tile showers often take a week or more, even in the hands of a skilled pro. Typically, prefabricated showers are much cheaper than tiled shower stalls, often by many hundreds of dollars.

Pro: Cost

The average cost of an acrylic or fiberglass shower insert costs between $400 and $2,000, making it more turnkey and affordable than tile, which has a wider range of cost variables, from materials to labor.

Con: Limited Styles

Once considered an economical but plain choice by homeowners and by the bathroom remodel trade, prefabricated stalls now come in an ever-increasing variety of styles to suit even higher-end bathrooms. Prefab kits generally do offer fewer design options than tiled shower stalls, though, and may need to be special-ordered.

Con: Not Eco-Friendly

The plastics used in prefabricated showers are not easily recyclable, and they will not decompose if the materials someday reach a landfill.

Pro: Lightweight

Prefabricated showers are essentially plastic of one form or another, and they are considerably lighter than custom tile showers. In a home where there are structural floor issues, a prefabricated shower is a much better choice.

Con: Size Limitations

Economy kits are available only in stock sizes, but upper-end kits (which are also expensive) may be custom-ordered to precise dimensions. However, one-piece units sometimes don't work for remodeling because the size prevents them from passing through doorways. One-piece units are intended mainly for new houses or additions, where they are put in place before doorways are completed.

Pro: Low Maintenance

Acrylic or fiberglass shower pans have some flexibility and will not crack if there is a small amount of flex to the subfloor. Normally, the prefabricated base is embedded in a thin layer of mortar for stability, but unlike custom tile shower pans, leaking almost never happens with prefabricated shower pans.

Most prefabricated kits have seams only in the corners and along the top of the shower pan or tub. One-piece units have no seams at all. Fewer seams mean easier cleaning and less likelihood of leaking. Prefabricated showers are easier to keep clean than ceramic tile showers, with their multitude of grout lines.

Con: Difficult to Repair

While cracked ceramic tiles are fairly easy to replace, once a crack appears in a prefabricated shower, it is difficult to make repairs. Fiberglass repair kits can be used to make spot repairs, but they will be noticeable. The only other option will be full replacement or relining.

Pros
  • Speedy installation

  • Low cost

  • Easy maintenance

  • Minimal seams

  • Flexible base

  • Lightweight

  • DIY-friendly

Cons
  • Size limitations

  • Repairs are difficult

  • Lower real estate value

  • Not environmentally friendly

  • Awkward size

  • Limited styles

Pros and Cons of Custom-Tiled Showers

An even greener alternative is eco-friendly tile made with 40 to 60 percent recycled content. Recycled tile looks just as attractive as from-scratch tile, and it costs roughly the same.

Pro: Infinite Design Options

The principal advantage of a tiled shower is that it allows for more creativity since there are thousands of different colors, patterns, and sizes available in ceramic and porcelain tiles. Since these showers are built from scratch, there is literally an infinite range of design options possible.

Plus, a tile shower can be built to fit any available space. Despite the initial size of the tile format, it can always be rearranged and cut to create a shower stall of any imaginable size.

Con: Costs

Tiling a shower, which includes labor and materials, costs between $6 to $32 per square foot on average. Price per square foot can also range widely by type of tile: Porcelain costs between $6-$110; ceramic costs between $8-$40; and stone costs between $10-$110.

Con: Installation

Another downside of custom-built showers is installation difficulty. Custom tile showers are almost always more expensive than prefabricated shower units due to the high cost of the skilled labor force. Motivated do-it-yourselfers can install their own custom-built tile or stone shower, but it is exceedingly more difficult than installing a prefab unit.

Pro: Increased Resale Value

Ceramic tile is natural since it is made with natural clay, not plastic. Ceramic tile is a premium building material that will slightly increase the resale value of your home when compared to synthetic shower materials. Especially when paired with ceramic tile bathroom floors and stone countertops, a custom tile shower will be a selling advantage.

Con: High Maintenance

Although ceramic tile itself is very easy to clean, tile showers have grout lines that need to be maintained. Unless regularly sealed, they will be prone to mildew, cracking, and possible leaking. A large ceramic tile shower puts many hundreds of pounds on a floor structure. Unless the floor is very sturdy, it may flex and break the grout joints or even the tiles themselves.

When constructed with a custom tile shower pan, this is a difficult project for most DIYers and a lengthy, labor-intensive project for pros. DIYers may choose a middle option: mating a fiberglass/acrylic shower pan with tile walls. Shower pans, in particular, can be prone to leaking over time if they have not been perfectly installed and maintained. Wall tiles can also leak if grout lines aren't maintained and regularly sealed.

Pros
  • Design options

  • Eco-friendly

  • Size flexibility

  • Increased real estate value

Cons
  • High cost

  • Labor intensive

  • Likelihood of leaks

  • High maintenance

  • Heavy

  • Difficult to install

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  1. How Much Does Shower Remodeling Cost? HomeAdvisor.