Building new home in NH

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First world problems, I know.

We are struggling picking bathroom fixtures.

3 baths. 1 large bathroom off master and one small one near kitchen on main floor. Then one shared one on 2nd floor.

Our wants.

One of those showers that are “open”. No curtain, no glass. They are just big (deep). They put Corian or similar on the walls.
A jet tub (somewhere).
A Bidet in master.

No plumbing or electrical is in yet, but it is framed.

Open to suggestions.

Plans below are not cast in stone. Doesn't need to be double sink. Tub (jet) can be moved up stairs.

We just noticed that those large curtainless/glassdoor-less showers might not fit in master bedroom bath because of bathroom door entry and window constrains the depth of the corners. Maybe we can center it on the wall and move the tub (jet tub) up stairs. Never seen one not in a corner though.

Curious on brands you love, brands to stay away from?
Any gotcha's. Do you have one of those open showers? Do you like it?
Do you have a jet tub. I always wanted one but not sure how practical they are. We have a pool now and I call the "jets" the fountain of youth (helps with aches and pains from weekend DIY projects, like installing an Iron filter )

I have a bias towards Kohler since that's what I'm familiar with and not had problems. Easy to get parts for.
My wife learned that the Bidet can just as easily be a toilet "seat" added to most toilets now. So we can do that later and saves $$$ and floor space. We just need power and a compatible toilet. Toto is a the big name on those. Do you have one of the add on seat types, any problems?

We are going to a Kohler Design center today. Builder wants "fixtures" spec'd like now for the plumber.

Thanks for any advice.

 

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Kohler design center was excellent.

I think they talked me out of a jet tub. They said you can have issues with water sitting in pumps and pipes for long periods and have bacteria issues requiring chlorine flush etc. Sounds like a new set of problems I don’t need.

Also they were not too keen on the open shower idea. Space is not large enough.

We both loved a one piece toilet they had on display with a Bidet seat on it. The toilet was designed for the Bidet seat and wiring went through the base rather than around it. But one thing I forgot to mention is I think we need insulated toilet tanks. We had them in another house near by. Before I installed them we constantly had puddles in the bathroom all summer. With the well being only 51F and no tank (old house had a storage tank) they will sweat even worse than the last house. So that limits us to two models

They were super helpful in sorting out shower valves.

 

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[Reach4]

Insulated tanks are not as important with the new toilets, because they use much less water than the 5 gpf toilets did. The whole tank does not get changed on a flush, plus the tanks hold less.

 

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Insulated tanks are not as important with the new toilets, because they use much less water than the 5 gpf toilets did. The whole tank does not get changed on a flush, plus the tanks hold less.

My previous house had low water use toilets and the new insulated Toilets they are showing us look identical. Even with insulation they still sweat some. I think they were around 2 gallons and the insulated tank was less. Not as low as today but not huge by any means. My wife hated them because they didn’t have enough oomph. When your old you pee more often

New toilets do separate Pee flush from poop flush. Not sure if the insulated ones do though.

I also had to insulate the iron filter and the water softener tank in the old house. And all the cold water pipes. Had mold issues before I did because of all the sweat and dripping. That made upstairs worse because it retained the cold longer.

Even the new Iron filter was sweating the next day (with no use in between). Floor was all wet with puddles around the tank. And it wasn’t even that humid out.

That last house had no AC and just an attic fan that just kept pulling in the humid air. Which also didn’t help. New house will have GeoThermal but we tend to use little AC in our primary home that does have AC.

Went through more damn dehumidifiers in the cellar of the old house. Including commercial ones.

One thing I could do is feed the GeoThermal “pre warming” tank for hot water to the toilets. But that would be a plumbing pain and feels overkill. Maybe only on the first floor baths. 2nd floor bath won’t be used much.

We might take a chance on one really nice non insulated tank for master bath.

Oh I read up on Balanced Pressure valves vs Temperature valves. With balanced pressure valves (what we’ve always had) you really want to limit hot water to 120F to prevent chance of scalding. But some bacteria can survive in tanks at that temp. It won’t survive at 140F. But at 140F you are safer with Temperature valves that have a limit on temp. So I’m going with temperature controlled valves for the showers. Bit more money.

 

[Reach4]

I sure hope the new basement is dryer. I think you will have plastic sheet under the floor and on the inside of the walls. That should make a big big difference. You may be using XPS or EPS insulation board, and that also block moisture, but the plastic sheet will be continuous.

Some people run a mix of hot and cold to the toilet if sweating becomes a problem. You could leave provision for that possibly.

 

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I sure hope the new basement is dryer. I think you will have plastic sheet under the floor and on the inside of the walls. That should make a big big difference. You may be using XPS or EPS insulation board, and that also block moisture, but the plastic sheet will be continuous.

Some people run a mix of hot and cold to the toilet if sweating becomes a problem. You could leave provision for that possibly.

Old house had tiles on the floors and finished walls in the cellar. Moisture just came in through windows and doors. We always exited through the cellar.

New house does have plastic under floor. All sealed outside. But it’s the air that has the moisture right now. Only a problem in summer.