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I'm surprised the sealant has failed that much in as many years. Are you using a silicone based sealant? We had a similar shower put in about 4 years ago. It is cultured marble with 3 sides glass. Cost around $6k but it is far better than the original tile shower that was in the house. The shower pan is one solid piece and the wall, pan, and trim pieces are all sealed with silicone. He told us that would last a long, long time. I've seen the silicone caulk he used at home depot and it has a long warranty (20 yrs maybe). Get some of that and seal the seams of your shower while you decide what to do next.

Thanks for the reply. Last two times we did use a silicone sealant, the first one did eventually fail. Maybe there was water in the seam, who knows. It seems to be holding up better this time.

I am surprised your shower cost as much as 6k. I'm sure it looks great :-) Really I am looking for opinions on the best value for money option which doesn't look "cheap". I was hoping not to spend as much as you did, but maybe it's the going rate?

We have a 20 year old Kickerillo house in Katy. Recently I have been worrying about the shower stall. It looks to be the original shower, it seems to be made of sheets of that fake marble laminate stuck together with sealant. It is enclosed on 3 sides with a framed glass door. The sealant has failed at least 3 or 4 times in the 3 years we have lived here, and I have noticed the shower walls bowing in slightly. I'm not sure if it was always like this but I am starting to wonder if the walls might be rotting behind.

We have no money for remodelling this year. So if we do replace the shower we will need to keep it affordable. However all our neighbors are taking their kitchens and bathrooms upmarket so I don't want to get a cheap kit and risk devaluing the house (and I don't want to have to start again in a few years time). I guess am looking for the right balance between affordable and getting that nicer look ... I really don't know where to start. I am hoping for suggestions on materials, who to get to do the job (bathroom centers vs remodellers vs general contractors?) and maybe some ballpark figures for ripping out a shower and starting again. A few questions:

Firstly, does it sound like this is even something I need to worry about right now? I would love to leave it a few years :-)

I like the idea of a seamless shower for cleanliness and easy maintenance and am thinking one of these paired with a nice glass door might not actually look too bad. Or would this be a mistake? These days should I always be going for tile? Is a shower kit even cheaper than tile when you take labor into account?

I don't have a lot of DIY experience but I am willing to get my hands dirty. Would it be worth doing some of the work myself, eg sourcing materials, maybe tiling. Or woudl this end up being a false economy over getting someone who really knows what they are doing?

Any contractor suggestions for someone affordable and trustworthy?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been out of town for a few days so will have to get on HAR and check out those neighborhoods. And maybe think about Sugar Land again :-) although I think even with rail the commute will be an issue.

Great forum, thanks again for all your help.

Since you already live in the Woodlands, have you considered coming in to FM 1960 as an option? It would at least cut a good portion off of the commute. Personally I would want to be closer in, but a 4 bedroom, good schools, & your other criteria are going to be hard to fulfill in a close in place in that price range. The stretch of 1960 from 45 to Veterans is certainly more diverse than Woodlands I think, and you can meet all the other criteria more or less with the exception of having a more urban location. That is not, however, something you would get in either Sugarland or the energy corridor either. Check Oak Creek, Waterford Park, Olde Oaks, Ponderosa & Westador. Prices are good, but don't expect much on appreciation. It is pretty stagnant in that department.

Thanks for the suggestion. This thread has really helped to clarify for us what it is we really want.

In the light of all the above responses we have been discussing this (a lot!) and we have decided in truth the main problem right now is the commute. We want to be closer in, even if it means sacrificing space. So I think we have pretty much ruled out Sugar Land as well as FM1960 area on that basis.

We are quite happy to make some improvements to an older house as long as the neighborhood more or less meets the peace and security criteria and isn't likely to depreciate in the medium term. Bellaire looks a possibility and I am open to suggestions of any other neighborhoods. I am still wondering about the suburbs outside the loop towards Katy, for example Memorial, can anybody give me a rundown on these areas and would the commute be really bad from here?

Thanks all for the range of replies! We are gonna have a lot to think about!

Depending on which part of town you work, have you tried looking at Pearland and Sugarland as well? The Shadowcreek development in Pearland is on par with those in Katy and commute to downtown usually takes 30 - 45 minutes depending on location and time. Sugarland has a dozen or so developemnt that fit your price range and the commute is about the same as Shadowcreek to get to downtown. Less if you work in the Galleria area. Both these area are still relative close to the city and without traffic would usally take about 15 minutes. All the area mentioned including Katy have master planned communites that are growing and seem to have rising property value.

Yes, this was one reason for considering Sugar Land - large houses, ready to move into and in our price range. We decided against Pearland as if we live outside the city we would want it to be a little ethnically diverse - maybe it is but I don't get that impression.

My suggestion is Nottingham subdivision in the 77450 zip code. It is Katy, good schools, quite neighborhood. Defiantely in your price range. I can vouch for it, it's where I live. Go to www.har.com , and check it out.

Good public schools a necessity or is sending the kids to private school an option?

Thanks, I will take a closer look. I have heard the Katy schools are good. Sending the kids to private school *may* be an option if pushed but we would rather fair to excellent local public schools. Also we have 2 almost 3 kids and may have more - which suddenly makes private schooling very expensive.

You are able to get some housing closer-in that is zoned to good schools. Lemme run a search for my neighborhood for 240K.

EDIT: Yes, you are able to afford several properties! If you will work in downtown Houston, you ought to buy a house in the Bellaire/Braeswood Place/West University Area. You may even get a four bedroom/two bathroom house. Bellaire, West U, and Braeswood Place (north of the Braes Bayou) are zoned to some of Houston's best public schools. In addition, the area just got a brand new YMCA. Braeswood Place's elementary (Mark Twain) and the local middle school (Pershing) are being rebuilt.

In this area, while the houses you can afford aren't as large as in the burbs, you have the good schools, the low, low crime rates, and all of the amenities found in the suburbs. Plus you have a very short commute and you are close to all of the nice areas of Houston.

Here are some properties. The houses within your budget were built in the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's and are usually one story. They may not exactly match your bed and bath requirements, but they should be reasonably close. Also, I did not list houses that are zoned to schools that do not have good reputations. I also did not list any houses without garages.

1. 5222 CHESTNUT (Bellaire) - 239K - 3 Bedroom, 1 Bath, 2 car Garage

Schools: Condit ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

2. 4307 IONE ST (Bellaire) - 219.9K - 2 Bedroom, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

3. 1217 MULBERRY ST (Bellaire) - 217.5K - Bed, bath, and Garage unspecified

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

4. 4628 MIMOSA DR (Bellaire) - 216K - 3 Bed, 2 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

5. 6518 COMMUNITY (West University Place) - 215K - 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: West University ES, Pershing MS, Lamar HS

6. 5234 BEECHNUT ST (Houston) - 214K - 4 Bed, 2 Bath, 2 car Garage

Schools: Lovett ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

7. 6008 COMMUNITY DR (West University Place) - 200K - 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: West University ES, Pershing MS, Lamar HS

8. 803 JAQUET DR (Bellaire) - 199.9K - 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Condit ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

9. 5130 BEECHNUT (Houston) - 190K - 3 Bed, 2 Bath, 2 car Garage

Schools: Lovett ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

10. 4302 JANE (Bellaire) - 189.8K - 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

11. 4308 Lafayette (Bellaire) - 195K - 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

12. 4309 Lafayette (Bellaire) - 185K - 3 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

13. 4305 VALERIE (Bellaire) - 184.9K - 2 Bed, 1 Bath, 1 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

14. 4301 OLEANDER (Bellaire) - 179K - 3 Bed, 1 Bath, 2 car Garage

Schools: Horn ES, Pershing MS, Bellaire HS

If you need more room after you move into the house, you can make an addition to the house. My house was originally a three-bedroom, one-bathroom, one shower, two-car garage house. An addition added a bedroom and a bathroom.

Thanks so much for looking those up. That reopens the debate we thought we had settled - do we look for a house that may need work and adding onto but is in the right area? We have nothing against old houses, actually we would prefer something we can "personalise" and I hadn't realised that there was anything in these areas we could afford. We have just talked about it and are enthusiastic about taking another look.

A couple you listed look like teardowns - I assume this means McMansions will go up in their place and raise the house prices in the area?

Thanks again for the great replies!

Hi,

We recently moved to Houston and are currently renting in The Woodlands while we try to decide where to buy. We are having real trouble narrowing our search down to one neighborhood, so I am hoping that getting a few opinions here might help us... :-)

We have a young family and noise and crime averse (By that I mean that even things like loud music from passing cars at night or getting a bicycle stolen from the garage would drive us completely crazy. I know these things happen anywhere but we would rather lessen the risk). We want a large single family house with a yard of some sort. We would prefer to live in a close in neighborhood because we are city people despite the above - but we are priced out of the hugely gentrified kind of places we probably would feel comfortable in like (from a position of complete ignorance) Bellaire.

The Woodlands probably would be more or less OK as a compromise except for 1) It is just too much of a commute into Houston. It is taking up to 1 1/2 hours at peak times into Downtown right now. 2) It is very very white.

Our budget is about 240K and we do want 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, garage. At the moment I am looking at 2 areas:

1) Sugar Land which is closer in than The Woodlands and seems more ethnically mixed. But it is still a long commute and very suburban. Does anyone have an opinion on which way property prices will go here in the next 5-10 years? The big plus for this one is that it looks like we would be closer to the "worst house in the best area" ideal scenario.

2) Which brings us to the other area we have been looking at, around the 77077 postcode just South of the I-10 west which I know has a large European population. Not as "pretty" but we like the fact that it feels much more a part of the city, although I am not sure about the commute at rush hour... We would be looking at a 70s house if we bought in this area. Worries: what is the build quality likely to be on this kind of house? Also from what I have seen the price range of older houses such as we could afford in this area would put us nearer the top of the market. I am not necessarily interested in making a profit on this house but I would prefer not to have to sell it later at a loss.

3) Any ideas on other neighborhoods?

Apologies for the novel. Hope you all have lots to say on this one