Remodel Bathroom in a Rental - Preventing Mold and Water Damage

[DG A.]

Hi Folks, 

I'm planning a bathroom remodel. I live in this home now, but it will be a rental some day. I'm looking for input from folks with experience. 

How do you handle waterproofing your shower? There are a lot of systems out there from RedGard to Schluter Kerdi. What do you use in a rental and why?

For the shower enclosure, do you use tile or a 3-sided plastic shower enclosure? Which do you prefer and why?

What can you do to prevent water vapor from traveling from the shower into other rooms and causing mold in the bathrooms or rooms around the bathroom? How do you prevent mold?

My current thoughts:

• Insulate exterior walls with basalt stonewool, like Rockwool
• Use cement backer board behind the shower
• Use DensArmor Plus Drywall in the bathroom because the gypsum is wrapped in fiberglass mats and should prevent mold
• Encase the whole bathroom in Schluter Kerdi Water membrane
• Still deciding between tiling the shower, or using an acrylic shower enclosure.

This is probably overkill, but I'd rather have a belt and suspenders on, than find out I need to remodel a bathroom again in 5-6 years.

I'm in Oakland, CA, in the Fruitvale. Curious what other folks in the San Francisco Bay Area think. 

[Eric V.]

I wire the bath fan to a humidity sensor fan switch. That way when the tenant leaves the bathroom and turns off the light the fan keeps running until the humidity drops bellow a certain level. Otherwise hardie-backer with redgaurd and tile.