Do you prefer a bath or a shower?

@ArishMell I feel like I'm smothering in a shower. I can no longer stand on my feet to wash and that shower in my place is a wreck with the one door off the track. As soon as I win the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes, I am going to get me a walk-in bathtub. I also have arthritis in both knees and the hot water would help my knees tremendously.

@MaryJanine I am very sorry to read that. I have had both knees replaced (also arthritis) in the last two years, which meant some planning ahead, and buying various aids including hand-rails and a seat.

My shower is over the bath, and I thought about replacing the bath with a shower cubicle; but a friend in the trade advised me that would be a poor selling-point when I (or more likely my executors) sell the house in future.

@ArishMell The house doesn't belong to me. I live in the basement apartment, and that shower was a partial mess when I moved in. The towel and shower rails kept falling out and there was an occasional party of tiny ants coming up from the drain.

The one I have in mind (in my dreams) is made by American Standard, who originally installed the toilet in my present bathroom. If they do the job, they offer you a free new toilet installation with it, which is ideal for me because when my landlord needed to call a regular plumber for a severe water run-on problem, he DID say the one I have right now is a poor (old) model and needed to be replaced. If I win the sweepstakes. I will approach him for it, and if he says "No", I will offer to pay for it and give him my reasons why I want one. (American Standard has been advertising on my PC for ages, and they offer some of the "extras" you had to invest in buying. They installed the plumbing in my childhood home, and I trust them implicitly.)

@MaryJanine Sounds as if your landlord is not keen to maintain the property. Have the other tenants found problems with it, too?

@ArishMell I have been here eight years, and before the man who bought my childhood home and offered this apartment to me turned his management over to his son, he went around checking any problems I might have had. Since his son has taken over, he seems to feel I have a number of complaints. But I am alone,my one brother has a bad back from an auto accident, and the other is usually never home/out of town for work purposes, and I have a walker. I can't be expected to climb a ladder I don't have, for example, to change an overhead ceiling fixture in the kitchen (long tubular bulbs) when they went out like last week. They were sputtering, and I sent an E-Mail - no response. Then they went out and I was in the semi-dark of a fall morning. I sent them another response and finally GOT someone out here. As far as the other tenants go, I usually hear banging or one week, a plunging sound from the people directly overhead.