There are a lot of decisions to make when you install your first steam shower.  Do you want to remodel your entire bathroom, or just stick a steam room in the basement.  Certainly, buying a prefabricated steam shower and installing it in the basement is a cheaper solution.  With prefabricated units running as low as $1500 on eBay, $4000 from a more affordable brand name, or $10,000 from a household name like Kohler, the steam room itself is cheap.  The cost is in the installation ($100-$500, depending whether you do it yourself or hire an expensive plumber), and preparing the room.  If you have electricity and water running to your basement, you can build a prefabricated unit, connect it to power and water, and go.  On the other hand, remodeling your bathroom so that it looks great is more expensive.  You’ll need to rip out existing bathroom fixtures and run electricity.  If you want a great look, you’ll probably want to install new tile as well.  My parents recently spent $40,000 building a bathroom, and what they got wasn’t nice but it wasn’t state-of-the-art and it wasn’t absolutely amazing.  But they were happy with the results.  You can check out pictures in another post.  Another decision is whether you want to include a bathtub with your shower.  In an ideal world, you can have a separate bathtub and shower, but it depends what kind of space you have.  If you don’t have enough room for a freestanding bathtub, you need to buy a steam shower/bathtub combo unit, because when it comes time to sell your house you will lose money if you don’t have a bathtub in your master bathroom.  People don’t take baths anymore, but they still want bathtubs in their house.  One of those mysteries of life that might never be solved.  So read on, and hopefully the information found here will help you get started on building the bathroom and steam room of your dreams.