How Much Does a Steam Shower Cost in Boise? (2026)

The short answer

Fixr (2025) prices steam shower installation nationally at $8,000–$15,000, averaging $11,000, with a full range of $3,800–$25,000. This Old House and Bob Vila both put the average somewhat lower, at roughly $4,300–$4,325, with a typical range around $2,800–$7,100 — these figures appear to weight toward simpler prefab installations, while Fixr's range captures more custom and combo builds.

As with the other guides in this series, the split that predicts your total is prefab versus custom, and whether the steam shower is paired with a tub, sauna, or jetted feature. If you're still weighing whether steam belongs in the project at all, start with the honest case for and against a steam shower before pricing it.

Cost by installation type

Fixr (2025) breaks steam shower installation into prefab and custom tiers, both installed.

The steam generator

The generator is the component that turns a standard shower into a steam shower, and its price scales with the room's cubic footage. Bob Vila (2023) prices a generator at $500–$2,000; Fixr (2025) prices the same component at $400–$4,000 for larger enclosures. Mr. Steam's own 2022 pricing shows how that scales by unit: a generator sized for up to 71 cubic feet runs about $2,175, while one sized for 162–257 cubic feet runs about $3,350 — with an entry-level unit for a non-porous-wall enclosure starting around $1,550 before installation.

Mr. Steam (2022) also frames the upgrade in whole-project terms: a sample 120-square-foot bathroom priced at $24,000 without a steam feature came to $30,595 with one added — roughly a 20–35% premium over a standard shower build, which lines up with Mr. Steam's general guidance for the size of the upgrade.

Sizing the generator to your shower

Steam generators are sized to "adjusted cubic footage" — the enclosure's raw volume multiplied by a factor for its surface material — per Steamist's manufacturer sizing guide. Getting this right matters for cost: an undersized generator won't hold steam, and an oversized one is money spent for no benefit.

• Base calculation: length × width × height of the enclosure, in feet (Steamist)
• Material multiplier: natural stone or marble ×2.0; ceramic, porcelain tile, or glass block ×1.35 (Steamist)
• Exterior wall adjustment: one exterior wall ×1.1, two exterior walls ×1.2 (Steamist)
• Ceiling height adjustment: 9 ft ceiling ×1.15, 10 ft ceiling ×1.3; ceilings should not exceed 8 ft as a rule of thumb, 10 ft as an absolute maximum (Steamist)
• A typical 4×5×8 ft (160 cubic foot) ceramic-tiled stall needs at least a 7 kW generator; a stone-tiled stall of the same size needs roughly double that capacity (This Old House)

What Boise Bath publishes

Boise Bath doesn't publish a standalone rate for a steam shower — it's offered as an upgrade to a Walk-In / Custom Tile Shower, which is published at $12,000–$22,000. Based on the national data above, expect the steam system itself (generator, controls, and the extra sealing and sloping a steam enclosure requires) to add somewhere in the low thousands to roughly $10,000 on top of that base shower cost, depending on enclosure size and whether you choose stone or tile. For the full underlying shower build cost, see our walk-in shower cost guide and our Boise bathroom remodel cost guide.

Because a steam shower must be fully sealed to trap steam, waterproofing is not optional the way it can be debated on a standard shower. This Old House recommends 6-mil plastic sheeting with one-foot minimum overlaps, or two coats of liquid polymer membrane (or a polyethylene sheet membrane) behind stone or tile, with stone sealant reapplied roughly every two years.

Cost across the Treasure Valley

A steam shower prices out the same way across the Treasure Valley — the number moves with prefab-versus-custom construction and enclosure size, not with which city you live in. Our per-city bathroom remodel cost pages carry the same published Boise Bath shower and remodel ranges that a steam upgrade layers onto, so you can start from the base build cost in your area: Meridian, Nampa, Eagle, Caldwell, Kuna, and Star.

Financing a steam shower upgrade

Because a steam shower is an upgrade layered onto a walk-in shower build, it usually shows up as an incremental line on the overall project rather than a standalone purchase. If you're spreading the cost over time, our guide to how bathroom remodel financing works walks through the common structures, and our financing options page covers what's available through Boise Bath.

Beyond price: living with a steam shower

Cost is only half the decision. Because a steam enclosure traps heat and moisture, it asks a bit more from the room around it — sizing the enclosure, ventilating it, and keeping it maintained all affect both comfort and long-term cost. A few companion guides go deeper: steam shower maintenance covers the upkeep a sealed steam enclosure needs, steam shower vs. sauna weighs the two heat features against each other, walk-in shower dimensions and sizes helps you settle on an enclosure footprint before sizing a generator to it, and our bathroom exhaust fan and venting guide explains why a steam-tight room still needs a plan for clearing moisture after the steam shuts off.