Tub To Shower Conversion
Convert your bathtub into a full size walk in shower
Converting Your Bathtub Into A Walk In Tiled Shower
First thing to consider is do you have another bathtub in the house? It is wise to have at least one bathtub in your home for resale purposes. Even if you don’t have small children who take baths, when yo go to sell your home the new buyers might have children and a home without a tub can deter them.
Bathtubs are good for soaking, but how often do you actually use them? In today’s fast-paced society, most people prefer showers as opposed to extended time sitting in a tub. A tub to shower conversion is not only a great way to update your outdated bath, but it also provides you with a lower maintenance, safer and more accessible bathing solution.
Converting your tub can create a bathroom that’s more functional for you and your family. This can improve the design of your space and make a small bathroom feel less crowded or cluttered. Converting your bathtub to a shower doesn’t always require a full bathroom remodel. Fixtures like your vanity and sink will typically remain untouched. This helps keep your overall costs down, making a tub to shower conversion a relatively cost-effective major upgrade for your bathroom.
The Process
DEMOLITION: The process of converting your bathtub into a shower is very straight forward. First our team professionals will have to tear out your existing bathtub and bathtub surround. All the demolition gets hauled away or a bagster is setup to fill in an appropriate place to get picked up by waste management.
PLUMBING: Since you originally have bathtub fixtures with a faucet, we will need to install a new shower fixture valve appropriate for the shower. This process is done by cutting out your existing tub fixtures/valve and installing new shower fixtures provided by the client. Also the bathtub drain will need to get relocated to the center of the shower as the bathtub drain typically is located too close to the valve wall. The process include opening up the subfloor to get access to the piping, cutting back your existing piping and rerouting it to the new location with a new 3 Piece Shower Liner Drain. Then reinstalling old or new subfloor back into place.
PREP: Your new shower base will be constructed of cement base. It consists of 2 Layers of cement called preslope and mainslope. Preslope is installed first prior to your shower liner to ensure that you shower liner sits sloped down to the drain. So to water pools in it and it gets a chance to drain and dry out between showers. Once the preslope has been installed then a one piece shower liner is installed over it and is tucked into the center of the shower curb form. The shower liner gets tucked into the shower drain and locked in by the shower drain. Then the mainslope gets installed over the shower liner and into the shower curb form that allows us to pack down cement on both sides of the shower liner that sits in the curb. New 1/2″ Cement Board walls also get installed on the walls for optimal mold and mildew protection. All the cement board seams and corners get reinforced with heavy duty fiber tape to ensure no cracking ever occurs on seams or in corners. All The fibertape gets skim coated with thinset mortar to ensure durability and strength.
Tile Installation: Tile will be measured as well as the areas to be tiled to calculate where it would be best to start the tiling from to ensure good size cuts will be made at each wall, ceiling and floor. This is the time that our service pros will usually confirm on the grout line size and tile pattern our clients want. Tile will be installed on the walls starting one tile up from the floor as the floor will need to get tiled before the last wall tile is installed to make sure the wall tile sits over the floor tile to ensure proper water run off. Once the wall tile is installed the floor tile and the shower curb will be tiled.
Grout Installation: Once all the tile is set and the thinset had a chance to dry the next process is installing the grout. Grout color will be chosen by the clients. Before the grout installation occurs our service pros will remove and existing thinset mortar from grout lines that might have protruded up during the tile installation. This is a very important step as if not removed the thinset will show through the grout. Once all the grout is installed we allow it to dry over for a hour before all the tile and grout gets wiped down again to remove any let over grout haze. At this point the shower is ready for silicone sealant.
Silicone Installation: After all the tile and grout is polished down from any left over grout haze, the next step is to install silicone sealant in all the tile corners which ensures no water penetrates corner grout as these are the areas most common known to get micro fractures that can absorb water and cause damage to the shower. Our pros will install mold resistant 100% silicone sealant in you shower to the color of clients preference.
Finishing: At this point everything is completed and all that is left to do is to install the shower valve covers and shower head and test to make sure everything is working correctly. Once that is done, your shower is complete and you need to allow it cure for 48 hours to make sure all the setting materials cure to full psi strength before using your shower.
Common Questions
All the demolition materials will get packed up into contractor bags and either hauled away to be disposed at s waste management facility, or a green Bagster can get setup in a non intruding location on your driveway where all the demo will get dumped and picked up at the end of the week by a Bagster collecting crane dump truck.
As there are so many tile looks to choose from varying in colors shapes and sizes, we leave choosing and providing the tile for the project to the clients. We usually advise them to see the selections in their local Home Depot or Lowes stores and if they don’t find anything they like then to visit tile specific stores like The Tile Shop or Minnesota Tile. We offer all of our clients to save 25% off their tile purchase by using our contractor discount at such locations. All of the amounts needed for you project will be stated on your project estimate as we measure your project during our in home estimates to provide you with those amounts.
The clients are responsible to provide the shower fixtures the like. We are responsible for installing them. We quote out installing standard style single control shower valves. If clients choose multi valve shower valves with a diverter valve, that is additional cost as its considered installing two valves.
This project usually takes about 6 days. Usually we like to start on a monday and finish on a friday.
Yes you are welcome to do the demolition, haul away and clean up yourselves if it’s in your skill level to accomplish. We just ask that the demolition and cleanup is done properly so we don’t have to spend additional time finishing up things that weren’t finished like removing nails, screws, staples and cleaning everything up.
