Tub-to-shower conversion or full bathroom remodel?

What a conversion is, and is not

The tub and its surround come out. A shower pan is built in the same footprint, roughly five feet by two and a half, either a tiled pan with a proper waterproofing membrane and a flood test, or a one-piece acrylic base. New wall tile or a panel system goes up. A glass door or a curtain finishes it. The drain usually stays close to where it was, though a tiled pan often needs it moved toward the center.

Everything else in the room stays. That is the point of it and also the limit of it.

Reasons to convert

• Nobody has used the tub in years and stepping over it has become the hard part of a shower.
• Someone in the house needs a lower step or no step at all. A curbless shower with a bench and grab bars on real blocking is an accessibility job we do regularly.
• The rest of the bathroom is in fair shape and you like it, or it was redone not long ago.
• You want the bathroom back in days, not weeks.
• The house has a second bathroom with a tub, so resale is not hurt by losing this one.

Reasons to do the full remodel

• The floor is soft around the toilet or the tub. That is water under the tile, and it will not stop at the shower footprint.
• The vanity, the toilet and the floor are the same age as the tub and look it. Putting a new shower beside a dated vanity shows both.
• The room's layout is the problem: a door that hits the toilet, a vanity you cannot open the drawers of, no storage.
• The drain stack is old cast iron. The floor is going to be open anyway, and that is the time to replace it.
• It is the only bathroom in the house and you plan to sell. Buyers with small children look for one tub.

The question of the only tub

If this is the only tub in the house, think about who will live there next and whether a bath matters to them. A house with no tub at all is a harder sell to families. If there is a second bathroom with a tub, or the basement is getting one, converting the main bath is an easy decision. If not, a full remodel that keeps a tub, or fits a deeper soaking tub and a separate shower where the room allows, may serve you better.

What both have to include

A proper waterproofing system behind the tile, flood-tested before tile is set. A drain and valve done by a licensed plumber under a permit where the plumbing moves. An exhaust fan vented outside. A written scope with the tile and fixtures named, either chosen or carried as an allowance with a figure and a grade. A conversion is a smaller job, not a lesser one, and a shower that leaks into the floor costs more than the remodel would have.

How we price it

We walk the room and check the floor around the toilet and tub, the stack, the vent and the walls. If the rest of the room is sound, we price the conversion. If it is not, we show you what we found and price the room, with every allowance named. Either way the number is in writing before the tub comes out. The bathroom cost guide covers what moves the price of the full remodel.