The standard alcove
Sixty inches wide, thirty to thirty-two deep, walls on three sides. This is what replaces almost every tub we take out, and it is the configuration that holds the price, because the drain and valve stay where they are.
WALK-IN SHOWERS
Walk-in showers, built where your tub is now
Beaver Bath Co. builds walk-in showers into the footprint your tub already occupies. Same room, same plumbing, 4 days, one price fixed in writing before demo day.
Walk-in shower, finished, glass panel visible, shot from the doorway
THE THREE LAYOUTS
What fits where your tub is
A walk-in shower is mostly a question of how you close the opening. The footprint is already decided by the tub that is there.
Alcove with a glass panel
The same footprint, but the curtain wall becomes a fixed glass panel with a walk-in gap instead of a door. Easier to step through, nothing to pull closed, and no track along the curb to clean.
Corner, where the tub sat in a corner
Less common in postwar Central Jersey housing, but it happens in additions and in ranch primary baths. Two tiled walls, two glass, and the entry cut across the diagonal.
WHY THE FOOTPRINT MATTERS
Staying inside the tub's footprint is the whole trick
A shower built where the tub was reuses the drain and the valve. Nothing moves inside the wall, no licensed plumber is needed for a relocation, and no structural work is involved. That is why a walk-in shower can be a 4-day job at a price agreed in advance.
The moment the drain has to move, you are in a different job with a different number. We will tell you that on the phone rather than after demolition.
WHAT COMES STANDARD
- A pan sloped to the existing drain and set dead level
- Waterproof membrane over the entire wet area, flood-tested overnight
- Blocking behind the walls for grab bars, today or years from now
- A new pressure-balancing valve reachable from outside the spray
- Slip-rated floor tile, not just the tile that matched
BEFORE YOU DECIDE
The two pages that answer most of it
QUESTIONS
Straight answers
- What is the difference between a walk-in shower and a tub-to-shower conversion?
- They are the same job described two ways. A conversion is the work: the tub comes out and a shower goes in its place. A walk-in shower is what you are left with. Everything on this site is about that one job.
- How wide is the opening to step through?
- On a standard sixty-inch alcove with a fixed panel, you get roughly a twenty-four to twenty-eight inch walk-in gap depending on how wide the panel is set. We size it during the in-home estimate against how you actually get in and out.
- Do I need a door, or is a panel enough?
- A fixed panel keeps most of the water in on a standard alcove, and it is the easier thing to walk through. A full door contains more spray and matters more with a handheld on a slide bar. We will tell you which one your bathroom wants.
- Will a walk-in shower hurt resale if it is my only tub?
- If it is the only tub in the house and you may sell soon, that is a fair thing to weigh. Ask us on the phone and you'll get our honest read, even when the answer is that you should keep the tub.
Send two photos. Get a real number.
No appointment to book, no email address, no sales visit. We text you the tier and range, and the free in-home estimate sets your fixed price in writing.