Bathroom Remodel in Boca Raton: Tub-to-Shower, Costs, and Aging-in-Place

The most common bathroom job I do? Ripping out a tub nobody uses and putting in a walk-in shower somebody will use every day. If that’s what you’re thinking about, this is the article.

Why everybody’s ditching the tub

Be honest: when’s the last time you took a bath? For most of my customers, the answer is “years.” Meanwhile they’re climbing over a high tub wall every morning to shower, in a bathroom with 1990s tile and a vanity that’s seen better decades.

The tub-to-shower conversion is the highest-satisfaction job I do. You go from a cramped, dated bathroom to an open walk-in shower with a bench, a handheld wand, maybe a rain head — and suddenly the smallest room in the house feels twice as big. A low or zero-threshold entry means no climbing. Grab bars go in while the walls are open (cheap now, expensive later). It’s comfort, safety, and looks, all in one job.

What a bathroom remodel really involves

Bathrooms are small, but they’re dense. Everything in that little room is doing something.

Demo and plumbing. The tub comes out, the old valve comes out, the drain gets reworked. If we’re converting tub-to-shower, the drain location usually moves and the shower pan gets built right — waterproofing membrane, proper slope, flood-tested. This is the part you never see and the part that matters most. A pretty shower over a bad pan is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Tile. Floors, shower walls, sometimes ceiling. Tile is the look and the armor. Big-format tile on the floor means fewer grout lines. Shower walls — that’s your design statement. And the grout: sealed, always.

Vanity, toilet, fixtures. New vanity, new toilet (comfort height — your knees will thank you), new faucets, new lighting. The fixtures are jewelry. They don’t cost what the tile and plumbing cost, but they’re what your eye lands on.

Electrical and ventilation. Old bathrooms have one sad light and a fan that sounds like a helicopter. We bring it up to code — GFCI protection, proper venting to the outside (not into the attic, which I see constantly), and lighting that doesn’t make you look like a ghost.

The aging-in-place conversation

A lot of my bathroom customers are planning ahead — and smart for it. If you’re going to open the walls anyway, this is when you build in the stuff that lets you stay in your home:

• Zero-threshold shower entry. No curb, no step. Roll right in.
• Grab bars that are actually anchored. Not the suction-cup kind. Blocking in the wall, bolted to structure.
• Handheld shower wand. Sitting on the bench, standing, helping someone else — it does everything.
• Comfort-height toilet and a wider door. Small changes, big difference.
• Non-slip tile. The floor matters more than anything.

I’m not a medical guy. I’m a contractor. But I’ve remodeled enough bathrooms for people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s to know: the bathroom is where independence lives or dies. Build it right once.

What it costs — the honest version

I’m not quoting your bathroom from behind a keyboard. Every bathroom is different — size, plumbing condition, tile choices, whether we’re moving walls. What I can tell you is how people actually pay for it.

A small bathroom refresh can run from around $120 a month financed. A full small-bathroom remodel — the kind with the tub-to-shower conversion, new tile, new vanity — my customers typically see around $189 a month. Bigger primary baths land in the $200s to $300s a month range. Rates as low as 4.49% APR on approved credit through our financing partner.

That’s the real talk: most people don’t write one big check. They finance it, use the bathroom every day, and the payment is less than the cable bill was in 2010.

Condo bathrooms: the HOA chapter

Boca bathrooms in condos — I’ve done a ton. Same deal as kitchens: HOA alteration approval first, restricted work hours, service elevator scheduling, water shutoffs coordinated with the building because your stack is your neighbor’s stack too.

One condo-specific thing: cast iron drain lines. Older Boca buildings have them, and when we open walls for a bathroom remodel, sometimes we find they’re on their last legs. If your building’s had stack issues, ask your HOA before we start — I’d rather know on day one than day six.

Red flags

“Two-day bathroom.” A proper bathroom remodel is not a two-day job. Anybody promising that is skipping waterproofing, skipping permits, or both. The shower pan alone needs its cure time.

No permit for plumbing moves. In Boca, moving a drain or a supply line needs a permit and an inspection. The inspection protects you — it’s a second set of eyes on the part of the job that’s buried in the wall.

The quote that doesn’t mention waterproofing. If the word “waterproofing” or the membrane brand isn’t in the quote, walk away. Everything pretty sits on top of that layer.

What to do next

Free in-home estimate. I look at the bathroom, we talk about what you want — tub-to-shower, full gut, aging-in-place features, all of it — and I give you a real number in writing.

Got a written quote already? I’ll beat it or hand you $50. Beat-the-Quote ends October 1st.

Call or text (561) 462-9293. I’m Joe.

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