Converting a Tub Alcove to a Walk In
A tub alcove is sixty inches of ready made opening with its plumbing in exactly the wrong places. The conversion sequence followed at walk in shower installation lakewood ca nexusphiladelphia begins with the waste, because a Lakewood shower wants its drain near the centre of the floor and the tub had it hard against one end.
Moving the Waste
The tub drain sits at one end, tight to the wall, connected through a shallow trap that suits a tub apron. A shower needs the trap positioned under the new drain with fall maintained back to the branch, which usually means opening the floor and sometimes cutting a joist bay. This is the single item that decides the cost of the whole job.
The Valve Moves Too
A tub filler valve sits low, around twenty eight inches, with a spout below it. A shower valve wants about forty eight inches and no spout at all. The old opening has to be patched in the substrate and the new one cut, which is straightforward while the wall is open and impossible once it is tiled.
Rebuild the Deck
Lift the tub, inspect the subfloor underneath, and expect to find water damage at the apron end. Repair it before anything else. Then build the pan, either as a preformed sloped tray sized to the alcove or as a traditional bed, and take the waterproofing up the three walls and out onto the face of the opening.
Height and the Glass
A conversion can be curbed, which is simple, or curbless, which needs the deck recessed and may be impossible depending on which way the joists run. Decide it before the plumber starts, since it changes the drain height. A sixty inch opening takes a fixed panel and an open entry comfortably without any door at all.
Think About the House
Removing the only tub in a house is worth a moment's thought where a second bathroom does not have one, both for small children and for resale. Where there is another tub elsewhere, the conversion turns the least used fixture in the house into the most used one, which is usually the right trade.