How a walk-in shower kit actually goes in

A straight swap into an existing footprint with no drain relocation is a two-day job for a professional: roughly 12 to 25 working hours depending on how heavy the demolition is and what the rough-in needs. A careful DIYer should plan on one and a half to two times that, so a long weekend. On top of the working hours, allow 24 hours for the silicone to cure before anyone uses the shower.

Many people do. The demolition, setting the pan, hanging the wall panels, fitting the trim and sealing are all within reach of a competent DIYer who owns a 4 foot level and reads the instructions. Where most people should stop is relocating a drain, altering framing, or recessing a pan into the floor to achieve a half inch threshold. Those are licensed trade jobs in most jurisdictions and structural work in all of them.

No. Our pans arrive pre-leveled and self-sustaining, so no mud setting is required at any threshold height. That removes roughly a day of labour and eliminates the single most common cause of a shower pan failing years later. The trade-off is that the subfloor underneath has to be flat, sound and dry, because there is no mortar to make up the difference.

It depends which model plumbing code your jurisdiction adopted. Under the International Plumbing Code and the IRC, a shower compartment must have at least 900 square inches of interior area and a least dimension of 30 inches, with an exception allowing 25 inches if the compartment has at least 1,300 square inches. Under the Uniform Plumbing Code it must have at least 1,024 square inches and be able to encompass a 30 inch circle, with no equivalent exception. Both measure the finished interior at threshold height, not the outside of the kit.

A shower drain is 2 inches minimum, properly trapped and vented. If you are converting a bathtub, check the existing line: tub waste is sometimes smaller and always sits at one end rather than the centre, which is the most common surprise in a tub-to-shower conversion.

100% silicone, everywhere water can reach. Not latex, not siliconised acrylic, not a general purpose tub-and-tile caulk unless the tube specifically says 100% silicone. Latex and acrylic caulks shrink, lose adhesion on gelcoat and support mould growth, and they are behind a large share of joints that start leaking within two years. Colour-match it to the pan and run one continuous bead rather than three touch-ups.

Level in both directions, checked with a 4 foot level along the front edge, along the back edge and across both diagonals, and checked again with weight in the pan. An eighth of an inch out across five feet will pond water in one corner for the life of the shower, and it cannot be corrected afterwards without removing the wall panels. This is the stage to slow down on.

Multi-piece units are designed to. They break down into sections that pass a standard 32 inch door, go up stairways and around corners, and a split backwall clears openings that a full sheet will not. Single-piece units arrive as one moulded piece and need a clear straight path, so they generally suit new construction or a gut renovation. Measure the narrowest point on the whole route from the front door to the bathroom and give us that number.

Measure the width at the floor, at waist height and at the ceiling, then use the smallest of the three. Do the same for depth. Walls are rarely parallel, particularly in older houses, and a kit ordered to the widest measurement will not go in. Also note where the drain sits and how far it is from each wall, and check whether the floor is timber or concrete slab.

A like-for-like replacement in the same footprint that does not move plumbing or alter framing often needs no permit. Relocating a drain, recessing a pan, cutting framing or changing the footprint usually does, and any work in a commercial building almost certainly does. Requirements vary by city and county, and condominiums and HOAs frequently add their own rules. Where a permit is required, the inspector generally wants to see the rough-in before the walls close up, so do not hang panels until that is signed off.

The back wall, then the side walls, so that the side panels overlap the back panel. Done the other way round, the overlap sheds water behind the panel instead of into the pan, and it will look completely fine for about a year. Dry-fit every panel before any adhesive goes on.

Allow 24 hours for the silicone to cure. Then run the shower hot for ten minutes with the curtain or door closed and check every joint, the drain connection and the ceiling below if there is one. Check again after a week of normal use. Using the shower early is a common way to make a perfectly executed seal fail.

Labour bands vary a lot by region. A straight swap into the same footprint with the same drain typically runs $1,500 to $3,500 in labour. A tub-to-shower conversion typically runs $2,000 to $4,500 because demolition is heavier and the drain often has to move. Relocating a drain adds roughly $600 to $1,800 depending on access, and recessing a pan for a half inch threshold adds roughly $400 to $1,200 on a timber floor and considerably more on a slab. Those figures exclude the kit, freight and fixtures.

Usually, yes. To bring the top of the threshold within half an inch of the finished floor, the pan generally has to sit down into the floor framing. On timber that means cutting the decking, headering off between joists and reinforcing. On a concrete slab it means cutting the slab. If recessing is impractical, a 0.75 inch threshold with a beveled edge delivers most of the same daily benefit in a private home, though it is not an ADA roll-in threshold.

A 4 foot level is the important one, and a torpedo level is not a substitute. Beyond that: tape measure, chalk line, framing square, stud finder, drill/driver with hole saws for the valve and shower arm, jigsaw or oscillating multi-tool for panel cut-outs, a decent caulk gun, and pry bar, reciprocating saw and utility knife for demolition. Plus a shop vacuum, dust sheets, gloves and eye and ear protection.

This is the stage most people skip and the one that decides whether the job stays on budget. Look for rot in the sill plate and the bottom of the studs, mould behind the old surround, soft subfloor near the drain, framing that is out of plumb, and any springy joists. Fix all of it before anything new goes in. You will not get another free look at the framing for decades.

Not with our panels. Full reinforced backing runs throughout the wall system, so grab bars mount at the height and position that suits the person rather than wherever a stud lands, and they can be repositioned later. If you are fitting a different panel system, add solid blocking between studs anywhere a grab bar or seat will land, because retrofitting it means opening the wall again.

Under the ADA, an accessible shower spray unit must deliver water at 120 degrees Fahrenheit maximum, which in practice means a thermostatic or pressure-balancing valve rather than a plain mixer. Even outside a code-driven project it is worth doing, because scald protection matters most for exactly the people a walk-in shower is usually bought for. It is cheap at rough-in and expensive to retrofit.