Our Lykens crew pulls the idle tub, keeps the alcove, and hands back a shower anywhere in Dauphin County within days.
Written quote at no cost, one callback, no chasing afterwards.
Are you tired of stepping over a high porcelain wall just to wash your hair? This local municipal spot houses roughly sixteen hundred residents who deal with dated bathing setups every single morning.
Consequently, many homeowners decide to replace their old washing basins with modern walk-in bathing stalls. Which means you can finally ditch that cramped plastic curtain and enjoy a much better morning routine.
Planning this kind of renovation starts with measuring your current fixture and picking the right materials. This lets you visualize the final layout before any heavy demolition begins in your house.
Naturally, contractors remove the old tub down to the bare studs to check for hidden water damage. Such thorough inspections protect your wooden subfloor from long-term rot and costly structural repairs.
Choosing a sturdy acrylic base prevents annoying flex and gives you incredible peace of mind. Meanwhile, waterproof wall panels save you from scrubbing endless grout lines on your days off.
Furthermore, adding a built-in bench creates a cozy spot for sitting down while you scrub your legs. This thoughtful feature helps older adults maintain their independence without asking for daily assistance.
Living in this specific Pennsylvania area means dealing with older houses that have unique plumbing quirks. Thankfully, experienced technicians know how to handle cast iron pipes and uneven walls with ease.
Statistically speaking, the median household income sits around forty thousand dollars, which makes budget planning crucial for local families. Therefore, finding cost-effective upgrades brings massive value without breaking your bank account.
Properties carrying the seventeen zero forty eight postal designation often feature tight bathroom layouts that require custom sizing. Experienced installers bring trimming tools to ensure a snug fit against your vintage plaster walls.
On top of that, local parking can sometimes get tricky during street snow removal seasons. Reliable crews always coordinate their equipment drops to keep your driveway completely clear.
Local codes might require specific plumbing inspections depending on whether you relocate the main drain. This ensures your new walk-in enclosure meets strict safety standards for waterproof seals.
Ignoring these rules can lead to expensive fines or insurance headaches down the road. Fortunately, professional local teams handle all the paperwork so you can simply relax.
Old-fashioned tubs trap heat nicely, but they prove dangerous when mobility starts fading away with age. Upgrading solves this problem by offering zero-threshold entries for maximum safety.
Beyond safety, modern stalls give your bathroom a sleek appearance that makes the whole room feel larger. This visual upgrade also boosts your property value if you ever decide to sell.
| Feature | Traditional Tub | Modern Walk-in Stall |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Height | High porcelain wall | Zero-threshold floor |
| Cleaning Time | Hours of grout scrubbing | Quick wipe down panels |
| Safety Risk | High slip hazard | Low profile security |
Eventually, you will appreciate the fast drainage system that stops standing water from pooling around your ankles. This little design tweak makes your daily shower feel like a spa visit.
Investing in your primary washroom yields a surprisingly high return when you put your house on the market. Prospective buyers love seeing updated bathing spaces that require zero immediate repair work.
Besides resale value, you save money on potential medical bills by preventing nasty slips and falls at home. This smart preventive measure pays for itself over the years.
New shower heads use less water while keeping strong pressure for rinsing out thick shampoo suds. This clever engineering helps lower your monthly utility bills without sacrificing your water force.
Additionally, modern acrylic walls retain heat better than chilly metal tubs from past decades. Which means your bathroom stays warmer while you wash up on frosty winter mornings.
Budgeting for a renovation can feel stressful when you look at all the upfront costs combined. However, flexible payment plans let you spread out the expenses into manageable monthly installments.
This financial flexibility ensures you never have to delay necessary safety updates for your household. You simply pick a plan that fits your current financial situation perfectly.
Attempting a gut renovation by yourself often leads to unexpected plumbing leaks behind the drywall. Hiring trained professionals guarantees that every pipe gets sealed correctly the very first time.
Furthermore, professional crews finish the entire job in just a few short days instead of weeks. This speed keeps your household running smoothly without months of messy construction zones.
Workers arrive early with heavy drop cloths to protect your hallway carpets from tracked mud. Such attention to detail keeps your living space clean while old porcelain gets hauled away.
Next comes the framing check to ensure the wall studs remain completely dry and structurally sound. Fixing hidden mold problems early stops bigger disasters from developing later.
New mixing valves get installed behind the walls to give you precise temperature control. Once the plumbing passes pressure tests, the beautiful wall surrounds go up securely.
Finally, clear silicone caulk seals all the edges to prevent moisture from sneaking into your framing. This meticulous sealing process guarantees a watertight enclosure for years of daily use.
Upgrading your washing space changes how you start every single day in your house. You deserve a safe, beautiful environment that brings joy instead of daily frustration.
Ready to make the leap? Request your free quote today and let local professionals handle the heavy lifting for you.
Count the baths your household actually ran last year. In most homes we visit, the honest number is somewhere between zero and three, and yet every single morning somebody swings a leg over fifteen inches of porcelain rim to stand up and shower inside a fixture built for lying down. The tub charges rent daily and works a few evenings a year.
Nothing dramatic follows from that. Nobody is in danger because a bathtub exists, and if long soaks are part of your week, keep the tub and enjoy it with our blessing. The case for the conversion is plainer: when the tub has become a shower tray with high sides, you are paying, in caution and in cleaning, for a feature you retired years ago.
The swap itself is smaller than most people picture. The supply lines, the drain and the alcove walls are already exactly where a shower wants them, which is why this is a job measured in days. We are not building a new bathroom; we are letting the one you have stop pretending it still gives baths.
The same alcove, photographed the way the week actually unfolds. Weather never delays this one; it all happens indoors.
Floors along the hallway get covered, the water goes off for a few hours, and the bathtub is cut free and carried out, tile flange and all. With the alcove stripped, the plumber moves the drain to where the new pan wants it and sets the new valve at shower height. By supper the room is bare, clean and ready.
The base arrives first: an acrylic pan set dead level on a mortar bed, or a sloped, waterproofed floor when the plan says curbless. Then the walls close in, either grout-free panels bonded in a single afternoon or backer board ready for tile. Everything from here on is watertight before it is pretty.
The glass panel or door is drilled, hung and plumbed straight, the trim goes on, and the silicone lines are drawn last. Silicone wants a day to cure, so the first shower usually happens the following morning, which is exactly how we schedule the walkthrough.
Both are real showers in the same alcove. The difference is the entry, and what has to happen under it.
| What you weigh | Low curb | Curbless |
|---|---|---|
| What stands at the entry | A tidy threshold about 3 to 4 inches tall | Nothing. The bathroom floor rolls straight into the shower |
| Cost, installed | The friendlier bracket, most jobs land here | Roughly a third to a half more, the floor is rebuilt |
| What the crew rebuilds | The alcove only; the bathroom floor stays shut | Part of the bathroom floor, sloped and waterproofed |
| Water containment | The curb and glass do the holding | The slope and a linear drain do the holding |
| Suits best | Straight swaps on a budget and upstairs bathrooms | Wheels, walkers, and anyone planning to stay put for decades |
Undecided is a fine answer on the form. The site visit settles it with a tape measure, not a sales pitch.
Removal
Cut free, hauled out and off to recycling, with floors and doorways shielded on the way. The loudest hour of the conversion, and it wraps before most jobs have begun.
Plumbing
Tub drains sit at one end; showers drain where the pan says. We move what needs moving and swap the old valve for a pressure-balanced one.
The base
A level acrylic pan for most swaps, a mortar-built sloped floor for curbless plans. Either way it is tested with water before anything covers it.
The walls
Grout-free panels go up in an afternoon and wipe clean forever. Tile takes longer, costs more, and looks like whatever you can imagine.
The glass
A fixed panel keeps things open and easy to clean; a hinged door closes the warmth in. Both are tempered, both are set dead straight.
The finish
Shelving, the hand shower, clean caulk lines and a walkthrough. We leave the cure time in writing so the first shower is not a gamble.
| The job | Usual range | Inside the number |
|---|---|---|
| Standard tub-to-shower conversion | $3,100 - $5,600 | Tub out, low curb pan, wall panels, new valve, glass panel. |
| Curbless conversion | $4,900 - $8,800 | The floor is rebuilt flush and sloped to a linear drain. |
| Glass: fixed panel or hinged door | $450 - $1,400 | A single panel sits at the low end, a framed door at the top. |
| Walls: PVC panels or tile | $1,100 - $3,900 | Panels finish in a day; tile adds days and takes any look you want. |
| Tear-out only | $450 - $950 | The tub gone and the alcove left clean for another trade. |
| Small job minimum | around $2,400 | Even the simplest swap books a licensed plumber and a full crew. |
Wall condition, drain position and the glass you choose move every line. The visit pins the figure down, and the figure then holds.
A bathtub drains at one end through its own trap; most showers want the drain nearer the middle, or along one edge when the plan is curbless. Sometimes the existing trap is close enough to reuse and sometimes it has to travel a foot or two, which means opening a strip of floor. We can usually tell which from the basement or the crawl space during the visit, and the paperwork you sign already names which one you are getting.
Houses older than the seventies like to add a surprise: galvanized supply lines rusted nearly shut, a cast iron trap that crumbles at a touch, or framing that got damp decades ago and kept it quiet. None of it is rare and none of it is ruinous, but it is your call, not ours. When something like that turns up, work pauses, you get photographs and a price for the fix, and nothing is billed until you have said yes to it. A conversion should never be the job where the invoice writes itself.
QIs losing the only bathtub a resale mistake?
AAgents around Lykens repeat one rule: a family house shows better with a tub somewhere in it. If this is your only tub and small children are in your plans, we put that on the table during the visit and you decide with open eyes. If another bathroom keeps its tub, or the buyers you expect are shower people, the argument evaporates.
QHow long do we go without washing?
AThe toilet and sink stay usable every evening, and the water is only off for stretches on day one. The shower itself is ready once the silicone cures, so figure on missing roughly three days of showers at home. Plenty of clients time the job before a weekend away.
QDoes all the old tile come off the walls?
AOn the alcove walls, yes, because the new waterproofing needs to start from the studs, not from forty-year-old grout. Tile outside the alcove stays put, and we cut a clean line where the two meet.
QCan the new shower use the tub drain?
AThe pipe itself is nearly always reusable; the position is the question. A low curb pan can often sit its drain within reach of the old trap. Curbless floors want a relocated or linear drain, and that difference is priced before demo, never discovered after.
QDo we need a permit for the swap?
AA like-for-like fixture swap usually rides on a simple plumbing permit, and moving the drain can add an inspection. We file whatever your jurisdiction wants and fold the cost into the written price.
QWhat if there is rot behind the tub?
AIt happens, mostly around the old tile flange. You get photographs the hour we find it, a firm price for the repair, and the choice to proceed or pause. The framing fix is usually a morning, not a remodel.
The map carries the geography; the link lists underneath spell out every town our crews can reach from this one.
For the bigger map: county seat pages start at Dauphin County; the statewide picture lives on Pennsylvania; the wider region is the Northeast; background reading sits on Wikipedia.
One three-day job stands between this bathroom and its best fixture.
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