Our West Allis crew pulls the idle tub, keeps the alcove, and hands back a shower anywhere in Milwaukee County within days.
Written quote at no cost, one callback, no chasing afterwards.
Transforming that old soaking tub into a slick walk-in washing station makes your daily routine much safer. West Allis homeowners dealing with outdated bathing fixtures can finally get a modern bathroom update without losing their minds.
Now is the ideal time to check out your options for ditching that giant porcelain basin. This smart upgrade gives you tons of extra floor space while making your home much more functional.
Climbig over a high acrylic wall just to get clean is annoying and sometimes dangerous. Removing that barrier lets you step right into the spray without worrying about slipping on wet surfaces.
Consequently, your joints will thank you every single morning when you wash up. Safety features like built-in grab bars add even more peace of mind during your morning routine.
Acrylic pans and tile surrounds hold up against daily wear better than old cast iron ever could. Picking solid surfaces means you spend less time scrubbing grout lines and more time enjoying your day.
Furthermore, these upgraded materials resist mold growth much better than porous stone products. Your cleaning chores shrink dramatically once the new enclosure goes into place.
Dealing with local building codes requires a little bit of patience from every homeowner. Luckily, experienced local contractors handle all the permit paperwork so you do not have to stress.
That means your project stays totally legal and passes inspection without any painful delays. Ignoring these local rules usually results in costly fines down the road.
Living in a neighborhood where the median household income sits around $49,427 means watching your wallet closely. Smart spending keeps your home renovation affordable while still delivering fantastic results.
Plus, investing in bathroom updates usually boosts your property value nicely for future buyers. Here is a quick breakdown of what you should expect during the planning phase.
| Project Phase | Estimated Timeline | Main Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Demo and Prep | One Day | Clears out old materials safely |
| Plumbing Adjustments | One Day | Ensures proper drainage flow |
| Installation | Two Days | Delivers a gorgeous new wash area |
Tear out that old tub and you might find nasty wood rot lurking underneath the floorboards. Addressing these hidden structural issues right away prevents massive repair bills later.
Therefore, hiring local pros who know how to fix subflooring is totally essential. They inspect every single inch before putting the new fixture down.
Properties built across ZIP codes in this region often feature surprisingly compact bathrooms. Swapping out a bulky enclosure creates an optical illusion that makes the whole room feel bigger.
Additionally, adding glass sliding doors bounces natural light around the space efficiently. This clever design trick improves the overall vibe of your morning routine.
Searching for reliable help around a city holding roughly 60,250 residents takes a little bit of detective work. Checking references and reading past customer reviews steers you toward honest professionals.
Specifically, local tradespeople understand regional plumbing quirks better than random out-of-town companies. They show up on time and treat your living space with total respect.
Waiting around for your bathroom to fix itself never works out well in the long run. Taking action right now stops minor leaks from turning into catastrophic home disasters.
Accordingly, you can request a free quote right now to see exactly how affordable this transformation is. Local pros will visit your house to measure everything and give you a straight estimate without any pressure.
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 West Allis 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 Milwaukee County; the statewide picture lives on Wisconsin; the wider region is the Midwest; background reading sits on Wikipedia.
One three-day job stands between this bathroom and its best fixture.
Get my free quote