Replace a dated or leaking shower with a properly built one in Detroit, MI. Detroit’s housing is overwhelmingly pre-war — brick bungalows, tudor revivals and four-squares built between 1910 and 1940, including Boston-Edison, Palmer Woods, Indian Village, East English Village, Rosedale Park and Corktown. Most Detroit bungalows have a single alcove tub and no separate shower, so a conversion has to solve drainage and waterproofing in framing that was never designed for it.
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We work throughout Wayne County and regularly serve the communities neighbouring Detroit. Choose a nearby city below, or see our full Wayne County page.
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Bathrooms in these houses are usually small, tiled to shoulder height in original hex and subway, and fed by plumbing that has been patched rather than replaced.
Most shower failures are waterproofing failures. City water is treated and consistent here, so scaling is less of a factor than in the outlying counties. We build the pan and membrane to spec before a single tile goes on, because that layer is what determines whether the job lasts.
In Detroit and Dearborn that usually means cast iron waste stacks and galvanized supply that has narrowed with corrosion. Pulling a steel alcove tub and rebuilding the space as a walk-in shower is precise work — the drain moves, the framing changes, and the surrounding floor has to be made good.
Detroit conversion pricing depends on how far the drain has to move and what the subfloor looks like under a seventy-year-old tub. You see the cost of pan, waterproofing, tile, glass and labour as separate lines. Financing is available on approved credit if you would rather spread the cost.
A white subway surround with a contrasting niche keeps a bungalow shower period-appropriate without looking dated. Grout lines stay straight, slopes drain properly, and niches land where you actually reach for them. Shower tile is unforgiving and it is most of what people notice afterwards.
We work Boston-Edison, Palmer Woods, Indian Village, East English Village, Rosedale Park and Corktown regularly. Frameless panels, thermostatic valves and rain heads all change the plumbing behind the wall. We size the valve to your supply rather than to a catalogue photo.
Relocating a shower drain is permit work. BSEED permitting sets the pace on a Detroit conversion; the build itself is usually under a week. We file with the right municipality for your address and meet the inspector on site.
A tub-to-shower conversion sits well below a full bathroom remodel, but the range depends on whether the drain moves and what condition the subfloor is in once the old unit comes out. In Detroit the variable is the drain: if it can stay where it is the conversion is straightforward, and if cast iron has to be cut and re-routed the number moves. We quote after inspecting, in writing, at no charge.
Usually yes, and in Detroit it is the most common request we get. The tub comes out, the drain is relocated and reset, the alcove is reframed and waterproofed, and the floor is tied back in. the City of Detroit permits through BSEED, and plumbing work there is inspected separately from building, and we handle the filing. Most conversions finish inside a week.
A properly waterproofed shower should last decades. Detroit bathrooms on exterior walls see real temperature swings, so we pay particular attention to sealing the membrane where it meets the framing. The ones that fail early almost always failed at the pan or the membrane, not at the tile, which is why we do not rush that stage.
Yes. Financing is available on approved credit, which matters when a shower fails unexpectedly. Many Detroit owners are restoring a house room by room, and financing lets the shower happen without pausing everything else. We can give you the monthly figure during the free consultation.
Thanks for considering us for your Detroit project. We will get back to you shortly.
813-462-9374
info@detroitbathroomremodeling.com
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We serve Detroit, MI and the surrounding Wayne County communities, including Boston-Edison, Palmer Woods, Indian Village, East English Village, Rosedale Park and Corktown.
