Walk-in showers
A shower you step into rather than over, built on a pre-sloped pan with a bonded membrane and a drain sized for the head you have actually chosen.
Curbless is the request we get most often and the one that most depends on structure. To bring the shower floor level with the bathroom floor, the pan has to drop into the joist space, which means the joists must run the right way and be deep enough to take a recess of an inch and a half to two inches, usually with a sistered header. We confirm that on the survey with the floor open where we can, and we will tell you if the answer is no.
Where a full curbless entry is not possible, a low-profile curb of two inches with a sloped top and a ramped threshold gets most of the way there. It still reads as a walk-in, it still takes a wheelchair on a ramped approach in many cases, and it does not need structural work.
The drain matters more than people expect. A linear drain along one wall lets the whole floor fall in a single plane, which means large format tile can be used on a shower floor without cutting it into facets. A centre point drain needs four planes falling to a point, which is why small format or penny round is the usual answer there.
What is included
- Structural check of joist depth and direction for a recessed pan
- Pre-slope formed at 1/4" per foot to the drain before any membrane
- Linear or point drain, flange bedded and clamped with weep holes kept clear
- Bonded membrane to walls and pan, banded at every corner and change of plane
- 24 hour flood test to one inch over the flange, photographed
- Niche formed between studs with a sill sloped 5 degrees out
- Blocking for a grab bar and a slide rail at rough-in
- Frameless glass templated after tile, not before
- Silicone to every change of plane, grout to the field only
How the work runs
Structure
Joist direction, depth and span checked against the recess needed for a level entry.
Drain choice
Linear or point, chosen with the tile format so the floor falls in the right number of planes.
Pan build
Pre-slope formed and cured, drain set, membrane bonded and banded.
Flood test
24 hours at one inch over the flange, photographed at fill and at drain.
Tile
Floor set to the slope, walls set to the approved layout, niche sill sloped out.
Glass
Templated on the finished tile, fitted, sealed on the outside face only.
What moves the price
- Curbless or low curb
- A recessed pan is structural work. A two inch sloped curb is not.
- Drain type
- A linear drain costs more than a point drain but unlocks large format floor tile.
- Glass specification
- Three eighths inch panel and door, half inch self-supporting return, or a pivot leaf.
- Shower size
- Anything over about 42 by 60 inches usually wants a second head or a hand shower.
- Steam
- A steam room needs a sealed ceiling, a sloped ceiling tile and a transom. Different build entirely.
$14,500 to $34,000 (sample range) is a sample range for this demonstration site. Every project is priced from an approved drawing after a survey, never from a square-foot rate.
Questions about walk-in showers
Not if the pan is pre-sloped correctly and the shower is large enough. We size the wet zone so the head is at least 36 inches from the opening, and the whole pan falls to the drain from every direction.
No. It depends on joist direction, joist depth and whether the floor can take a recess. On a concrete slab it usually means building the rest of the floor up instead. We answer this on the survey.
Because glass is cut to a tenth of an inch and tiled walls are never perfectly plumb. Templating on the finished surface is the only way to get a consistent gap at the hinge side.
Talk to us about walk-in showers
Send the room dimensions and a photograph and we will tell you what is possible before anyone visits.
Bathrooms only · Licensed and insured in Colorado · 4.9 from 214 reviews (sample)