Shower Installation in Pilot Point.
A shower is built from the inside out. The valve, the drain and the pan go in first and disappear behind tile, so they are the parts that have to be right the first time. That is the half Norman does, on brand new walk-ins and on old tubs being turned into showers.
The part behind the wall
The valve is the one piece of a shower nobody looks at and everybody uses twice a day. It has to sit at the right depth for the wall it ends up in, because tile on backer board, a stone surround and a fiberglass panel all finish at different thicknesses, and trim that cannot reach the finished wall never sits right. Norman sets that depth from the finish you have actually bought, with a sample of it in hand.
It should also be a pressure-balancing valve. With one of those, somebody flushing a toilet down the hall does not turn the shower scalding for a second. Plenty of older houses still have a two-handle valve with no such protection, and that is worth fixing while the wall is open anyway.
A rain head brings a job of its own. Its supply arm has to leave the wall or ceiling right where the head will hang, and once the wall is closed that position is fixed for good. Decide on one before the framing is covered, and tell Norman the height you want it at.
A handheld wand or a second head needs a diverter or a valve with an extra port, and a slide bar needs blocking in the wall to screw into. Both are simple to plan for now and miserable to add once the tile is up.
When the tub becomes a shower
Out comes the tub
The tub, its drain and its overflow all come out, and the valve moves up to shower height. That move is the reason a conversion is more work than pulling a tub and tiling over the gap.
The drain moves too
The new floor slopes to its drain, which usually sits somewhere other than where the tub drained. On a slab, getting it there means cutting a channel in the concrete and patching it afterward.
Pan or liner underneath
Under a tiled floor sits a pan or liner that catches whatever gets through the grout and steers it to the drain. It fails quietly when it fails, so it is filled with water and left to stand before any tile goes on it.
Curb or curbless
A low curb is the simple route. A curbless entry, flush with the bathroom floor, needs the shower floor recessed so it can still fall to the drain, and on a slab that means lowering concrete. It is very doable when it is planned from the start.
A seat or a niche
A bench or a shampoo niche is framing and tile work, but the plumbing has to know about it, so the valve and any wand land where a seated person can reach them.
Glass comes last
Doors and fixed panels belong to a glazier. The plumbing is finished and the opening is left true before they come out to measure.
One-piece showers still earn their keep
Not every shower needs tile. A one-piece fiberglass unit goes in quickly and has no grout to scrub or hidden pan to fail, which makes it a fair answer in plenty of bathrooms.
They suit an older house where the surround has given up, a rental that needs to be back in use soon, and manufactured homes, where the bathroom was often laid out around a unit like that to begin with. Swapping like for like keeps the drain where it already is, which keeps the job short and the price down. A new single-lever valve usually goes in with it, since the old one is already exposed.
The catch is size. A one-piece unit has to travel from the front door to the bathroom without bending, so the route gets measured before anything is ordered. Measure first. Finding out on delivery day wastes an afternoon. Where it simply will not fit, a multi-piece surround goes together inside the room and does the same job with a seam or two.
Underneath, the valve and drain get exactly the care they would in a tiled shower. You can see finished showers from other jobs in the A+ gallery, and the main shower installation page covers the service across the wider area.
Two kinds of house in one town
In Pilot Point, the age of the house settles more of a shower job than the tile you pick, and it is the first thing worth knowing.
Out on the new-build streets at the edge of town, the house is most likely on a slab with PEX supply, and a remodel comes down to where the new valve and drain should go. Nearer the old downtown square, the houses go back generations, and opening a wall there may turn up galvanized supply or a drain that has had a long life. Both kinds get done. They simply start in different places, and Norman would rather look before he quotes either one.
Norman comes up 377 through Aubrey for Pilot Point work, and the man who looks at the bathroom is the man who sets the valve and the drain. He is also the one who answers if anything is wrong later. Talk it over with him on (940) 231-5706, or write in with a few photos of the bathroom if that suits you better.
Keeping the tub and only replacing it is a different job, and it has a page of its own for bathtub installation in Pilot Point. Everything else A+ does in town sits on the Pilot Point page.
Other work A+ does in Pilot Point
Gas Line Installation: ranges, grills, shop heaters.
Water Service Line: from meter or well.
Kitchen Plumbing: sinks, islands, disposals, pot fillers.
Bathtub Installation: freestanding, drop-in and walk-in tubs.
Everything else in town is on the Pilot Point page, and the shower installation page has the full write up on this job wherever you are.
What people ask about a new shower
What is a pressure-balancing valve, and do I need one?
It is a valve that keeps the hot and cold mix steady when pressure changes somewhere else in the house, so a flushing toilet cannot turn the shower scalding. If your shower still has an older valve without it, a remodel is the sensible moment to change it.
Can I have a curbless shower on a slab?
Usually, yes. The shower floor has to sit lower than the bathroom floor so it can slope to the drain while the entry stays flush, and on a slab that means cutting and dropping the concrete in that area. It needs planning at the start and is very hard to add later.
Do you put in the glass as well?
No, glass doors and panels are a glazier’s work. Norman handles the valve, the drain, the supply lines and the pan, and leaves the opening square and finished so the glass company can measure without waiting on anybody. He is happy to talk through the timing with them.
Is a one-piece fiberglass shower a step down?
Not in the right bathroom. In older houses, rentals and manufactured homes a one-piece unit is quick to install, easy to keep clean and has nothing hidden underneath to leak. The real question is whether it fits through the doors on the way in, and Norman checks that first.
How do I find out what a shower remodel costs?
Call, or send photos and a rough idea of what you want, and Norman will tell you what it involves. You get the number before any work begins, along with anything that could push it up, so nothing appears on the bill at the end that you were not told about.
If something goes wrong later, who do I call?
The same number, and the same man. Norman Alambar, Texas Master Plumber M-44741, does the work and takes the call afterward. A+ is a family business, so there is no dispatcher in between and nobody new turning up who has never seen your bathroom.
Finding the cause first
He took his time and found the source of our leak and made recommendations of what our next steps needed to be. He is a very good plumber and even cleans up his messes when he is done.
Call Norman direct
Show me the bathroom you want to change and I will tell you what has to happen behind the wall before the tile goes up.