Tub to Shower Conversions in Allentown, PA

Most can. The drain and the wall behind the tub get checked on the free visit, since a cast iron drain built for a tub trap sometimes needs adapting to fit a shower drain, which is common in older Lehigh Valley houses and rarely stops the job.

No. A conversion changes the tub, the drain, the waterproofing and the surrounding tile, and leaves the vanity, toilet, floor and lighting alone. If those need replacing too, that is a full remodel, priced and scheduled separately.

Demo and the drain work run a day or two, waterproofing and the pan another few days, then tile and glass. Most conversions finish inside two weeks, faster than a full remodel because nothing outside the tub's footprint is touched.

If this is the only bathroom and resale matters, keeping a tub here or elsewhere in the house is worth considering, since some buyers look for one. If stepping over the wall is the actual daily problem, converting solves that directly.

Moving the drain to a different spot on the floor costs more than keeping it where the tub's drain already sits, and a custom or curbless pan costs more than a standard alcove size. Both get priced once the old tub is out.

A waterproofing membrane goes behind every wall and a sloped mortar bed goes under the pan, both installed before a single tile is set. That combination is what actually keeps water inside the shower rather than the grout doing that job alone.

If this is the only bathroom, the schedule is built around getting water running again as soon as the pan and drain are set, days before the tile and glass are finished, rather than leaving the house without a shower for the whole job.

Not always. A pan built to the tub's existing alcove usually reuses the same drain location. It moves only when the pan is a different shape or size than the tub, or when the old drain itself has already failed and needs replacing anyway.

A membrane failure is rare behind a properly waterproofed pan, and any leak or grout issue found in the months after is treated as a callback, not a new invoice. That is part of why the pan is checked with water before tile ever goes down.

It depends on how far the drain can drop below the subfloor, which is different in a house with a basement below than one on a slab. That gets checked on the visit, and a low-curb entry is the fallback where a true curbless floor is not possible.

A fixed pan installs faster and needs no slope built by hand on site. A fully tiled floor over a mortar bed can be shaped to fit an odd corner or an extended footprint, which a pre-formed pan cannot do, at the cost of a slower install.

Yes. A failed pan, cracked grout or a soft floor underfoot in an existing shower gets torn out and rebuilt from the subfloor the same way a tub conversion does, with the same waterproofing membrane underneath it, checked with water before tile goes down.