The day-by-day for a typical conversion
- Day 1 — Demo. Floors and hallway protected, tub and surround out, old backer board off, everything hauled away the same day. We see what's behind the wall by lunch.
- Day 2 — Rough plumbing and framing. New valve, drain adjustments, blocking for grab bars and the niche, any subfloor repair. Plumbing rough-in inspection is scheduled here.
- Day 3 — Backer board and waterproofing. Cement board, then the membrane and the pan. The pan gets flood-tested — we fill it and leave it. This is the day that decides whether the shower leaks in year five.
- Day 4–5 — Tile. Walls, floor, niche, bench. Grout the following morning.
- Day 6 — Finish. Glass panel or door, valve trim, shower head, bars, caulk.
- Day 7 — Final inspection and walkthrough. Inspector signs off, we walk it with you, and you shower that night.
Cure times are the reason it isn't three days: thinset, membrane, and grout each need a night. Rushing any of them is how tile cracks.
What adds days
- Moving the drain for a linear drain or a curbless entry — usually +1 to +2 days for the floor work.
- Surprises behind the wall — rotten subfloor, galvanized pipe, no vent. Common in pre-1980 Medford homes; typically +1 day.
- Frameless glass. It's measured after tile and fabricated locally, which can mean a 1–2 week wait for the door itself. You can shower with a curtain in the meantime.
- Mosaic or patterned tile — +1 day of setting.
- Doing the whole room (vanity, floor, lighting) — a conversion becomes a two-to-three-week bathroom remodel.
What the one-day ads leave out
A one-day acrylic liner is genuinely installed in a day — over your old tub or into the alcove, with the old surface still underneath. That's a different product, not a faster version of the same one. It can't be curbless, can't have a tiled bench or niche, and if water ever gets behind it you won't know until the floor is soft. If a day matters more than the next twenty years, it's an option. We don't sell them.
How long you're actually without a shower
About a week if the house has one bathroom. If it has two, zero — we keep the other one fully usable and clean. For one-bathroom homes we time demo for a Monday so you're showering again by the weekend, and the toilet stays in service throughout except for a couple of hours.
How far out we book
It changes with the season; fall and winter are when Rogue Valley homeowners are indoors thinking about bathrooms, so those months fill first. Ask and we'll give you a real start date, not "soon."
