Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Rockford, IL

Why so many Rockford tubs are coming out

A lot of the bathrooms around here were built with one tub and nothing else. Rockford's median home was built in 1963, and across 116,014 Winnebago County households, 63.4% of the housing went up before 1980. That is the era of the 60-inch alcove tub with a tile surround and a shower head over it.

Most people who call about a conversion are tired of stepping over a tub wall to shower. Some are planning ahead. In Winnebago County 34.7% of owner households are headed by someone 65 or older, and a low curb is a lot easier on a bad knee than a tub rim. The accessible bathroom page covers grab bars, benches and curbless floors if that is where you are headed.

What a conversion costs

The spread is wide because the job can be a one-piece acrylic base and wall kit dropped into the old tub opening, or a fully tiled shower built on a waterproofed pan. The national figures:

The cheap end assumes the drain lines up, the wall behind the tub is dry and solid, and you keep the existing valve location. The high end is tile, glass, a niche, a bench and a new valve. The full price breakdown by job is on the bathroom remodel cost page.

Prefab or tile

A prefab base and surround goes in fastest and has the fewest seams to leak. A tiled shower looks better and fits odd sizes, but it depends on the waterproofing under the tile being done right. If you are leaning toward tile, read the tile shower page first. If you just want the old unit swapped for a new one in a shower that already exists, that is a shower replacement, which is usually a smaller job.

The size rule that catches people

Illinois sets a floor on how small a shower can be. A standard 60-inch alcove tub usually leaves enough room, but corner tubs and short tubs sometimes do not once the new walls go up.

The valve has to be anti-scald

A conversion almost always means a new shower valve, and a new valve in Illinois has to protect against scalding. Old two-handle tub valves do not. Plan on the valve being replaced, and plan on the wall being open behind it.

Permits

In Rockford, replacing a fixture in the same spot without changing the trap or piping is exempt from a plumbing permit. Moving the drain from the end of a tub to the center of a shower pan is a piping change, so most conversions need one. Loves Park requires permits for any remodeling or plumbing work. The county handles permits in Roscoe, Rockton, South Beloit, Cherry Valley and the unincorporated areas. Every town page under the service area quotes its own rule.

How the job usually goes

1. Measure the opening and check the drain location from below if there is a basement or crawl space.
2. Pull the permit if the drain or valve moves.
3. Remove the tub and the surround down to the studs on the wet walls.
4. Move the drain, set the new valve, and get the rough plumbing inspected where required.
5. Set the base or build the pan, then the walls, then the glass.

We reply with a written price after seeing photos or the room. Anything over $1,000 needs a written contract under Illinois law.