Shower service
Walk-In Shower Installation
Open, low-threshold showers sized for real use, built on a single continuous waterproofing system.
Short answer
A walk-in shower is an enclosure you step into without climbing over a tub wall — typically a low curb or no curb at all, one fixed glass panel instead of a swinging door, and a tiled or solid-surface interior. The parts that decide whether it works are unglamorous: the width of the opening, the slope of the floor toward the drain, and whether the waterproofing behind the tile is one continuous system rather than a patchwork.
What a walk-in shower build includes
We take the existing enclosure out, inspect and correct the framing and substrate behind it, and rebuild the wet area from the drain up. The finished shower is the visible result; the sequence underneath is what determines whether it stays dry in ten years.
- Removal of the existing tub, pan or fiberglass unit and inspection of what is behind it
- Framing corrections, plus solid blocking wherever a bench, grab bar or glass panel will land
- Valve replacement or relocation and a drain set to the new floor plan
- A sloped, bonded pan and a continuous wall waterproofing system
- Tile or solid-surface walls, a recessed niche, and a curb or curbless entry
- Glass panel or door measured after the tile is set, not before
- Final plumbing trim, silicone at the change-of-plane joints, and a written care summary
Size the opening before you choose the tile
The most common regret we hear about a walk-in shower is not the tile — it is that the open side lets water reach the bathroom floor, or that the opening is narrower than it looked on paper. Both are decided at layout, before anything is ordered.
| Interior footprint | Works for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| 36" x 36" | A compact replacement in a hall bath | Too small for a bench or a wide open side |
| 36" x 60" | The standard tub footprint reused as a shower | Splash at the open end; a longer glass panel usually solves it |
| 42" x 60" | A comfortable primary shower with a bench | Requires borrowing width from the room or a closet |
| 48" x 72"+ | Two showerheads, a bench and a curbless entry | Needs deliberate drainage planning, not a single center drain |
Fixed panels leave an open entry, so the further the showerhead is from the opening and the better the floor slopes back to the drain, the drier the bathroom floor stays.
Tile, solid surface, or a hybrid
Both material paths can produce a shower that lasts. They fail for different reasons, so the choice should follow how you want to maintain the room rather than what happens to be on display in a showroom.
- Large-format porcelain: fewer grout joints, faster to clean, and forgiving of hard water spotting common in Treasure Valley homes.
- Small-format and mosaic tile: better grip underfoot on the floor, more grout to maintain on the walls.
- Solid-surface panels: no grout at all and quick to install, but the design vocabulary is limited and repairs mean replacing a panel.
- Hybrid: solid-surface or large-format walls with a mosaic floor is the most common compromise we build.
Where we build this
We install walk-in shower installation across Idaho’s Treasure Valley. These city pages explain what we typically find in each area’s housing stock.
Frequently asked questions
Related shower reading
Thinking about walk-in shower installation?
Tell us about the shower you have and the one you want. We will come back with questions, then arrange to see the room before anything is quoted.