Shower Replacements
Taking out a failed shower or an unused bath and rebuilding the wet area from the substrate up.
- Wet area rebuilt from the substrate, not resurfaced
- Bath removed and the space converted where it makes sense
- Hobless and step-free options where the floor allows
- New membrane, not a patch onto an old one
Replacing a shower is the middle option between a repair and a full renovation. The rest of the bathroom stays, the shower area comes out completely, and what goes back is a new wet area: new substrate where it is needed, new falls, new membrane, new tiling and new screen.
When replacing beats repairing
A repair is worth doing when the failure is at the surface. Perished silicone, a couple of cracked grout joints, a screen seal that has gone hard: all of that is fixable without opening anything up.
Replacement is the answer once the failure has gone past the surface. The clearest signs are a tiled floor that flexes underfoot, tiles that sound hollow across a broad area rather than in one spot, water appearing outside the shower footprint, or a shower that has already been regrouted and resealed once and has come back. That last one matters. A leak that returns after a competent repair is telling you the membrane has failed, and a membrane cannot be repaired from the finished side.
Acrylic shower bases are their own case. When the base has cracked or the seal between base and wall lining has failed, there is no patch that lasts, and the base has to come out along with the bottom rows of tiling.
Taking a bath out
A large share of the shower work we do in Cairns is converting a bath into a shower. Usually the bath has not been used in years, it is occupying the best two square metres in the room, and the household would rather have a shower they can actually stand in.
It is a reasonable thing to do and there is one caveat worth hearing before you commit. If it is the only bath in the house, removing it narrows the pool of buyers who will consider the property, particularly families with small children. In a house with a second bathroom this rarely matters. In a two bedroom unit it might. We will say so, and then do whatever you decide.
The other advantage is practical: a bath removal exposes a large, previously hidden area of wall and floor, and that is very often where an old leak has been quietly working. Better to find it with the bath out than to tile over it.
Hobless, and whether your floor allows it
A step-free shower with a linear waste is the finish most people want now, and it is worth being straight about when it is possible. It requires the shower floor to sit below the surrounding floor level so the fall can run without a hob to contain it. In a timber floor that means setting the joists down in that area, which is usually achievable. On a concrete slab it means grinding a recess, which is possible but is a real cost and is not always practical.
Where the floor will not allow a true step-free finish, a low profile hob is the honest compromise, and it looks far better than a shower that ponds because somebody forced the falls.
For anything already leaking rather than merely tired, see leaking shower repairs in Cairns first. Otherwise call 0468 047 067 and describe what the shower is doing.
Suburbs we cover for this work
- Edge Hill Older highset timber homes, small original wet areas, and plumbing you can actually get to from underneath.
- Edmonton The southern corridor, where a good share of the work is investment stock and the scope has to hold to a number.
- Manunda Post-war homes with a tiny bathroom and a separate toilet, where taking one wall out changes everything.
- Smithfield Brick and tile family homes where the main bathroom and the ensuite reach the end of their life together.
- Palm Cove Apartments and holiday lets, renovated inside a booking window and to the building's hours rather than ours.
- Redlynch Estate homes now old enough that the original wet areas, and the fans that were meant to dry them, are both due.
- Whitfield Hillside blocks and split levels, where access and where the waste can run decide what the room can be.
- Trinity Beach Duplexes and low-rise blocks where the approvals matter, and houses close enough to the water that the hardware pays for it.
Questions about shower replacements
Can my leaking shower be repaired, or does it need replacing?
If the failure is at the surface, perished silicone, cracked grout or a screen seal that has hardened, it is genuinely repairable and the repair will last. If the tiles sound hollow across a broad area, the floor moves underfoot, there is white mineral crusting in the joints, or there is damage in the room next door, the membrane has failed and no surface repair reaches it. A shower that has already been sealed once and has come back is telling you the same thing.
Can you do a step-free shower in my house?
It depends on the floor structure. A hobless shower needs the shower floor set below the surrounding level so the fall can run without a hob holding water in. In a timber-floored house that is ordinary carpentry. On a slab it means grinding a recess, which is possible but is a genuine cost and occasionally is not practical. Where it cannot be done, a low-profile hob is the honest compromise and looks far better than a shower built flat that then ponds.
Get it measured and quoted
Give us the room, roughly what is in it now and what you want changed. We will come and measure it before anyone talks about a price.
- On site
- Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm
- Covering
- Cairns, the northern beaches to Palm Cove, south to Edmonton
- Quotes
- Measured in the room, given in writing, no obligation
- We look at the room before anyone talks about money, because a bathroom cannot be priced from a photograph
- The quote is itemised: what comes out, what goes back, and which fixtures sit at which tier
- You are left holding a written scope you can put beside somebody else's and actually compare