Bathroom Remodeling in Bucksport, ME

The people who ask us for a walk-in shower in Bucksport own the former mill housing, the capes and New Englanders around town, and rural properties out toward Orland, usually at the point where climbing into a tub has stopped being appealing.

Second homes and camps on the water come to us too, where the bathroom is small and every inch of the change has to be worth it.

The conversion actually involves demolition of the tub and surround, relocating the drain and often the vent, new valve and supply work, blocking in the walls, a sloped and waterproofed base, then wall covering and glass.

Blocking is the part people never think about. Grab bars and door hardware need solid backing installed before the walls close, and adding it later means opening them again.

We work across the town, from the waterfront and the streets near the center out to the long rural drives toward Orland, Verona Island and Prospect.

Rural properties often run on a well and septic, so we look at what an extra shower draw means for the system rather than assuming it is unchanged.

Bathrooms are indoor work and suit a Bucksport winter well, which is the season we would rather be inside anyway given how the exterior calendar runs here.

If this is the only bathroom in the house, we sequence it tightly and can usually keep the toilet in service for most of the project.

The damp here changes the job because the room never gets a chance to dry out. River fog and cold air drainage keep this town humid, so bathrooms take longer to dry between uses than they would inland.

Ventilation is the second factor. An undersized or badly ducted fan will leave moisture in the room, and in a house with a damp crawlspace the wall assembly is already working hard.

Old subfloors are the third. Decades of a leaking tub surround leave rot at the edges, and that is a repair to make now rather than tile over.

Ask whether the quote includes moving the drain, because a tub-to-shower conversion that leaves the drain where it was will not slope correctly.

Then ask what blocking they will install. If nobody mentions it, you will not be able to add a grab bar in five years without opening the wall.

A conversion costs far more in the work than in the fixture. Drain relocation, framing, waterproofing and glass are where the money goes, and glass in particular surprises people.

We quote it as a whole so there are no separate discoveries later, and we carry a written allowance for subfloor repair because on these houses it is likely rather than possible.