Walk-in shower installation
Walk-in showers
Read more
Bathroom Remodeling in Frederick & Central MD
Tub-to-shower conversion
Taking out a tub nobody uses and putting in a shower somebody will. It is the most common single change we make to a Maryland bathroom, and the one most often quoted as if it were simpler than it is.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
How much does a tub-to-shower conversion cost in Maryland?
Most land between $7,000 and $18,000. The bottom of that range is a straight swap where the new shower keeps the old drain position. The top is a curbless build where the floor is recessed into the structure. The single biggest variable is whether the drain moves, because that opens the floor and brings in a licensed plumber.
The work
What tub to shower actually involves.
A tub-to-shower conversion sounds like a swap and is actually a rebuild of one corner of the room. The tub leaves, and with it the thing that was holding the water. What replaces it has to hold water on its own, across a floor, up three walls and around a drain that usually has to move.
That drain is the part that catches people out. A tub waste sits at one end of the tub, close to a wall. A shower drain sits near the middle of the floor. Moving it means opening the floor below, which means a licensed plumber and, in a house with a finished ceiling underneath, a drywall repair on the storey below. None of that is optional and all of it belongs in the quote.
We run the whole construction scope — demolition, framing, floor build-up, waterproofing, tile and the make-good below — and bring in the licensed plumber for the drain and supply work. One schedule, one point of contact, and the trades sequenced so nothing gets closed up before the stage underneath it has been signed off.
Drain relocated properly
Wet area fully re-waterproofed
Curbless where the floor allows
What tub to shower costs in Maryland
Frederick and Central Maryland. The spread comes down to one question more than any other: how far the drain has to travel, and what is underneath it.
- Tub-to-walk-in-shower conversion
- $7,000 – $18,000
- Straight swap, drain stays put
- $6,500 – $11,000
- Drain relocated, open ceiling below
- $9,500 – $16,000
- Curbless build, floor recessed
- $12,000 – $22,000
- Frameless glass panel and door
- $1,400 – $3,800
- Ceiling repair below, patch and paint
- $450 – $1,200
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull tub to shower cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
Tub-to-shower conversion
What’s included
Everything the tub to shower scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
Tub out, back to studs
01The tub, surround and any tiled wall come out to bare framing and subfloor, with the room sealed and the floor protected so a bathroom job does not become a whole-house dust event.
Drain moved by a licensed plumber
02The waste is relocated to suit the new shower layout and the supply reworked for the valve height you are actually going to use. We schedule and coordinate it; the licensed plumber performs it.
Floor built for a shower
03A tub floor is flat. A shower floor needs fall to the drain across every point of the pan, which means either a build-up or a recess cut into the structure below.
The wet area re-waterproofed
04A bonded membrane system over the pan and up the walls, detailed at the corners, the curb and the niche. This is the stage that decides whether the room lasts fifteen years or three.
Tile, niche and glass preparation
05Walls and pan tiled with cuts planned to land where they are least visible, a recessed niche framed in rather than stuck on, and blocking set for the glass before anything closes.
The ceiling below made good
06Where the drain move opens a ceiling on the storey underneath, we patch, finish and paint it back ourselves rather than leaving you a hole and a phone number.
On the job
Bathroom Remodeling work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Tub to shower questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
Possibly, and it is worth a straight answer before we quote. If the house has one full bathroom and you may sell inside a few years, buyers with small children do notice a house with no tub at all. Where there is a second bathroom with a tub in it, or no plan to move, almost nobody misses it. We will say which case we think you are in.
In most Maryland homes, yes, but it depends entirely on what is under the floor. A curbless shower needs the pan recessed below the surrounding floor level, which means cutting into the joists or building the rest of the room up to meet it. We check the structure before quoting it rather than after, because the answer changes the price materially.
Two to three weeks for most conversions. A meaningful part of that is cure time on the waterproofing and the tile mortar, which cannot be compressed without shortening the life of the room. If it is your only bathroom, tell us at the estimate and we will sequence it to keep the window as short as it honestly can be.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the bathroom remodeling work.
Most bathroom remodeling jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
Maryland Home Improvement Commission
Check any Maryland contractor's licence before you sign. Ours is on file with the Commission.
OpenFrederick County permits and inspections
The county office that decides whether your job needs a permit. Routine gutter work does not; structural and roof work usually does.
OpenTile Council of North America
Publishes the TCNA Handbook, the installation-method standard that tells a tiler which membrane, backer and mortar a wet area actually calls for.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
