Bath Fitters - change bathtub to shower (floor, curtain, ceramic)

[Cecilia_Rose]

I dont know anything about their work but I wouldnt do it. I clean houses part time so I visit lots of bathrooms. From a cleaners standpoint those one piece tub surrounds lose their looks quickly. Very easy to scratch or stain. Tile is much more forgiving and it looks nicer too. Just dont do the shiny stuff. It shows water spots. If it were me Id be looking into how easy it would be to clean and maintain before I installed anything. Dont be swayed by the promise of a one day job.

If you prefer a one piece look some of my houses have some kind of high end laminate/cultured marble panels. These clean up pretty easily and Im sure they go up quicker than tile.

Also dont forget to add grab bars and other handicap stuff. Much easier now than later.

[Cosmic]

Maybe it will not be Bath Fitters afterall.

Don't see the advantages. Why would you want something glued in? Those surrounds don't normally require any glues. The only advantage I can think of, some of those fitted panel type surrounds have a better chance of a good installation it things aren't square / plumb and shipshape or the available dimensions don't match up well with a standard surround. I also question any such type installation that tries to go directly over the existing whatever without any real knowledge of what is going on. Too much thinking like; Duh, let me bury this problem.

The real question is usually how do they trim out the space to make the installation look neat? I got one of those one piece surrounds and a new fiberglass tub at a yard sale for like $60. Slapped those puppies in less than a day (why is that such a big come-on) and trimmed it out with hickory wood, upper sections finished off in a nice ceramic tile. Total cost probably something like $150 including all the plumbing of the tub. Dude gave me the fixtures with the tub. H,mmm never once did it enter my head to call Bath Fitters.

You do see those installations like Bath Fitters on the home TV shows. If I really wanted such a thing might look around for some independent guy who does the same thing and works out of his house. Them Franchise types folks tend to be more hype that results for the money.

That was a good point too about how well will it wear and how easy to clean it. Also anything with more than one piece has a danger of leaking in the future. How do they ensure that will not happen, talking forever???? Once those type dudes get your money, best of luck with anything in the future.

[DDR57]

I don't want to hijack this thread but after reading about after reading this thread a red flag went up for me. We are considering purchasing a new construction home and almost every builders we have seen put those one piece "tile look" surrounds in. I would much prefer having tiled walls & a fiberglass tub but it's pretty costly. Are the surrounds difficult to maintain & keep clean looking over the years?

[southernnaturelover]

My mom has been thinking about the Bath Fitter system for her shower. Her shower is "built in", not one of those prefab units. She has ceramic tile on her shower ceiling as well. Surely they wouldn't glue a panel to the ceiling of the shower? That could cause serious injury if it were to fall on her head. I'm not trying to be funny, but it's a concern.

[Cecilia_Rose]

Originally Posted by DDR57

I don't want to hijack this thread but after reading about after reading this thread a red flag went up for me. We are considering purchasing a new construction home and almost every builders we have seen put those one piece "tile look" surrounds in. I would much prefer having tiled walls & a fiberglass tub but it's pretty costly. Are the surrounds difficult to maintain & keep clean looking over the years?

I always tell my clients that I clean for that they need to clear any new additions with me first. I tell them I can make it look nice but can you keep it that way until I come back. Cleaning OP houses has taught me a lot about what I like and dont like from a cleaning prospective .

Fiberglass scratches and stains unless you baby it. And once it gets that way you cant bring it back. OH and It can NOT be scoured without sctatching. If it were me I would spend extra and get a better grade tub. Same thing with the shower surround.


A word about tile. The smaller the tile the more grout to clean. The shiney stuff shows water spots and everything else. My best tile to clean is large mottled beige/tan matte ceramic tiles. You cant even tell theyre dirty unless you inspect them closely.
Not tile but some of my clients have the one piece panels. The better ones clean up nicely. Just dont do a solid color or shiney. Stick with matte and mottled.

This is OT too but what the heck. One of my clients has glass shower doors that hang from rollers in the top track. For glass doors theyre not too bad to clean. They slide past each other and theres no metal around the edges to catch gunk. Also since they dont sit in the track thats easier to keep clean too.

[k11d29b]

I just finished having my tub taken out and shower put in, it is Beautiful! I had this done in my other home 3 years ago, tub/shower to same, and I was extremely pleased with that one also. Adds alot of value to the house!
PS- their products are acryllic, not fiberglass.

[deanscandylady]

Originally Posted by fsmith39

Any experience with Bath Fitters? We want to change out our bathtub to a shower.

We had a garden tub and a small shower in the master bath that you could hardly turn around in and we had bathfitters take the garden tub out and replace with a 5ft shower double shower head with seat! It is the best thing we ever did! We still have a tub in the other bathroom if needed! But I promise everyone who sees this is absolutely impressed! We have had many upgrades done to the house lately and by far this is one of the best...We highly recommend them! We did however use our own faucets because we wanted to stick with Kohler thoughout the house and they didn't offer that. They just subtracted the cost of theirs and used ours! Great people to deal with.

[PhilsGolf]

It sounds like ceramic tile might be the answer. Affordable Custom Tiles in Durham (919) 606-9337 did ours for about $1,000 and used epoxy grout which gives you much less problems down the road.

[vtowntom]

Our first house had water intrusion issues with the existing drywall around the tub. For the price I would have paid for Bathfitters, I totally gutted the bathroom myself and refinished it.

Think about it, if you have old mold or other problems, they're just gonna end up covering over all of it. I wouldn't use them.

[harborlady]

Originally Posted by fsmith39

Any experience with Bath Fitters? We want to change out our bathtub to a shower.

Isn't it odd how the #1 fans of bath fitters are all new members without rep points, no friends, zero blog entries, and only one post attributed to their name? Mysteriously, like moths to a flame, they're attracted to the topic of bath fitters, then remain mute to all other threads? What are the odds?

Pretty desperate tactics. Sad, really.