10 Most Common Mistakes People Make with a Tub to Shower Conversion

A tub to shower conversion is one of the very best things you can do to improve your bathroom, and your home as a whole. With this kind of upgrade, you will find that your bathroom is a lot more modern, more aesthetically pleasing, and easier to use as well, for all kinds of people who might live in the home with you. It is also a relatively simple and straightforward thing to do, and your bathroom won’t be out of action for weeks and weeks while it is being carried out - and nor will you have to overspend to make it happen.

But as with any other home improvement project, you do need to make sure that you are approaching such a conversion in the right way. That means, most of all, being aware of some of the most common mistakes that people often tend to make during a tub to shower conversion, so you can ensure that you are avoiding these at all costs. In this post, we are going to explore some of the most common mistakes people make during a tub to shower conversion, so you know exactly what to look out for and avoid.

Misunderstanding The Project

Most importantly perhaps, you need to make sure that you genuinely understand what the project is and what it is meant to achieve, as if you fail on this front you are going to find that it only ends up causing you a lot of trouble in the long run. If you think that it is a way to make a bathroom perfect or that it isn’t going to have any difficulties, then that is obviously going to disappoint you. Nor is it going to mean that your bathroom entirely looks like new, unless you carry out a full bathroom renovation at the same time of course.

All of this comes down to one thing: research, which is what you are doing by reading this article. The more that you research the project, the more you understand it, the more likely it is that you are going to appreciate what it is that you are attempting to do, and that you’ll get it right. As long as you know what you are getting into, you are going to be much more likely to get the kinds of results that you are hoping for along the way. That clearly means it is worth your while to do so.

Failing To Plan

All home improvement projects require that you put a lot of effort into the planning stage. If you have a professional team working on the project with you, then they will be able to assist with this as with every other stage of the conversion, but in either case it is something that you are going to want to put a lot of work and effort into if you can. Failing to plan means that you are not aware of the many things that can go wrong with the tub to shower conversion, which increases the chances of them happening because you can’t prepare for them.

You will also find that having a plan means that you know how much disruption to your daily life to expect, including costs and how much time it is likely to take to complete the project. Clearly, the better your plan is, the more success you are going to have with the project on the whole, so this really is something that you will want to think about. Don’t be afraid to spend quite a long time planning the project out - you will still save time in the long run this way.

Buying The Wrong Size

It sounds like such an obvious error that you couldn’t possibly do it, but you’d be surprised at just how often people do exactly this. Buying the wrong size shower is obviously going to mean that you can’t install it. Not only that, but you will then have to find a way to dispose of the shower you bought, and you won’t be able to sell it for its original value anymore, even if you haven’t used it at all. You’ll then face the extra expense of having to buy a new shower all over again too.

To avoid this nightmare scenario, it’s simply a case of measuring, measuring again, and measuring again before you buy. Speak to the experts who might be helping you with the renovation, or if you are doing it completely DIY, then just take extra care before you place any money down on a new shower. This is one of the most frustrating mistakes that you can make in a project such as this, so you need to make sure that you are avoiding it at all costs if you can.

Relocating The Shower

It can be tempting to think that carrying out a tub to shower conversion is an opportunity to completely remodel your bathroom. While you might indeed be able to change some of the aesthetic appearances of the bathroom while you are doing this, you should avoid changing the location of the shower if at all possible. Again, it’s technically possible, but you will find that the whole project becomes a thousand times more difficult and laborious the moment you start to change things around like this too much.

When you relocate the shower, you have to find a new way for the water to reach it, as well as a new position for drainage. It is much easier, quicker and cheaper to use both existing water supplies and existing drain lines, so that is definitely what you should aim for instead. This keeps things much simpler, and just makes the whole process of the project a lot easier to keep right and maintain.

Of course, if you do want to relocate the shower, this will require more forward thinking and heavy planning, and you might have to take more of the bathroom apart first, so be prepared for that.
Forgetting The Aesthetics

You have to take great care when you are carrying out a tub to shower conversion to ensure that it is still going to look the part as part of the whole bathroom. You have to look at the decor of the bathroom, consider the aesthetics of it, and ensure that your new shower is going to be made to fit in with it as best as you can. The more effort you put into doing this, the better, so it really is something that you are going to want to think about from the start.

Of course, if you are remodeling the bathroom as a whole, then it is easier to ensure that everything looks good together. But in either case, you’ll have to put the necessary work and effort into making sure that you are not overlooking the key colors and focal points of the bathroom. If you approach it intelligently, you should be able to make the shower look like a natural part of the room, and not a new standout facility. That is generally the most attractive way to approach this, and will produce the best aesthetic result for the bathroom.

Converting Your Only Tub

There is no doubt at all that a tub to shower conversion is a fantastic thing to have done in your home, and in most cases it is going to improve the home and increase its value too. But there is one situation in which it can actually cause you problems, and could end up damaging your real estate value, and that is if you convert the only tub in the house.

This might only be a real concern if you are thinking about trying to sell the property on - if you are elderly and you just need to have the tub converted into a shower, then so be it. But if you are keen to sell to families in the future, they will often have a need for a tub as well as a shower, so you will want to consider whether converting the only tub is really the best thing to do.

Bear in mind that it is okay and preferable as long as you have at least one other bathtub in the house. But if it is your only one, you might want to carefully consider whether you should really convert it, or simply leave it altogether.

Not Paying Attention To Lighting

You have to think about the lighting in your bathroom, for the simple fact that getting the lighting right is going to make it a lot easier to continue to keep the bathroom looking great, and making it easy to use when you spend time in there too. A lot of people carry out bathroom remodels of all kinds without considering the lighting very much, and there are some particularly negative consequences to be found from doing so.

First of all, you might end up blocking a lot of natural light if you convert a tub into a shower in the wrong part of the bathroom. That would be frustrating, so it’s wise to consider where the windows are when you are planning this renovation out. As well as the natural light, think about the artificial lighting: is there enough room in the bathroom for a proper lighting fixture, or will you need to ensure that you are making room? You also need to think about safety - converting the tub to a shower and then suddenly having the lighting fixture in the way during showering is very dangerous, so avoid that at all costs.

As long as you have thought carefully about the lighting, the project will look better, and you will be able to avoid these comfort and safety issues.

Not Allowing Enough Time

Even the most modest of renovation projects can take a lot of time, especially if you are doing any of it yourself. But even with the best professional team on your side, you will find that there are a lot of things that can get in the way and cause the project to take a lot longer, so that is something that you need to be aware of if you can. If you fail to allow enough time, you will only end up being frustrated as the project starts to affect your life more and more - and you find that you have to take more time off work and so on.

The main error here lies in being too ambitious, or expecting too much. You need to consider carefully the likely timeframes, taking into account whatever advice you receive from your professional team, and then you should add a little extra time on to the estimation, just to make sure. As long as you have done that, you are going to avoid disappointment so much more readily.

Doing It All Yourself

You might well be keen on a little DIY, and of course there is a lot of joy to be had from doing something yourself in this way, and it can be very satisfying to do so. But DIY is also not always one of the best approaches when it is something of this scale and difficulty level. As it happens, converting a tub to a shower is the kind of thing that can be quite challenging to get right, and you should try to make sure that you are finding the best professional team you can to help you with it from start to finish.

With a professional team, you will have access to better materials and resources. You can also expect the project to be completed as quickly as possible, and to the highest possible standard. More than that, you will often also get a guarantee as to the longevity of the work, so you know that you are going to be putting your money in the right place. It is definitely worth finding a team that you can trust to do the hard work for you.

Choosing Cheap Materials

We know that it is important to try and save money, but there are some things that you should simply not skimp and save over. When it comes to choosing the right materials for your tub to shower conversion, you are going to find it is much better, and the results are more effective, if you simply make use of the best materials that you can buy. Better materials are sturdier, meaning that they last longer under constant use, so you will often find that they turn out to be the more economical option in the long run anyway.

Not just that, but they are also likely to look better, and you can keep the aesthetics of the bathroom exactly how you want it this way. While it can be hard to source the right materials, and you should also be careful that you are not merely being overcharged, it is wise not to simply go for the cheapest materials you can find, for all of the above reasons. Bear this in mind, take care with which material you use, and you should find that it helps to make the whole project much more of a success.

Not Fixing Leaks & Broken Pipes

In a sense, doing a tub to shower conversion is a perfect opportunity to check on the state and quality of your plumbing. If, during the process, you discover that there are broken pipes, leaky pipes or any other similar issues, then you should take the opportunity to fix them up as best as you can. For one thing, this will ensure that the conversion project itself does not become beset by those kinds of issues. But it is also a way of looking out for the future of the bathroom - and the home as a whole, of course.

While you have the easy access, make sure to fix all these issues up right now. The best approach here, of course, is to call in a plumber, who will be able to fix whatever needs fixing right away. It is best to get them to do it, as a professional is much less likely to cause further problems, which can happen when an amateur approaches such tricky tasks.

But however you do it, just make sure that you are avoiding the mistake of not fixing these things up while you have the chance. You will regret doing that, as it is going to make it a lot more difficult to do it in the future, and could cause damage to the shower itself and the bathroom as a whole if you are not careful.

As you can see, there are many common mistakes that you need to try and avoid making when you carry out a tub to shower conversion. As long as you avoid these, you are going to be in a much better position, and you will be able to expect greater things out of the project on the whole.

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