Bathroom remodel costs...ballpark minimum

I’m needing to remodel my main bathroom and will have to pull up sub floor due to water leaking thru shower. Whoever had the home before us decided to use slate everywhere in the bathroom and up the walls about 3’. I want to keep it simple and install a tub/shower combo. Plenty of room for it as you can tell from the walk in shower with bench seating. I’m open to any suggestions and ideas and wondering how much I should expect to spend. I’m not looking for top of the line fixtures, necessarily, and a simple vanity from Home Depot will suffice. The prefabbed fiberglass shower tub combo kits look simple and easy to clean.

Will you be doing the work yourself? Material only?

Or will this be hired out as a project?

You mentioned water damage, do you suspect anything structural?

What is below this room? Damage?


If hired out I have a feeling you live in one of the higher priced labor markets in the country. Do you have a feel for that?

Also, will the 1 piece fit through the bathroom entry door?

bud16415 said:

Will you be doing the work yourself? Material only?

Or will this be hired out as a project?

You mentioned water damage, do you suspect anything structural?

What is below this room? Damage?


If hired out I have a feeling you live in one of the higher priced labor markets in the country. Do you have a feel for that?

Click to expand...

I’m not a licensed contractor but can do a lot myself, I will pay if I need to or should. There is a crawl space below, single story. Built in 1950’s. I saw the underside of the subfloor and feel that should be replaced? Water dripping through it and is pretty saturated.

Snoonyb said:

Also, will the 1 piece fit through the bathroom entry door?

Click to expand...

Good question..I actually believe it’s a 3 piece system and not 1-piece? + the tub? I’m not sure but I think it’s made to get thru doorways but I’ll check that out.

If it's a 3 piece it will fit. One of my specialities, when I was younger and dumber, was installing 1 piece in just your era of housing in Lakewood/Long Beach. A 1 day project except for the stucco and plaster.

If you have another usable bathroom the project will be so much easier as you wont need to rush. If everything is staying in the same locations and the drain lines are all working as they should and you have supply lines coming to the right general locations it is just a simple tear out and replace for the most part.

You will need a small dumpster or a staging area for all the stuff you rip out until you can haul it off.

I would start with measuring the whole room and making a layout of what the outline will be with dimensions. You can take that to the local builder center and most of them will assist you with putting together a list and a design of the new bathroom. You will then have a ball park cost of the major pieces. There will be costs on the new structure also and the connecting plumbing supplies.

There isn’t anything I can think of in your project that isn’t DIY friendly if you ask advice here for the stuff you may not be sure of.

Then when you are ready to roll start the demo. And go as far back as you want to with the full tile that you want gone you are pretty much looking at a full demo. Some of the drywall around the sink looks to have been patched at some point. You could reuse the sink and toilet to save a little maybe even the sink cabinet. Replace all the fixtures would be my suggestion and plumbing if it is old and needing redone with PEX.

Good luck post pics and you will get lots of help.

If you want to save the shower you can be sure the leak is the seat and maybe the wall under the glass. the tile is available,

Yeah I want the big shower gone and put a tub/shower combo in its place..I believe I’ll gain some sq footage but I don’t need it. All the slate is coming off and want to keep it simple but clean. I may hire a tile guy or whatever you all recommend for a trouble free floor....the less grout joints the better.

Bigger tile means less grout joints, but the subfloor has to be level and solid for the tile to sit on.