Author: Green Design and Build Team

Yes, if the bathroom remodel replaces or moves a toilet, tub, shower or sink, adds an electrical circuit or an exhaust fan, or changes a wall or window; no, if it is limited to paint, tile, a mirror, towel bars and floor coverings. In the City of Los Angeles a bathroom remodel with no structural changes is an express permit issued online without plan check, and only structural work such as recessing the floor for a curbless shower or removing a wall goes to plan check at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based in Van Nuys that pulls the permit and schedules the inspections on every bathroom we build, serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County (Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and neighbouring cities).

We are led by Dekel Sofer. The company has completed hundreds of projects and holds a 4.7-star rating across 146 reviews on Yelp.

What needs a permit and what does not (City of Los Angeles)

The Los Angeles Building Code exempts “painting, papering and similar work” from a building permit (LAMC section 91.106.2) but says a permit under one code does not relieve the owner of permits required by any other code, which is where plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits come in. Los Angeles County’s list for unincorporated areas names “painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops, and similar finish work” as exempt while noting that “separate plumbing, electrical, and mechanical permits may still be required.”

LADBS Information Bulletin P/GI 2026-003, effective January 1, 2026, lists “Kitchen/bathroom remodel for residential buildings (no structural changes)” as an express building permit, along with “Replacing plumbing fixtures,” “Adding plumbing fixtures,” “Replace drywall (no new walls added),” “Window and door change-out (same size and type)” and exhaust fans up to 2,000 cfm. That covers nearly every bathroom we build; cutting floor framing for a curbless entry and moving a wall are what push a bathroom into plan check.

A tile-only job is the honest exception. If the tub, toilet and valve stay untouched and the tile goes over sound backer, no permit is needed. The moment the old tile comes off and the backer behind it is soft, which is most of the time in a shower older than 20 years, the backer gets replaced and the valve swapped while the wall is open, and the job has become an express permit. We tell homeowners to expect that before demolition. Our bathroom remodeling page describes what each tier of remodel involves.

What the inspector checks in a Los Angeles bathroom

These are the rules the rough and final inspections enforce, from the California codes the city adopts:

• Shower size and door. A shower needs at least 1,024 square inches of finished interior area and must encompass a 30-inch circle, with a door that opens out and gives a 22-inch clear opening (California Plumbing Code 408.5 and 408.6).
• Anti-scald valve. Every shower and tub-shower valve must be a pressure-balance, thermostatic or combination type set to a maximum of 120°F (CPC 408.3). A 1970s two-handle valve cannot stay when the wall is open.
• Toilet clearance. 15 inches from the toilet centerline to any side wall or fixture, 30 inches total, and 24 inches clear in front; this is what kills many “move the toilet six inches” plans in a five-foot hall bath.
• Water-conserving fixtures. New toilets at 1.28 gallons per flush, showerheads at 1.8 gallons per minute and bathroom faucets at 1.2 gallons per minute under the current codes; and under California Civil Code section 1101.4, any alteration permit on a pre-1994 single-family home requires replacing every noncompliant toilet (over 1.6 gpf), showerhead (over 2.5 gpm) and faucet (over 2.2 gpm) in the house as a condition of final approval.
• Exhaust fan. A bathroom with a tub or shower needs a local exhaust fan rated at least 50 cfm intermittent or 20 cfm continuous, ducted to the outside with a backdraft damper, not into the attic (California Energy Code section 150.0(o), Table 150.0-E). Inadequate ventilation is the most common defect we find in older Los Angeles bathrooms.
• GFCI. Every 15- and 20-amp receptacle in the bathroom must be GFCI-protected, and there must be at least one 20-amp receptacle within 36 inches of the sink (California Electrical Code 210.8 and 210.52(D)).
• Lighting. All new fixtures high-efficacy, at least one on a vacancy sensor, and recessed cans IC-rated and airtight (Energy Code section 150.0(k)).
• Safety glazing. Tempered glass in any shower or tub enclosure and door, and in any window whose bottom edge is under 60 inches above the shower floor (California Residential Code R308.4.5).
• Shower pan. A continuous waterproofed pan tied to the drain, flood-tested before tile; some cities make the test a scheduled inspection, and we do it on every shower. Our walk-in shower guide covers shower dimensions in more depth.

Pasadena’s bathroom handout, which follows the same state codes, lists these items almost line for line and states that “a minimum of two inspections are required for bathroom remodels,” a rough inspection with the electrical boxes in and no devices connected, and a final.

Moving a toilet, tub or shower

Relocating a fixture is where the permit stops being a formality. A toilet needs a 3-inch drain with a vent within the distance the plumbing code allows, so moving it usually means a new run under the floor: from the crawl space on a raised foundation, which covers most 1950s to 1970s San Fernando Valley houses, or through a saw-cut trench on a slab, which is most of Orange County and the Inland Empire. The rough plumbing inspection then sees the new drain, vent and water lines under test before anything is covered. Relocated drains on a raised foundation typically run $2,500 to $6,000 and on a slab $5,000 to $12,000 or more; a fixture replaced in place is $500 to $2,500. These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit. Our tub-to-shower conversion cost guide shows how the drain decision drives that job.

The inspection sequence

1. Demolition to studs, framing repairs and blocking. If a wall or the floor framing changed, the inspector sees it before anything closes; grab-bar blocking goes in now.
2. Rough plumbing, electrical and fan. Drain, vent and supply lines under test, the new valve set, every circuit in its box, the fan duct run to the outside; one rough inspection covers all three trades on a combined permit.
3. Drywall and cement board, waterproofing, pan test. The pan test is a code requirement and some cities schedule it.
4. Tile, fixtures, glass. Frameless glass is measured after tile and takes one to two weeks to fabricate.
5. Final. Fixtures, valve temperature, GFCI, fan running and ducted, glazing, and the retrofit items below.

Our post on the correct bathroom remodel order walks through all fifteen steps and where the inspections fall.

The retrofit items that ride along with a Los Angeles permit

A bathroom permit in the City of Los Angeles pulls in requirements for the rest of the house. Under LAMC section 122.03, a permit over $500 on a house or duplex requires water-conserving fixtures throughout the home; over $1,000, smoke detectors in bedrooms and hallways (LABC section 91.8603.2); over $10,000, tempered or film-retrofitted sliding and shower doors (LABC section 91.2406.7) and a seismic gas shut-off valve at the meter (Ordinance 171,874). A mid-range bathroom crosses the $10,000 line, so budget for the valve and any film the house still needs.

What a bathroom permit costs

LADBS fees scale with the valuation and the number of fixtures and circuits; they are a small fraction of the project, and we list them as their own line on every proposal. For scale, a same-layout refresh in Los Angeles typically runs $8,000 to $18,000, a mid-range remodel with a tub-to-shower conversion, moved plumbing and frameless glass $18,000 to $40,000, and a high-end renovation with a full layout change $40,000 to $80,000 or more. These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit. Our bathroom remodel cost guide breaks the tiers down.

What happens to an unpermitted bathroom when you sell

California’s Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement (Civil Code section 1102.6) asks the seller whether they are aware of “room additions, structural modifications, or other alterations or repairs made without necessary permits” and whether any were “not in compliance with building codes.” Since July 1, 2024, a seller who bought within the previous 18 months must also list every alteration made since purchase, name the contractors and provide the permits (AB 968). If LADBS learns of unpermitted work, the current owner pays an investigation fee of double the permit fee with a $400 minimum (LAMC section 98.0402) and opens the walls so the plumbing and wiring can be inspected. A bathroom is where unpermitted work does the most hidden damage: a bad pan or a fan into the attic shows up as rot and mold years later.

Other cities run their own building departments

LADBS covers the City of Los Angeles, which includes Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, Woodland Hills, Northridge and North Hollywood; unincorporated areas use Los Angeles County Building and Safety. Every other city runs its own division under the same state codes with its own thresholds:

• Pasadena requires a permit for “the removal and replacement and/or relocation of vanity cabinets, toilets, sink, tubs/showers, replacement/alteration to the electrical, or removal and replacement of the wallboard,” and exempts only “towel bars, mirrors, paint, and floor covers where no other work is included.” A vanity swap that is permit-free in Los Angeles is not in Pasadena.
• Burbank reviews remodels through its Building Division; electronic submittal is through ProjectDox, and a first plan-check review “can take up to eight weeks.”
• Irvine issues same-day online permits for no-plan-check work through its Building and Safety Division’s PermitsDIRECT system.
• Rancho Cucamonga runs Building and Safety Services entirely online with next-day inspections, and Glendale, Santa Clarita, Anaheim and Ontario each run their own divisions; check the city’s handout before assuming the Los Angeles list applies.

How long does a bathroom permit take?

Add two to four weeks of design and selections before the permit.

A bathroom that stayed an express permit and one that did not

Our Inglewood primary bathroom (2025) was a full gut to the studs with new rough plumbing and electrical: the supply and drain lines were rerouted in new copper for a new tub position and shower valve, the shower walls were built in cement board with a waterproofing membrane before tile, and the room was finished with large-format tile, a freestanding tub, a frameless glass shower and a double vanity. Every fixture moved and every circuit was new, but none of it was structural, so it stayed an express permit with a rough and a final inspection. The other kind of job is in our bathroom remodel cost guide: a hall bathroom in a late-1980s house planned as a refresh at about $22,000, where pulling the tub exposed a wall rotted by a failed overflow gasket. Subfloor replacement, framing repairs and mold-related cleanup took it to approximately $28,500, and that framing repair is exactly what an inspector wants to see before it is covered.

Where we do this work

We pull bathroom permits and build bathrooms from our Van Nuys office across the San Fernando Valley, the rest of Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. The permit office changes at every city line, from LADBS to Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Santa Clarita’s own divisions, Ventura County or the city halls of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Oxnard, each Orange County city, and county or city departments in Riverside and San Bernardino. The house changes the plumbing: crawl-space access under Valley ranch houses, slab cutting in Irvine, Anaheim, Corona and Ontario, and HOA review in master-planned Orange County communities when a window or exterior vent changes. See all of our service areas.

Bathroom permit FAQs

Do you need a permit to remodel a bathroom in Los Angeles?

Yes, if the remodel replaces or moves a toilet, tub, shower or sink, adds a circuit or an exhaust fan, or changes a wall or window, and no if it is limited to paint, tile over sound backer, a mirror, towel bars and floor coverings. In the City of Los Angeles a bathroom remodel with no structural changes is an express permit issued online without plan check under LADBS Information Bulletin P/GI 2026-003.

Do I need a permit to retile a bathroom?

Not if the tile goes over sound existing backer and the tub, toilet and valve are untouched; tiling is finish work with no building permit in the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated Los Angeles County. In practice the old backer behind a shower older than 20 years is usually soft, and once it is replaced and the valve is swapped while the wall is open the job is an express permit. Pasadena requires a permit as soon as wallboard is removed and replaced.

Do I need a permit to move a toilet?

Yes. Moving a toilet means a new 3-inch drain and vent run under the floor, which is plumbing permit work in every city in the five counties, and the rough plumbing inspection has to see the new lines under test before the floor is closed. The toilet also needs 15 inches from its centerline to any side wall and 24 inches clear in front in its new position.

Is a bathroom exhaust fan required in California?

Yes. A bathroom with a tub or shower needs a local exhaust fan rated at least 50 cfm for intermittent use or 20 cfm for continuous use, ducted to the outside with a backdraft damper, under California Energy Code section 150.0(o). A fan that ends in the attic does not meet the rule and is the usual cause of mold above older Los Angeles bathrooms.

Does a bathroom permit force me to replace fixtures elsewhere in the house?

In the City of Los Angeles, yes. A permit over $500 requires water-conserving fixtures throughout the house under LAMC section 122.03, and California Civil Code section 1101.4 requires any alteration permit on a pre-1994 single-family home to replace every noncompliant toilet, showerhead and faucet as a condition of final approval. Permits over $10,000 also require tempered or film-retrofitted sliding and shower doors and a seismic gas shut-off valve.

What does a bathroom permit cost in Los Angeles?

LADBS fees scale with the valuation and the number of fixtures and circuits and are a small fraction of the project. The bathroom itself typically runs $8,000 to $18,000 for a same-layout refresh, $18,000 to $40,000 for a mid-range remodel and $40,000 to $80,000 or more for a high-end renovation; these are typical budgeting estimates, not a price list, and a real project can come in lower or higher.

Get a bathroom proposal with the permit and inspections built in

We will tell you at the site visit whether your bathroom is an express permit or plan check, whether the toilet or drain can move where you want it, and which fixtures, fan and glazing rules your house still has to meet, and put the permit and inspections on the proposal as their own lines. The site visit and the estimate are free.

A tub-to-shower conversion in Los Angeles typically costs $18,000 to $40,000 when it is done as part of a mid-range bathroom remodel with a tiled, waterproofed shower, frameless glass and a new exhaust fan. A basic conversion that drops a prefab pan and surround into the tub’s footprint with the drain left in place can land inside the $8,000 to $18,000 refresh tier, and a curbless, fully tiled shower with a relocated drain and a heated floor is a high-end job at $40,000 to $80,000 or more. Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based in Van Nuys, serving homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County (Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and neighbouring cities). These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.

We are led by Dekel Sofer. The company has completed hundreds of projects and holds a 4.7-star rating across 146 reviews on Yelp.

Tub-to-shower conversion cost by scope

A conversion is never just the shower: the tub comes out, the wall behind it is opened, the valve and drain are reworked, and the new shower is waterproofed and tiled before glass goes on. That is why we budget it as a bathroom remodel tier, set by what happens to the plumbing and how the shower is built.

These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.

The mid-range tier is where most conversions land; our bathroom remodeling page lists tub-to-shower conversion, relocated vanity, moved plumbing, frameless glass and a new exhaust fan as the work that defines it, and the bathroom remodel cost guide covers the same tiers for the whole room.

The line items that move a conversion up or down

Inside those tiers, these lines decide where your job lands.

These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.

The drain is the decision that changes the number most. A tub drain sits at one end of the tub; a shower drain usually wants the center of the pan or, for a linear drain, one wall. On a raised-foundation house, which describes most 1950s to 1970s San Fernando Valley ranch houses, the plumber works from the crawl space and the move is routine; on a slab, which is most of Orange County and the Inland Empire, it means cutting concrete. Keeping the drain where it is and choosing a pan that fits it is the first thing we look at when a budget is tight. Shower wall tile is priced by the square foot the same way, and frameless glass is the most variable finish item; ask for it as its own line on any proposal you compare.

Curbed or curbless?

A curb is the simpler build and the lower budget. Curbless is the right answer when the person using the shower cannot step over a curb, or when the design calls for one continuous floor, but it is not a finish upgrade you bolt on at the end. Our walk-in shower guide covers sizes, drain layouts and what the code actually says; the Tile Council of North America publishes curbless methods for concrete floors and none for wood-framed floors, so a curbless conversion on a raised Valley house is engineered case by case.

Prefab pan or tile pan?

An acrylic or composite pan is molded with the slope built in, drops onto the subfloor, and is set the same day; it is the right choice for a basic conversion or a rental, and its limits are size and drain location, which must match the maker’s dimensions. A tile pan is built on site from a sloped mortar bed or foam pan, a membrane and tile, at any size and any drain position, and it is what the mid-range and high-end tiers assume. Wall surrounds follow the same split: acrylic over water-resistant backer, or tile over cement board or foam board with a membrane behind it.

Waterproofing is where conversions fail

A properly built shower has a continuous waterproofing system under the finished surface: a sloped pan tied to the drain, membrane or waterproof backer on the walls, sealed corners and penetrations, and a flood test before tile goes on. We fill the pan to the top of the curb, leave it, and check it before anyone tiles; some cities make that test an inspection stop. The systems we build with are sheet membranes bonded to a foam or mortar pan, liquid-applied membranes over cement board, and foam-board systems with sealed seams. All three work when the drain and corners follow the manufacturer’s instructions; a sheet system with the wrong drain, or a liquid membrane applied too thin, is where most of the leaks we get called to fix started.

While the walls are open, put in grab-bar blocking: a 2×6 or 2×8 flat between the studs at 33 to 36 inches above the finished floor on the valve wall and the back wall. It costs almost nothing during framing, lets a bar be bolted through tile later, and is not required in a private home, but everyone who has tried to add a bar afterward wishes it had been done.

Glass

Frameless glass is 3/8-inch or 1/2-inch tempered glass, with the thickness set by the panel height and width rather than preference. It is measured only after the tile is grouted, because the template has to follow the real walls, and fabrication takes one to two weeks after that; that gap at the end of the job is what surprises people. Any window in the shower wall with its bottom edge under 60 inches above the shower floor must be tempered as well.

Do you need a permit for a tub-to-shower conversion in Los Angeles?

Yes. In the City of Los Angeles, which covers Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, Woodland Hills, Northridge and North Hollywood along with the rest of the city, a bathroom remodel with no structural changes is an express permit under the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety’s Information Bulletin P/GI 2026-003, issued online with no plan check. The same bulletin lists replacing plumbing fixtures, adding plumbing fixtures, and adding an exhaust fan of 2,000 cfm or less as express permits, so a conversion that swaps the tub for a shower, moves the drain within the room and adds a fan is permit work, but the fast kind. Plan check comes in when floor framing is cut for a curbless entry, a wall moves, or a window in the shower wall changes size.

The permit brings a rough inspection with the plumbing, electrical and fan ductwork exposed, and a final. Any bathroom permit in the city also triggers the retrofit items that ride along with it: water-conserving fixtures under California Civil Code section 1101.4 and LAMC section 122.03, smoke detectors when the valuation is over $1,000, and impact-hazard glazing and a seismic gas shut-off valve when it is over $10,000. Our guide to bathroom permits in Los Angeles goes through each of them. Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Clarita, every Orange County city and the Inland Empire cities issue their own permits under the same state codes; Pasadena’s handout, for one, requires a permit for any remodel that removes and replaces or relocates a tub or shower.

How long does a tub-to-shower conversion take?

The bathroom is out of service from demolition to glass. Our post on the correct bathroom remodel order shows where the inspections and the pan test fall in the sequence.

What we find when the tub comes out

The tub overflow gasket is the part nobody sees and the part that fails most often. On a hall bathroom in a late-1980s house, a homeowner planned a refresh at about $22,000. When we pulled the tub, the wall behind it was soft: the overflow drain gasket had been leaking for years, rotting the bottom plate and the subfloor. The job became a complete tub removal, subfloor replacement, framing repairs and mold-related cleanup, and it finished at approximately $28,500, close to 30 percent over; the full story is in our bathroom remodel cost guide. It is why we recommend a contingency on any bathroom that has had a tub in it for 20 years.

Two recent bathrooms show how the shower side of a conversion is built. In an Inglewood primary bathroom (2025) we gutted the room to the studs, rerouted supply and drain lines in new copper for a new tub position and shower valve, built the shower walls in cement board with a waterproofing membrane before tile, and finished with large-format tile and a frameless glass shower. In Irvine (2025) the corner tub platform that took a third of the room came out, the drain was relocated, and the original framed shower was rebuilt as a walk-in with three tiled niches and a low curb. Both kept one tub in the house, which brings up resale.

Will converting the tub hurt resale?

Removing the only bathtub in a house narrows the buyer pool, because families with small children and many older buyers want at least one tub. Removing a tub from a second bathroom, or from a primary bath when a hall bath keeps its tub, does not, and a walk-in shower is what most Los Angeles buyers expect in a primary bathroom. We do not quote a return-on-investment percentage because there is no reliable Los Angeles dataset for that single item. The practical rule: keep one tub in the house if you can.

How to compare tub-to-shower conversion quotes

Quotes are only comparable when they describe the same shower: the pan and waterproofing system by name, the board behind the tile, whether the drain moves and how, the valve model, the fan and where it ducts, the glass thickness and whether it is framed or frameless, grab-bar blocking, the permit and who pulls it, and what happens if the subfloor is rotten when the tub comes out. Confirm the licence on the Contractors State License Board site; in California the down payment on a home-improvement contract cannot exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less.

Where we do this work

We convert tubs to showers from our Van Nuys office across the San Fernando Valley, the rest of Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. The house changes the job: raised-foundation Valley ranch houses give the plumber a crawl space, so a drain move is routine; the slab houses of Irvine, Anaheim, Corona and Ontario turn the same move into concrete cutting; and pre-1960 houses often have galvanized supply lines that get replaced while the wall is open. Permits run through LADBS in the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Building and Safety in unincorporated areas, and each city’s own building division everywhere else. See all of our service areas.

Tub-to-shower conversion cost FAQs

How much does it cost to convert a tub to a shower in Los Angeles?

A tub-to-shower conversion in Los Angeles typically costs $18,000 to $40,000 as part of a mid-range bathroom remodel with a tiled, waterproofed shower, frameless glass and a new exhaust fan. A basic prefab conversion in the tub’s footprint can land in the $8,000 to $18,000 refresh tier, and a curbless, stone-tiled shower with a moved drain runs $40,000 to $80,000 or more. These are typical budgeting estimates, not a price list; a real project can come in lower or higher.

What is the cheapest way to convert a bathtub to a shower?

The cheapest tub-to-shower conversion keeps the drain and valve where they are, uses a prefab acrylic pan sized to the tub footprint (usually 60 by 30 or 60 by 32 inches) with a matching surround, and adds a framed door. Leaving the drain in place avoids the $2,500 to $6,000 cost of moving it on a raised foundation or $5,000 to $12,000 or more on a slab.

Does a tub-to-shower conversion need a permit in Los Angeles?

Yes. In the City of Los Angeles a bathroom remodel with no structural changes, including replacing plumbing fixtures and adding an exhaust fan, is an express permit issued online without plan check under LADBS Information Bulletin P/GI 2026-003. Recessing the floor for a curbless shower, moving a wall or changing a window size sends the job to plan check. Other cities in the five counties issue their own permits under the same state codes.

How long does a tub-to-shower conversion take?

A tub-to-shower conversion in Los Angeles takes about two to three weeks of construction for a basic prefab conversion and four to six weeks for a tiled conversion inside a mid-range remodel, after two to four weeks of design and one to four weeks for the permit. Frameless glass is templated after the tile is finished and takes one to two weeks to fabricate.

Is a curbless shower worth the extra cost?

A curbless shower is worth it when someone in the house cannot step over a curb, or when the design depends on one continuous floor. It costs more because the floor has to be recessed to slope to the drain, which on a wood-framed floor means cutting or furring joists and a structural plan check, and the waterproofing has to extend at least a foot into the room. For most conversions a low curb delivers the walk-in look for far less.

Does removing a bathtub lower a home’s value?

Removing the only bathtub in a house can narrow the buyer pool, because families with young children and many older buyers want at least one tub. Converting a tub in a second bathroom, or in a primary bath while a hall bath keeps its tub, does not have that effect. We do not quote a resale percentage for a conversion because no reliable Los Angeles figure exists for that single item.

Get a written estimate for your tub-to-shower conversion

We will look at the drain location, the foundation type, the wall behind the tub and the permit path for your address before we write a number, and give you an itemized proposal that lists the pan, waterproofing system, tile, valve, fan, glass, blocking and permit line by line. The site visit and the estimate are free.

A shower in California has to give you at least 1,024 square inches of finished interior area, has to be able to contain a 30-inch circle, and has to hold that dimension to a point 70 inches above the drain. If it has a door, the door swings out and leaves a 22-inch unobstructed opening. Those are the rules. Almost every other number you will read about walk-in and doorless showers, including the minimum size for a doorless one, is not a standard at all: nobody publishes one. Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based in Van Nuys that builds bathrooms across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County, and this guide separates what the code requires from what the industry recommends from what is simply how it is usually done.

We are led by Dekel Sofer; the company has completed hundreds of projects and holds a 4.7-star rating across 146 reviews on Yelp.

Walk-in, doorless and curbless are three different things

They get used interchangeably and they should not be. The differences decide the construction, the cost and whether your building department has an opinion.

A shower can be any combination: curbless with a door, doorless with a curb, or both. Most of what people picture as a spa bathroom is a walk-in with a low curb and one fixed glass panel, and among Houzz users who recently remodelled a bathroom, 84 percent still chose a shower with a door and 44 percent chose a low curb. Curbless was 20 percent. That is an opt-in survey of people already renovating rather than a national sample, but it is the only dataset with a stated method, and it suggests the fully doorless shower is a smaller category than the photography implies.

The dimensions that are actually required

These come from the California Plumbing Code and the building code, and a plan checker will hold you to them.

Note the showerhead rule. It is one line in the plumbing code and it is the only enforceable statement anywhere about doorless geometry: point the head away from the opening. Everything else about keeping water in is design judgement.

The dimensions that are recommended but not required

The National Kitchen and Bath Association publishes bathroom planning guidelines. They are recommendations from a trade association, not law, and they are more generous than code because code sets the floor rather than a comfortable room.

One thing NKBA does not publish, contrary to what you will read: a showerhead mounting height. There is no code figure and no NKBA figure. The common 78 to 80-inch rough-in is trade convention, and the right height is the one that suits the tallest person using it.

Why nobody can tell you the minimum size for a doorless shower

This is the section most articles on this subject get wrong, confidently. You will see minimums quoted for the length of the wet zone, the distance from the showerhead to the opening, the width of the return panel, and the radius of the splash zone. We went looking for the source of those figures. There isn’t one. NKBA, the Tile Council of North America, the plumbing code and the building code publish nothing on any of them. Every number in circulation traces back to a design blog or a contractor’s marketing page.

That does not mean the question has no answer. It means the answer is geometry rather than a table, and there are four things that actually control whether a doorless shower keeps water off your bathroom floor:

• Where the head points. The code requirement to keep the showerhead off the entrance is the whole game. A head on the wall perpendicular to the opening, spraying towards the back, throws almost nothing out.
• How far the opening is from the spray. Distance does the work no barrier can. A longer wet zone means the water has run out of energy before it reaches the opening.
• Which way the floor falls. A linear drain at the back wall lets the entire floor slope away from the opening on a single plane. A centre drain in a rectangle produces four converging planes, one of which necessarily falls towards the opening. That is the single most useful decision you can make in a doorless shower, and it is a plumbing decision made at rough-in.
• Whether there is a return panel. A fixed glass or tiled return that screens the head, without closing the opening, catches the direct spray while leaving the walk-through.

If somebody quotes you a minimum length for a doorless shower as though it were a rule, ask them where it comes from. We size ours from the room and the head position, and we say plainly that it is our judgement rather than a published standard.

Curbless showers in California

Curbless is the version that changes the structure, and it is also the one where California is genuinely murky. The plumbing code language about a finished dam or threshold is written as a conditional rather than a mandate, which is what permits curbless construction, but at least one county building department still publishes a handout reading it restrictively. Los Angeles publishes an approval path with specific requirements. The practical position: curbless showers are built in California all the time, but the path is jurisdiction-specific, and the answer for your address comes from your building department rather than from the internet.

What curbless requires structurally:

• The floor has to be recessed. On a slab that means a depressed pour or a cut; on a wood floor it means dropping the subfloor between the joists, usually with the joists doubled around the opening.
• The floor is sloped to the drain at a quarter-inch per foot, which sits inside the range the code permits.
• Waterproofing continues past the wet area, at least a foot beyond the high point of the floor, and turns up the walls. Individual manufacturers ask for more than that, and their instructions govern.
• The recess depth is set by the pan and drain system you choose. There is no universal figure, and anyone quoting one is describing a particular product.

Here is the fact that is worth more than any dimension in this article. The Tile Council of North America publishes standard methods for curbless receptors on a depressed concrete slab. For wood-framed floors it publishes none, and says so: there are no current standards or Handbook methods for these systems, so the manufacturer’s instructions are what you follow. That is most houses in the San Fernando Valley. It means a curbless shower on a wood floor is only as good as the installer’s discipline in following one manufacturer’s system end to end, without mixing components from another. Ask which system is being used, and ask to see that everything in the shower belongs to it.

Linear drains and centre drains

A centre drain is cheaper and it is what most alcove showers have. It requires the floor to slope from four directions, so with large-format tile every piece has to be cut or the tile has to be small enough to follow the planes. That is why traditional shower floors are mosaic.

A linear drain lets the floor slope on one plane only, which is what makes large-format tile possible on a shower floor and what lets the whole floor fall away from a doorless opening when the drain sits at the back wall. It costs more in the fitting and it takes coordination at rough-in, because the drain position is fixed long before the tile. If you want a doorless or curbless shower with big tiles, this is not an upgrade, it is the thing that makes it work.

Glass, and what coatings actually do

Shower glass is safety glazing by definition, because glazing facing a tub or shower with its bottom edge below 60 inches above the standing surface is a hazardous location. Frameless panels are typically 3/8-inch or 1/2-inch tempered, and the thickness is chosen from the panel’s height, width and area rather than by preference: as a rough guide from the glass industry, 3/8-inch runs to about 84 inches tall and 1/2-inch to about 120 inches, with narrower limits where a corner is unsupported.

Glass is templated after the tile is finished, not from the drawing. Finished tile walls are rarely perfectly plumb or square, and a frameless panel has no frame to absorb the difference. Ordering glass early buys nothing and risks a panel that does not fit. Build the fabrication time into the schedule instead.

On coatings, be careful what you are promised. There are two different products: a factory treatment where the glass surface itself is sealed during manufacture, and an applied coating done after the fact. Both make glass easier to clean, and neither manufacturer claims their product removes the need to clean it. The factory-treated product’s own literature asks for a minimal amount of regular cleaning. Anyone telling you coated glass is maintenance-free is contradicting the people who make it.

Ventilation is where big open showers go wrong

California requires mechanical exhaust to the outdoors in any room with a tub or shower, at 50 CFM intermittent or 20 CFM continuous, and unlike the model code used elsewhere there is no operable-window exception. That 50 CFM is a minimum for a small bathroom, not a design target for a large one.

The Home Ventilating Institute, the fan manufacturers’ association, sizes fans two ways. For bathrooms up to 100 square feet: one CFM per square foot, roughly eight air changes an hour. Above 100 square feet: add up the fixtures, at 50 CFM each for a toilet, a shower and a bathtub, and 100 CFM for a jetted tub. Their own worked example, a room with a tub, a shower and an enclosed toilet, comes to 150 CFM. A large primary bathroom with an open doorless shower is exactly the case where the code-minimum fan is plainly undersized, and the symptom is a mirror that never clears and paint that peels near the ceiling. Run the fan for about 20 minutes after use, ideally on a timer, and duct it to the outside rather than into the attic.

Benches, niches and heated floors

Every horizontal surface inside a shower has to slope towards the drain: the bench, the curb, the window sill, the niche shelf. Waterproofing manufacturers say so plainly, though notably none of them publish a slope rate for a bench top, so anyone quoting you one is quoting a habit rather than a specification. The requirement that matters more is continuity: the waterproofing has to run unbroken across the bench and through the niche, with the fasteners and seams sealed. A niche is a hole cut in your waterproofing, and it either gets detailed properly or it becomes the leak.

Electric radiant floor heating is permitted in a shower floor with the right system, and it is a genuinely nice thing in a curbless bathroom where the shower floor is the bathroom floor. Two conditions. Each circuit needs a Class A ground fault circuit interrupter. And the heating membrane is not the waterproofing: in a shower, the bonded waterproofing membrane goes over the heating cables and the uncoupling mat, not instead of them. That detail gets missed, and it is the difference between a warm floor and a slow leak. Not every manufacturer lists their mat for shower floors, so the specific product’s listing is the thing to check.

Designing for later, not just for now

Accessibility standards apply to public buildings and covered multifamily housing, not to a private single-family house, so none of the following is required of you. It is worth knowing anyway, because a curbless shower is the single most future-proof thing in a bathroom and the incremental cost at construction is small.

The accessible benchmarks: a transfer shower is 36 by 36 inches exactly; a standard roll-in is at least 60 inches wide by 30 inches deep; the threshold maximum is half an inch; grab bars sit 33 to 36 inches above the floor and everything, bar, seat, fastener and mount, is designed for a 250-pound load applied in any direction; controls sit 38 to 48 inches up; and a handheld spray on a 59-inch hose that also works as a fixed head covers both cases. Among Houzz users who recently remodelled, 61 percent included grab bars and 28 percent went curbless, so this is not a fringe consideration.

The cheap version of all of this is blocking. While the framing is open, screw 2x blocking between the studs where a bar might one day go. It costs an hour. Retrofitting it means demolishing a tiled wall. Our guide to the order a bathroom is remodelled in explains where that step falls.

A real walk-in shower in Irvine

This Irvine primary bathroom, completed in 2025, is a good example of what a walk-in actually buys you, which is floor. The room had beige tile, a corner soaking tub sitting on a platform that took roughly a third of the floor area, a framed glass shower and a builder-grade vanity running wall to wall under a dropped soffit.

The platform came out and the tub drain moved so a freestanding tub could sit under the window. The shower was rebuilt as a walk-in with a low curb and three tiled niches, and the vanity became a floating wood cabinet with a single backlit mirror. The plantation shutters stayed. Same room, same footprint, and you can now see the whole floor, which is most of what makes a bathroom feel bigger. Note the low curb rather than curbless: on a job like this, where the structure was not being opened, a low curb was the honest answer. Photographs are on the Irvine bathroom remodel project page, and there is a full gut with a large glass shower on the Inglewood primary bathroom page.

What to ask before you sign

• Curbless or low curb, and if curbless, is the floor structure being recessed and how?
• Which waterproofing system, and is every component in the shower from that same system?
• Linear or centre drain, and which way does the floor fall relative to the opening?
• What size is the exhaust fan, how was that size arrived at, and where does the duct terminate?
• Is blocking for future grab bars included?
• Is the glass in the price, and is the schedule allowing for templating after the tile is done?
• If a heated floor is included, whose system, and does the waterproofing go over the cables?
• Has the local building department been asked about curbless, or is that assumed?

Our bathroom remodel cost guide covers pricing by scope, and how to hire a general contractor without getting scammed covers verifying the licence and the contract terms.

Where we build walk-in showers

We build bathrooms from our Van Nuys office across the San Fernando Valley, the rest of Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. Curbless is easiest on the slab-on-grade houses common in Orange County and the Inland Empire, where the pour can be depressed or cut. On raised-foundation Valley houses it means dropping the subfloor between joists, which is a framing decision made early or not at all. Older Los Angeles and Pasadena houses often have a hot-mopped pan at the end of its life behind the tile, which is worth knowing before you plan around keeping the existing shower. See our bathroom remodeling service and all of our service areas.

Walk-in shower FAQs

What is the minimum size for a walk-in shower?

By code in California, at least 1,024 square inches of finished interior area, able to encompass a 30-inch circle, maintained to 70 inches above the drain. That works out to roughly 32 by 32 inches. The National Kitchen and Bath Association recommends at least 36 by 36 inches, which is a comfort recommendation rather than a legal minimum, and in practice a shower you would actually enjoy using is larger than either.

How big does a doorless shower need to be?

There is no published standard, and any specific figure you find online is somebody’s opinion presented as a rule. The code minimum interior size still applies, and the one enforceable rule about geometry is that the showerhead must not discharge directly at the entrance. Containment is controlled by where the head points, how far the opening is from the spray, whether the floor slopes away from the opening, and whether a fixed return panel screens the head. A linear drain at the back wall, which lets the whole floor fall away from the opening on one plane, does more than any dimension.

Are curbless showers allowed in California?

They are built throughout California, and Los Angeles publishes an approval path for them, but the position is jurisdiction-specific: the plumbing code language on thresholds is conditional rather than mandatory, and at least one county still publishes guidance reading it restrictively. Confirm with your building department before you design around it. Structurally, curbless requires the floor to be recessed, the slope run to the drain, and the waterproofing extended past the wet area.

Can you build a curbless shower on a wood floor?

Yes, and it is common on raised-foundation houses, but it is worth knowing that the tile industry publishes standard methods only for curbless receptors on a depressed concrete slab. For wood-framed floors there are no current standards or handbook methods, so the installation follows one manufacturer’s system and instructions exactly. The subfloor is recessed between the joists, usually with the joists doubled around the opening. Ask which system is being used and confirm nothing is being mixed between brands.

Do I need a bigger exhaust fan for a large walk-in shower?

Usually yes. The California minimum is 50 CFM intermittent, which is a floor for a small bathroom. The Home Ventilating Institute recommends one CFM per square foot up to 100 square feet, and above that adding up the fixtures at 50 CFM each for a toilet, shower and bathtub, or 100 for a jetted tub. A large primary bathroom easily reaches 150 CFM on that method. Duct it outside, not into the attic, and run it about 20 minutes after use.

Linear drain or centre drain?

A linear drain lets the shower floor slope on a single plane, which is what makes large-format floor tile possible and what lets the entire floor fall away from a doorless opening when the drain is at the back wall. A centre drain needs four converging slope planes, which is why traditional shower floors use small mosaic tile. Linear costs more and the position has to be fixed at rough-in, well before tile.

How thick should frameless shower glass be?

Frameless panels are typically 3/8-inch or 1/2-inch tempered safety glass, and the thickness is determined by the panel’s height, width and area rather than by taste. As a guide, 3/8-inch is generally used up to about 84 inches tall and 1/2-inch up to about 120 inches, with tighter limits where a corner is unsupported. All shower glass must be safety glazing. The glass is templated against the finished tile, so it is fabricated after tiling rather than ordered from the drawing.

Is a walk-in shower a good idea if we might sell?

Showers are the most upgraded feature in bathroom remodels, and low-curb and curbless entries are among the most common aging-in-place features people include, so a well-built walk-in is not a niche choice. The judgement call is whether you are removing the only bathtub in the house, which matters to buyers with small children. We have no data to put behind that, so treat it as an opinion rather than a rule.

Get a shower designed around your room, not a photograph

We will measure the room, look at the floor structure to tell you honestly whether curbless is straightforward or a framing project, check the venting and the existing drain, confirm your city’s position on curbless, and lay out the shower around where the head can point. You get an itemized proposal naming the waterproofing system, the drain type and the fan size rather than the word “standard”. The site visit takes about two hours and the proposal follows within 48 hours. Both are free, and we reply within one business day.

A bathroom remodel runs in a fixed order: design and selections, permit, demolition, framing and blocking, rough plumbing, rough electrical, exhaust ventilation, rough inspection, backer board, waterproofing, the shower pan water test, tile, then vanity, fixtures and glass, then final inspection. The sequence is not a matter of preference. Half of it is dictated by inspection stops, and the other half by the fact that each trade needs the one before it finished and cured. Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based in Van Nuys that builds bathrooms for homeowners across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County.

We are led by Dekel Sofer; the company has completed hundreds of projects and holds a 4.7-star rating across 146 reviews on Yelp. Code requirements below are the California state minimum and the City of Los Angeles amendments; other cities in our service area adopt the same state codes with their own amendments, so confirm the local details with your building department.

The bathroom remodel order, step by step

Why the order matters more than the finishes

Almost every expensive bathroom problem is a sequencing problem wearing a different costume. A vanity chosen after the plumbing is roughed in means the drain is in the wrong place for the cabinet. A freestanding tub chosen after the rough means the floor has to be opened again for the filler. A niche framed before the tile layout is drawn ends up with cut tiles on both sides. Shower glass ordered early cannot be measured, because glass is templated against the finished tile, not the drawing.

The single most useful thing a homeowner can do is finish step one completely. Every fixture, the exact tub, the exact vanity, the shower valve trim, the tile and the layout, decided and purchased or confirmed available, before demolition. Rough plumbing is set to the fixtures you actually bought, not to a generic layout, and that is why we settle selections during design rather than during construction.

Do you need a permit to remodel a bathroom in Los Angeles?

Usually yes, and the answer decides your schedule. In the City of Los Angeles, a straightforward remodel that replaces cabinets, flooring, wall finishes, tile, counters and plumbing or electrical fixtures can be pulled as a combined permit online. As soon as the work involves changes to walls or openings, or new plumbing or electrical penetrations into existing walls, the city asks for two sets of floor plans at quarter-inch scale showing the existing and proposed layouts of the bathroom and the adjacent rooms, and it goes through a Construction Services Center rather than the online counter. LADBS separately lists a kitchen or bathroom remodel with no structural changes as eligible for an express permit, which is issued without plan check.

Three Los Angeles rules attach to the permit itself rather than to the design, and they surprise people. A permit valued over $500 on a house or duplex triggers water-conservation fixture requirements. A valuation over $1,000 triggers smoke detectors in each sleeping room and on each story. A valuation of $10,000 or more triggers an impact-hazard glazing retrofit that expressly includes shower doors, and, where there is gas piping, a seismic gas shut-off valve. Most full bathroom remodels clear all of these.

There is also a statewide rule worth knowing before you budget. Under Civil Code sections 1101.1 to 1101.8, a property built and available for use on or before 1 January 1994 must have all noncompliant plumbing fixtures in the building replaced as a condition of final approval when a permit is issued for alterations or improvements. Noncompliant means toilets over 1.6 gallons per flush, showerheads over 2.5 gallons per minute and interior faucets over 2.2 gallons per minute. On a 1950s Valley house with three original toilets, that is a real line item in a one-bathroom remodel.

The code checkpoints inside the sequence

These are the requirements that decide whether a rough inspection passes. They are worth knowing because they constrain the design, not just the build, and a layout drawn without them gets redrawn.

These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.

The ventilation line catches the most people. California requires mechanical exhaust in any room containing a bathtub or shower, and unlike the model code used in most other states there is no operable-window exception. The duct has to terminate outside the building. A fan that dumps into the attic or a soffit cavity is not compliant and, in a Los Angeles climate, is how you get mould in the roof sheathing above a shower.

Waterproofing: the step that decides whether the bathroom lasts

Tile and grout are not waterproof, and this is the step where cheap bathrooms are made. There are two legitimate systems and they are not interchangeable.

A pan liner under a mortar bed

A sheet membrane or a hot-mopped liner sits under the mortar bed, turns up at least 3 inches vertically at the walls, and drains to the weep holes of a clamping-ring drain. Water passes through the tile and the setting bed and is carried out by the liner. This system only works if there is a pre-slope beneath the liner, sloped to the drain, so the water that reaches the liner actually goes somewhere. A flat liner on a flat floor holds water permanently. It is the most common defect we find in a shower built in the 1990s.

A bonded membrane over a pre-sloped bed

A liquid or sheet membrane meeting ANSI A118.10 is applied on top of a pre-sloped mortar bed, directly under the tile, and drains to a bonding-flange drain. Water never enters the setting bed at all. This is what we use on most bathrooms now, including the Inglewood project below. The failure mode to avoid is mixing the two systems: a bonded membrane paired with a clamping-ring drain, or either system without the pre-slope, will leak eventually no matter how good the tile work is. The relevant standards are published by the Tile Council of North America.

What goes behind the tile

Water-resistant gypsum board, the green or purple board sold as a bathroom product, is not a shower material. The residential code permits it in a bathroom but not over a vapor retarder in a shower or bathtub compartment, and every California building department handout we work from calls for cement board or fibre-cement backer in the wet area. If a bid says green board in the shower, that bid is not comparable to one that says cement board and a bonded membrane.

The pan is then filled with water to the level of the rough threshold and left to stand before anything covers it. That test is a code requirement, and in some cities it is a scheduled inspection stop of its own. It is also the last cheap moment to find a problem.

Converting a tub to a shower

The received wisdom is that a tub-to-shower conversion means opening the floor or the ceiling below, because a tub drains through a 1.5-inch trap and a shower needs a 2-inch one. In California that is not always true. The plumbing code carries a retrofit allowance: for a bathtub-to-shower conversion, a 1.5-inch trap and trap arm is permitted where the shower is no larger than 36 inches wide by 60 inches long. That is exactly the footprint of a standard alcove tub, so a same-footprint conversion in that size usually keeps the existing drain, and the cost driver everyone warns about disappears. Anything larger than 36 by 60 needs the 2-inch drain. Confirm it with your building department, because this is the kind of provision cities amend.

What actually determines whether the drain can move is the trap arm limit: the distance from the trap to its vent is capped by pipe size, roughly 42 inches on 1.5-inch pipe and 60 inches on 2-inch, sloped a quarter-inch per foot. Move the drain further than that and you are adding venting, which is when the ceiling below comes down. Ask any contractor quoting a conversion where the vent is, and whether the new drain position stays inside that distance. It is the single question that separates a two-week job from a five-week one.

One caution that is judgement rather than code: if it is the only bathtub in the house, think hard before removing it. Buyers with small children look for one. We have no data to put behind that, so treat it as an opinion, not a rule.

Blocking for grab bars, while the walls are open

Accessibility requirements in the building code apply to multifamily and public buildings, not to a detached single-family house, so nothing here is mandatory for most homeowners. It is still the cheapest thing you will ever do in a bathroom. At step four, while the framing is exposed, screwing horizontal 2x blocking between the studs beside the toilet and along both shower walls costs almost nothing in materials and about an hour of labour.

The reason it matters is the load. The building code designs grab bars to resist a 250-pound concentrated load applied in any direction. Drywall anchors do not carry that, and no toggle bolt in tile and cement board does either with any confidence. If the blocking is not there, a grab bar added later means opening a finished tiled wall. Put the blocking in now whether or not anyone in the house needs a bar today, and note on the plans where it is. The same logic applies to a curbless shower: it needs the subfloor recessed between the joists, which is a decision at framing and impossible afterwards.

A real bathroom remodel in Inglewood, in order

This primary bathroom in Inglewood, completed in 2025, ran the sequence exactly as described. The room came out to the studs. With the walls open, the supply and drain lines were rerouted for the new tub position and the shower valve, which is the only moment those decisions are cheap. Drywall went up on the dry walls and cement board in the wet area, then a waterproofing membrane over the cement board before any tile. Then marble-look panels on the main walls, black textured tile in the shower, and only after all of that the freestanding tub, the double vanity with black stone counters, the sconces and the frameless glass.

The owners now have a bathroom with none of the original plumbing behind the walls. That is the argument for doing the rough work properly rather than resurfacing: you only have the walls open once. Every stage is photographed on the Inglewood primary bathroom project page, and there are two more finished bathrooms on our Irvine freestanding tub and Ontario hall bathroom project pages.

What actually sets the schedule

Published bathroom timelines are mostly marketing, so it is more useful to know what the schedule is actually made of. Six things control it, and five of them are in the sequence rather than in the labour:

• Which permit path you are on. An express or online permit can issue quickly; anything that changes walls or openings goes to plan check with drawings.
• How many inspection stops there are, and the wait between requesting an inspection and getting one. Work stops at each one, because nothing may be covered before it is approved.
• Cure and test time. The waterproofing has to cure, and the pan is filled and left standing before tile.
• Whether the drain moves. If the vent distance forces the ceiling below to be opened, that is another trade, another inspection and another repair.
• Shower glass, which cannot be templated until the tile is finished and then has to be fabricated.
• Long-lead items: stone fabrication, a specific tub, a custom vanity.

Our guide to bathroom remodel cost covers pricing by scope and the typical duration ranges we quote.

Mistakes that come from working out of order

• Demolishing before the fixtures are on site. Rough plumbing gets set to a guess, and the tub that arrives three weeks later does not match it.
• Skipping the pre-slope. The most expensive omission in the trade, and completely invisible once the tile is on.
• Green board in the shower. Cheap on the bid, and a tear-out in seven years.
• Venting the fan into the attic. Not compliant, and it moves the moisture problem rather than solving it.
• No blocking for grab bars. An hour of work at framing, or a demolished tile wall later.
• Ordering glass from the drawing. Glass is templated against finished tile. Ordering early buys nothing and risks a piece that does not fit.
• Choosing the vanity after the rough. The drain and the supply stubs end up behind a drawer bank.
• Tiling to an undecided niche. Frame and locate the niche with the tile layout drawn, so it lands on full tiles.

Where we remodel bathrooms

We build bathrooms from our Van Nuys office across the San Fernando Valley, the rest of Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, western Riverside County and western San Bernardino County. The work varies with the housing stock: 1950s and 1960s Valley houses usually mean galvanized supply lines and cast-iron drains that are worth replacing entirely while the walls are open, Orange County tracts from the 1970s and 1980s are more often a straight reconfiguration, and older Pasadena and Los Angeles houses bring lath and plaster, undersized venting and sometimes a hot-mopped pan at the end of its life. See our bathroom remodeling service and all of our service areas.

Bathroom remodel order FAQs

In what order should you remodel a bathroom?

Design and selections, permit, demolition, framing and blocking, rough plumbing, rough electrical, exhaust ventilation, rough inspection, backer board and drywall, waterproofing, the shower pan water test, tile, then vanity, fixtures and lighting, then shower glass, then final inspection and punch list. The order is set by inspection stops and by each trade needing the previous one finished, so it is not adjustable.

Does the floor or the shower tile go in first?

All tile goes in after waterproofing is complete and the shower pan has been water tested, and before the vanity, toilet and trim. Within the tile stage, walls are usually set before the floor in a shower so that the wall tile lands on the pan correctly, and the bathroom floor is generally tiled before the vanity and toilet are set so the finished floor runs under them.

When should I buy the fixtures?

Before demolition. Rough plumbing is set to the actual tub, shower valve, vanity and toilet you have chosen, and their real dimensions and rough-in requirements. Buying after the rough is the most common cause of a bathroom that has to be opened up twice.

Do I need a permit to remodel a bathroom in Los Angeles?

In most cases yes. Replacing cabinets, flooring, wall finishes, tile, counters and fixtures can be pulled as a combined permit online in the City of Los Angeles. Changing walls or openings, or making new plumbing or electrical penetrations into existing walls, requires floor plans and a full submittal. A permit also triggers Los Angeles retrofit rules at $500, $1,000 and $10,000 of valuation, and on a property built on or before 1 January 1994 it triggers replacement of all noncompliant plumbing fixtures in the building under state law.

Can I convert a tub to a shower without moving the drain?

Often, yes. The California Plumbing Code allows a 1.5-inch trap and trap arm for a bathtub-to-shower retrofit where the shower is no larger than 36 inches wide by 60 inches long, which is the footprint of a standard alcove tub. A same-size conversion in that range can usually keep the existing drain. A larger shower needs a 2-inch drain, and moving the drain beyond the trap-arm-to-vent distance means adding venting and opening the ceiling below.

Does a bathroom need an exhaust fan if it has a window?

Yes. California requires mechanical exhaust directly to the outdoors in every room containing a bathtub, shower or tub-shower combination, at 50 CFM intermittent or 20 CFM continuous. There is no operable-window exception here as there is in the model code used in many other states, and the duct must terminate outside the building rather than in the attic.

What is the minimum size for a shower in California?

Not less than 1,024 square inches of finished interior area, capable of containing a 30-inch circle, maintained to a point 70 inches above the shower drain. If a door is fitted it must swing out and leave a 22-inch unobstructed opening. A toilet needs at least 15 inches from its centerline to any side wall or fixture and 24 inches of clear space in front.

Is green board acceptable behind shower tile?

No. Water-resistant gypsum board may be used elsewhere in a bathroom but not over a vapor retarder in a shower or bathtub compartment, and California building departments call for cement board or fibre-cement backer in the wet area, with a waterproofing system over it. Tile and grout alone are not a waterproofing system.

Get a written bathroom remodel price and a sequence you can see

We will look at the existing plumbing and venting, tell you honestly whether the drain has to move, confirm the permit path for your city, and give you an itemized proposal with the stages laid out in order so you know what happens in which week. The site visit takes about two hours and the written proposal follows within 48 hours. The site visit and the estimate are free, and we reply within one business day.