Expert Shower Remodeling Contractor Services in Portland

Shower Remodeling in Portland & Vancouver

The shower is the wettest assembly in your house. Every day it takes on gallons of hot water, steam, and the kind of standing moisture no other part of a home has to survive — and here in the Pacific Northwest, it does it in a house that rarely gets a chance to fully dry out.

Which is why almost every shower problem we're called to fix is not a tile problem. It's a waterproofing failure, hidden behind tile that still looks fine. By the time you see a stain on the ceiling below or a soft spot at the curb, water has been moving through the wall for a long time. A shower done right is a continuous, redundant water-control system — and the tile is just the surface you happen to see.

Why Showers Fail — and How We Build So Yours Won't

Showers rarely fail because of the tile you picked. They fail at the layer nobody sees. Here are the failures we find behind demolished showers again and again — and the detail we build in so yours holds up.

The FailureUnsealed or undersloped shower panWater pools in the base instead of reaching the drain, then wicks into the mortar and out to the framing.

How We Prevent ItA pan built to fall to the drainWe set a true pre-slope of at least a quarter inch per foot toward the drain so water always has somewhere to go — before a single tile is set.

The FailureNo waterproof membraneOlder showers relied on tile and grout to keep water out. Both are porous. Water passes straight through to the substrate.

How We Prevent ItA continuous bonded membraneWe install a dedicated waterproof membrane across the entire wet zone — walls, pan, curb, and niche — lapped and sealed so it works as one skin.

The FailureGrout treated as waterproofingGrout and caulk are wear surfaces, not a water barrier. When they craze or shrink, water gets behind the tile — and stays.

How We Prevent ItWaterproofing behind, grout on topThe membrane stops the water; the grout just fills the joints. If a grout line ever cracks, the wall behind it is already protected.

The FailureMovement and cracking at the curbThe curb flexes as the house moves and dries out, cracking rigid tile and opening a path straight to the framing below.

How We Prevent ItA wrapped, reinforced curbWe fully wrap the curb in membrane and treat inside corners and transitions as movement joints, so seasonal shifts don't become leaks.

The FailureA poorly detailed drainWater that reaches the pan below the tile has no way to escape, so it sits in the mortar bed indefinitely.

How We Prevent ItThe right drain, tied to the membraneWe match the drain to the waterproofing method — weep-hole or bonded-flange — and connect the membrane directly to it so every drop is captured.

The Layers Behind the Tile

A shower wall is a stack of parts, and each one has a job. When we build a shower we work from the framing outward, proving each layer before we cover it. Here is that stack, from the wall studs to the surface you touch.

1
Blocking & backer boardWe add solid blocking in the framing for grab bars, benches, and glass, then hang cement or foam backer board rated for wet areas — never ordinary drywall — as the substrate everything above bonds to.
2
Waterproof membraneA continuous bonded membrane goes over the backer across every wet surface — walls, pan, curb, and niche — lapped and sealed at the seams so it performs as one uninterrupted barrier.
3
Sloped mortar pan & pre-slopeThe base is built with a pre-slope under the pan and a finished slope above it, both falling to the drain at roughly a quarter inch per foot, so water can never sit flat and pool.
4
Drain assemblyThe drain is chosen to match the waterproofing method: a traditional weep-hole drain for a mortar-bed system, a bonded-flange drain that seals directly to a sheet membrane, or a linear drain along one wall for large-format tile and curbless layouts.
5
Tile, grout & sealantOnly now does tile go on — set in the right mortar, with grout and flexible sealant in the joints and corners. It's the wear surface and the look, sitting on top of a water-control system that's already complete.

Get the first four layers right and the tile is free to be about design. Skip any of them and no tile choice can save the shower.

Curb, Curbless, or a Tub-to-Shower Conversion?

Before finishes, we decide the shape of the shower itself. Three configurations cover most Portland-area homes, and the right one depends on your floor structure, your household, and how long you plan to stay. In all three we build in blocking for grab bars, plan niche and bench placement early, and detail the waterproofing to suit the layout.

Standard curbed shower

A raised, wrapped curb contains the water and keeps it off the bathroom floor. It's the most forgiving to build and works in almost any existing bathroom without touching the floor framing.

We build the curb wrapped in membrane with a recessed bench and niches sized to your bottles and blocked-in grab-bar backing.

Best for most remodels

Curbless / zero-threshold

The floor runs straight into the shower with no lip to step over — clean-looking, easy to clean, and the standard for aging in place and accessibility.

It requires recessing the floor framing (or building up the bathroom) so the shower floor can slope to a linear drain, so it's best planned before demo, not after.

Best for aging-in-place

Tub-to-shower conversion

We pull an unused tub and build a roomy walk-in shower in the same footprint — the most-requested shower project we do in the Portland and Vancouver area.

A great point to add a bench, a full-height niche, comfort-height fixtures, and grab-bar blocking while the wall is already open.

Best value upgrade

Glass and the Details That Date a Shower

Two showers with the same tile can look a decade apart, and the difference is almost always the details around the tile. Glass is the first thing the eye reads. Frameless glass uses thick tempered panels with minimal hardware for the cleanest, most open look and the highest cost. Semi-frameless glass keeps a slim frame on the fixed panels while the door swings free — a middle ground that reads clean and costs less. Framed enclosures wrap every edge in metal; they seal well and cost the least, but the heavy framing is the single detail that most dates a shower. In our hard, mineral-heavy Pacific Northwest water, we'll also talk through a protective coating on the glass that resists the spotting and etching that otherwise cloud a panel within a couple of years.

The smaller details matter just as much. Niches placed at a comfortable reach and aligned to the tile layout look built-in rather than punched-in; a bench set at a usable height earns its footprint instead of eating the shower. Fixture heights get planned around the people using the shower — a rain head high enough to stand under, a handheld on a slide bar, valves reachable from outside the spray so you're not stepping into a cold stream. None of these cost much to get right during design, and every one of them is expensive to move once the tile is set.

Waterproofing You Can't See Is Where the Money Should Go

Here's the counterintuitive part of a shower budget: the parts that decide whether it lasts are the parts you'll never see. Given a fixed budget, the smart move is to protect the pan and membrane first and let the finishes flex — a beautiful tile over a failed pan is a demolition waiting to happen, while a plainer tile over a bulletproof water-control system will outlast the rest of the bathroom. Below are realistic ranges for the shower work itself in our area; your written estimate is built to your actual space.

Tub-to-shower conversion$8k–$15k

Remove the tub and build a fully waterproofed walk-in shower in the same footprint, with new pan, membrane, tile, valve, and glass.

Standard tiled shower rebuild$12k–$22k

A curbed shower taken to the studs and rebuilt layer by layer — blocking, backer, membrane, sloped pan, niche, bench, tile, and frameless or semi-frameless glass.

Curbless custom shower$18k–$30k+

A zero-threshold shower with recessed floor framing, a linear drain, large-format tile, and premium frameless glass — the most involved build and the most future-proof.

Where Not to Cut

Never save money on the pan or the membrane

Every dollar trimmed from waterproofing comes back as a leak, and a leak means tearing the finished shower back out to fix it — paying twice for the same wall. If a budget is tight, we'd rather simplify the tile, the glass, or the fixtures than compromise the water-control system underneath. That's the layer that makes a shower last decades instead of years.

Portland Shower Remodeling FAQs

My shower is leaking — can it be fixed without a full rebuild?

Sometimes, but be careful. A leak at the valve, drain connection, or glass seal can occasionally be repaired in place. A leak coming through the pan or the tile field almost always means the waterproofing has failed, and there's no reliable way to fix that from the surface — the water is already behind the tile. In those cases a proper rebuild is cheaper over time than chasing the leak twice. We'll open it up, tell you honestly what we find, and give you real options.

How long does a shower remodel take?

A tub-to-shower conversion or a standard tiled shower rebuild typically runs about one to two weeks of on-site work, plus lead time to order glass and materials. Waterproofing has to cure and be flood-tested before tile goes on, so we don't rush that step — it's the whole point of the build. Your project manager gives you a day-by-day schedule before we start.

Can I keep my existing tub?

If you want to keep a tub, we can build a separate shower alongside it in a larger bath, or refinish and re-tile the tub surround as its own wet zone. Many homeowners, though, find a rarely-used tub is the best square footage in the bathroom to convert into a roomy walk-in shower. We'll help you weigh resale, how your household actually bathes, and the space you have.

Can you build a curbless shower on a concrete slab?

Yes, and it's a common question in the Portland area's older slab-on-grade and daylight-basement homes. A curbless shower needs the floor to slope to the drain, which on a slab usually means recessing the concrete or building up the surrounding floor to create the fall. It's very doable — it just has to be planned into the design from the start, because it changes how the base is framed and drained.

Do you build steam showers?

We do. A steam shower is a fully enclosed, ceiling-to-floor waterproofed room with a sloped ceiling to shed condensation, a vapor-tight door, and a dedicated steam generator. Because the whole enclosure — not just the lower walls — has to hold moisture, the waterproofing detailing is even more critical than in a standard shower. We build them as a sealed system from the framing out.

Will a new shower help with our damp Pacific Northwest bathrooms?

A well-built shower is only half the moisture story; the other half is ventilation. When we remodel a shower we check that the exhaust fan is properly sized and vented all the way outside — not into the attic — so steam actually leaves the house. In our climate that's the difference between a bathroom that dries out and one that grows mildew in the corners.

See exactly what's behind your shower — for free

Book a free in-home shower assessment. We'll look at your current shower, talk through waterproofing, layout, drain type, and glass, and give you an honest read on whether it needs a fix or a rebuild — along with a clear, itemized estimate and no obligation. Financing is available through Lend Home Improvement with $0 down and no prepayment penalty.

JDI Construction — family-owned design-build remodeler in downtown Vancouver, WA, serving Portland and SW Washington since 2007. Licensed in Oregon (CCB #176101) and Washington (JDICOCN932KZ), bonded and insured. In-house design and in-house trades, with a 5-year workmanship warranty on every shower we build.

Portland Shower Remodeling

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Shower Remodeling in Portland & Vancouver

Why Showers Fail — and How We Build So Yours Won't

The Layers Behind the Tile

Blocking & backer board

Waterproof membrane

Sloped mortar pan & pre-slope

Drain assembly

Tile, grout & sealant

Curb, Curbless, or a Tub-to-Shower Conversion?

Standard curbed shower

Curbless / zero-threshold

Tub-to-shower conversion

Glass and the Details That Date a Shower

Waterproofing You Can't See Is Where the Money Should Go

Never save money on the pan or the membrane

Portland Shower Remodeling FAQs

My shower is leaking — can it be fixed without a full rebuild?

How long does a shower remodel take?

Can I keep my existing tub?

Can you build a curbless shower on a concrete slab?

Do you build steam showers?

Will a new shower help with our damp Pacific Northwest bathrooms?

See exactly what's behind your shower — for free

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