Key takeaways
- Getting the house ready for a one-day shower install takes an evening or two.
- Clear the bathroom and the path from the door to it, put pets somewhere behind a closed door, and leave the driveway open for the crew's truck.
- Plan where everyone showers that night, because the first shower in the new one is the next morning.
- An adult needs to be home when the crew starts and again when they finish.
The consultant measured the hall bath in your Montgomery ranch two weeks ago, you signed, and the install is on the kitchen calendar for a Tuesday. Most advice on how to prepare for a bathroom remodel is written for a whole-room job that keeps a room torn up for weeks: a temporary bathroom, a storage plan, a schedule with the plumber. A one-day shower install asks a lot less of you, and the list below is the one our crews would hand you.
One thing first, so the list makes sense. The one-day job is the wet area: the tub or shower area taken to the studs and rebuilt with a new base, grout-free solid-surface walls and new fixtures. What comes out and what stays in a wet-area gut covers that in detail. If your job also includes the floor, the vanity or the toilet, that part is a separate, longer job, and your consultant told you how long before you signed. Everything below is for the one day.
What our crew handles, and what's left to you
The base, walls and trim for your shower are custom-measured at the consultation and made to those numbers before install day, so nothing gets measured or cut in your hallway. The crew that shows up is the crew that measured, and our installers are background-checked. Install day is usually one visit. They take out the old tub or shower, put the new one in, clean up, show you how to care for it and register your lifetime warranty before they leave.
Your part is the house around the bathroom. It takes an evening or two, and none of it needs a tool. If you want the day itself with the clock on it, what to expect from a one-day bathroom remodel, hour by hour walks through it from the first knock to the last walkthrough.
Step 1: Clear the bathroom the weekend before
By Sunday night the bathroom should look like nobody uses it. Start in the shower and work out:
- Empty the tub area: bottles, razors, the caddy hanging off the showerhead, the suction-cup shelf.
- Take the bath mat, rugs and wastebasket out of the room.
- Clear the vanity top and the back of the toilet.
- Take down anything hanging on the back of the door or on hooks near the tub.
- Move the toothbrushes and the things you reach for every morning to the kitchen or the other bathroom.
If you can see bare floor from the doorway to the tub, you're done with this step. You don't need to take anything off the walls in the shower area or loosen the old tub. That's the crew's work.
Step 2: Open a path from the door to the bathroom
The old tub or shower goes out through your house, and the new base and wall panels come in the same way. Pick the door closest to the bathroom, usually the front door in a ranch, and walk the route the way a man carrying one end of a bathtub would.
Move the runner in the hall, the plant stand by the door and the side table at the corner. Take down the framed photos on a narrow hallway wall, the ones at shoulder height. If the coat closet door opens into the hall, keep it shut. In a split-level in Fairfield, that usually means the stairs to the upper level too, so clear the landing.
If the route has a tight turn or steep front steps, tell your project coordinator when they call to confirm the date. They'd rather hear it on the phone than find out on Tuesday.
Step 3: Put pets and kids somewhere with a closed door
The front door opens and closes a lot on install day, and the shower area is a work area with the wall open to the studs. Neither one is a good place for a dog or a grandchild.
The veterinarians at VCA Animal Hospitals recommend keeping pets in a kennel or a secure room during home repairs, telling the workers a pet is in the house, and putting a sign on that door asking people not to open it (VCA, home repairs and pet safety). The same page notes that the noise of power tools and hammers can upset a cat or dog used to a quiet house, and suggests day boarding if keeping the pet confined at home won't work. An indoor cat and an open front door are the combination to plan around.
If the grandkids are staying that week, plan their day somewhere else: their other grandparents, the library, the park. A crew working around a five-year-old is a slower crew.
Step 4: Leave room in the driveway for the crew's truck
Our crew carries the old tub out and the new shower in, so the truck needs to be close to the door you picked in step 2. Move your car into the garage, or onto the street, the night before. If you share a driveway with the house next door, give the neighbor a heads-up.
Check your condo or HOA rules on work trucks if you live somewhere that has them. On a tight cul-de-sac in West Chester, the spot in front of your mailbox is worth holding for the morning.
Step 5: Plan the night without that shower
The new walls, base and fixtures are in by evening. You don't shower in it that night, because the caulk needs to set; your first shower is the next morning. Plan the gap now, while it's easy.
If the house has a second bathroom, that's where the evening showers happen. If it has one bathroom, like a lot of 1920s houses in Hyde Park and Norwood, shower the morning of the install, or plan on a family member's shower that evening. Ask your project coordinator how the rest of the bathroom works that day in a one-bathroom house, so you aren't guessing at 2 o'clock.
Step 6: Put away valuables and medicine
Our installers are background-checked, and you should still treat install day like any day you have people working in the house. Put jewelry, cash and the checkbook in a drawer in a room the crew won't walk through.
The medicine cabinet is the one people forget, because it's in the bathroom. Move prescriptions, glasses and the pill organizer somewhere you can reach them without asking the crew to stop work.
Step 7: Have an adult home at the start and end of the day
An adult needs to be home when the crew starts and again when they finish. The hours in between are yours: go to the store, sit in the kitchen with the radio on, or check in from work.
At the start, you let the crew in and answer the questions only you can answer, like which door to use and where the truck should park. At the end, the crew walks you through the new shower, leaves written care instructions (mild soap and water, no abrasive pads, no harsh cleaners) and registers the warranty, which covers the product and the work for as long as you own the home.
If you're setting this up for a parent who lives alone, those two windows are the ones to cover. Your mother doesn't need you there all day.
What you don't need to do before install day
You don't need to buy materials, pick anything up, measure, or empty the hall closet. You don't need to tear out the old tile or stay home from work all day. If something isn't right after the crew leaves, call us, and we make it right.
Book the free in-home estimate
Every install date starts with a design consultant in your bathroom. They come to the house, measure, bring samples of colors and finishes, walk you through the options and recommend what fits, then leave a written quote. Most of our customers end up choosing a marble or travertine look. With promotional financing, the shower area gutted to the studs and rebuilt costs as low as $150 a month, or 12 months no interest. That's on approved credit; the financing page has the current terms.
If you're still comparing bids, take the three questions to ask a bathroom contractor before a deposit to every company that comes out, ours included. When you're ready, call (513) 657-3750 or send us your address and a good time, and we'll come measure. The one-day bathroom remodel page has the rest of the process.
One-day shower replacement in Cincinnati puts the whole job in one place: what it covers, what it doesn't, and how to judge a bid.
