Shower surround replacement in Southeast Michigan

A shower surround is the three walled panel system around a tub or shower base, and when it cracks or the seams open, water goes straight into the framing behind it. Shower surround replacement from Wright’s bathroom repair crew means pulling the old panels off, finding out what the water has done to the wall, and setting a new unit square and sealed. It is a one or two day job rather than a remodel, and it is the right answer far more often than people expect.

The crack at the corner nobody caused

Acrylic and fiberglass panels crack at stress points, and the stress point is almost always a corner or the spot where a soap shelf meets a wall. Behind that crack is usually a void, because the original installer did not shim the panel tight to the studs. Every time somebody leans on the wall it flexes, and the material fatigues at the same point until it splits.

Repair kits exist and they work on a hairline in a flat field. They do not work on a corner split, because nothing stops the flexing that caused it. Filling that crack buys a few months.

Seams, and where the water actually goes

Multi piece surrounds have vertical seams at the corners, and those seams rely on a bead of sealant that was never meant to last forever. Once it fails, water runs down behind the panel onto the bottom plate of the wall. The tell is a stain or a soft spot on the floor outside the tub, or paint blistering on the other side of that wall in the next room.

If the joints are the only failure and the panels are sound, cutting out and rerunning every bead is the cheaper fix and we will say so. We do not sell a replacement to a homeowner who needs a caulking visit.

What the wall looks like once the panel comes off

This is the part of the job that cannot be quoted from a photograph. Behind a surround that has leaked for years we typically find soaked drywall, and in older houses green board that was never rated for direct wetting in the first place. Sometimes the studs are stained and sound. Sometimes the bottom plate has rotted and the framing needs a section replaced.

We cut back to solid material, replace what is gone, and set the new panels on a proper backer rather than on whatever survived. Skipping that step is how a brand new surround starts leaking in two years. We show you what is back there before we close it up, because you are paying for work you will never see again.

One piece units and why they rarely fit

A single molded surround has no seams and is the most watertight option available. It also will not go through a standard bathroom door, which is why they appear in new construction and almost never in a retrofit. Getting one into a finished second floor bathroom means taking out a wall section or a window.

Multi piece kits exist for exactly this reason. They assemble in the room, the seams sit in the corners where they can be sealed properly, and a careful installation is watertight for a long time. That is what goes into most Southeast Michigan retrofits.

Keeping the tub, changing the walls

Most of these jobs keep the existing tub. A cast iron tub in a prewar house is worth keeping on its own merits, and pulling one out of a second floor bathroom is a considerably bigger job than replacing the walls around it. A steel or acrylic tub in sound condition is worth keeping too, and a chipped finish is a separate repair rather than a reason to start over.

We check the tub flange before we order anything, because the new surround has to sit over it correctly. A tub set slightly out of level, which is common in older houses, changes how the bottom panel meets the rim and it is better to know that before the panels arrive than during the installation.

The valve behind the wall, while it is open

Replacing a surround is the one moment when the wall around the shower valve is accessible without cutting tile. If the handle drips, will not hold temperature, or the trim is corroded, doing that work now costs a fraction of doing it later. Waiting means opening a brand new panel in three years.

We look at the valve on every one of these jobs and tell you what we see, whether or not you asked. Scoping a valve replacement into the same visit is usually the cheapest version of that work you will ever be offered.

What the replacement includes

  • Old panels removed and hauled away, with the wall opened for inspection
  • Wet drywall, backer and any rotted framing cut out and replaced
  • New surround set plumb and shimmed tight, with fasteners in the flanges
  • Valve and spout penetrations cut clean and sealed at the escutcheon
  • Every seam and the pan joint run in one hundred percent silicone

Surround, or tile, or the whole room

Three different jobs get confused with each other here. A surround replacement keeps the tub or base and changes the walls around it. A tile shower rebuild goes back to the waterproofing layer and the pan underneath, and it costs considerably more because the pan is what usually failed. A full bathroom remodel changes the layout, the floor and the fixtures as well.

If you want the tub gone entirely and a walk in shower in its place, that is a design decision rather than a repair, and our renovation side handles it as a tub to shower conversion.

Lead paint in houses built before the late seventies

Federal rules require that renovation disturbing painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 be performed by a certified firm following specific work practices. Plenty of Washtenaw and Wayne county bathrooms fall into that category, and opening a wall behind a surround disturbs painted drywall. We scope this at the estimate stage rather than discovering it on site, and we will tell you what it means for the job before you commit to it.

Rentals and houses about to go on the market

Where we work across Southeast Michigan

We cover Washtenaw, Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties from Platt Road in Ypsilanti. Ypsilanti, Canton and Plymouth have a lot of eighties and nineties housing stock, which is exactly the generation of surround now reaching the end of its life.

Get the surround replaced

Send us a photo of the crack and tell us whether the floor outside the tub feels soft. View our Portfolio to see the bathrooms our crews have built, or contact us now for a free quote. If the room may need more than the walls, book a consultation.