Customer Question: Replacing a bathtub with a shower
Written by Mike Johnson in Bathroom
This following question came from a customer in Oconomowoc.
Plumbing Question
“Mike, we want to remodel our master bathroom. The bathroom has an old bathtub and a separate shower. My husband and I were wondering if we could tear out the bathtub and the shower and put the shower where the bathtub was. We figured since the bathtub already has plumbing we could save money by not having to re-plumb everything. What is your opinion about that?”
Answer
A bathtub has a drain and water supply just like a shower has. The problem is, the drain pipe on a typical bathtub is 1.5″ to meet code requirements. A shower has a minimum drain requirement of 2″. What this means is the drain is simply not sized properly and it would have to be replaced.
The good news is the bathtub already has a vent. With a little bit of plumbing that vent can usually be made to work on the shower drain to meet code requirements. Without looking at it it’s impossible to determine where the bathtub drain connects into the plumbing system. Fortunately, because the plumbing pipes have already been installed, sometimes it’s just a matter of replacing a small part of the system instead of the whole thing. I hope that helps answers your question.
Mike
Would you like to ask a question?
If you have any questions concerning residential plumbing feel free to ask. You can send me an email right here from the website in the “contact” page, call me at 920-988-0014, or ask me a question on Twitter – @OconomowocPlumb.
