Curbless Shower Retrofit Loveland CO

If someone in your house can no longer step over a shower curb, you have probably already been told the fix is a full bathroom demo. In most cases that is not true.

This shower in Loveland started as a standard 5′ x 3′ builders-grade alcove with an acrylic base, a raised curb, 4×4 wall tile, and framed glass doors. Three days later it was curbless, ADA-friendly, and open enough to get a walker or a caregiver into. About 80% of the original wall tile was never touched.

Here is exactly what came out, what stayed, and how to tell whether your shower is a candidate.

What “retrofit” actually means

There are two ways to end up with a curbless shower, and they are nothing alike.

A rebuild is what most people picture. All the tile comes out, the walls go to studs, the floor structure gets modified, a new waterproofing system goes in, and you are looking at two to three weeks of a bathroom you cannot use.

A retrofit removes the bottom twelve inches. That is it. The curb and the base come out, a low-profile curbless base goes in, the bottom band of tile and substrate is rebuilt and re-waterproofed, and the top six to seven feet of your existing shower is never disturbed.

On this Loveland job, what stayed:

• The top six-plus feet of original 4×4 wall tile
• The existing wall framing and substrate above the cut line
• The drain, in its original center location
• The valve, the showerhead, and every bit of the supply plumbing
• The existing tiled bathroom floor

What came out:

• The framed glass doors and track
• The bottom twelve inches of tile and substrate, all the way around
• The original acrylic base and its curb

You do not have to demolish an entire shower to make it curbless.

Why so many showers qualify

Builders-grade acrylic shower bases are effectively all the same unit. Same footprint, same flange, same drain positions. If the space is rectangular, the drain sits either dead center or at one end, right about where a bathtub drain would land. If the space is square, the drain is in the center. There are no surprises in there.

Roughly 99% of showers with an acrylic base have a builders pan in them. And a curbless low-profile acrylic base can be ordered to match either drain layout, which means the drain does not move. No plumber, no opening the ceiling below, no relocating anything.

The practical rule: if your shower has an acrylic base, a curbless retrofit can be ordered for it.

What we found under the old base

Nothing. Which is normal, and which is why these pans crack and flex in the first place.

A shower base is supposed to be set in a supporting bed of mortar so the pan is fully bedded and cannot move. On builders-grade installations there is almost never a bed under there. This one was sitting on bare plywood. They simply do not take the time to do it correctly, and every homeowner with a squeaky, flexing acrylic pan is living with the result.

The new base gets set properly. That flex problem goes away as a side effect of the retrofit.

The low-profile base, and how flush it really gets

The curbless bases we use are one inch tall. That single number drives every decision about whether your bathroom can go dead flush or ends up with a small rise at the entry.

Here is how it plays out by floor type:

• New tiled bathroom floor: the substrate can be built up to meet the base, so a dead flush, zero-threshold entry is achievable. This is the best outcome.
• Existing tile left in place: that is what happened here. The Loveland bathroom floor was already tiled, it stayed put, and the finished shower ended up with a 1/4″ entrance rise. Half of the ADA maximum, and nothing a walker or wheelchair notices.
• Vinyl bathroom floor: leave the vinyl and you will not be flush. Expect a 3/4″ to 1″ entrance height, because the subfloor cannot be cut out to compensate for a one-inch base. Getting a vinyl bathroom within ADA spec means installing tile in place of the vinyl.
• Carpeted bathroom floor: it needs to be replaced. There is no version of this where carpet stays.

Anything at or under half an inch meets ADA threshold guidance and clears a walker or a wheelchair without a fight. A quarter inch, like this job, is effectively invisible underfoot.

Why acrylic instead of a tiled curbless pan

We build tiled curbless showers all the time, and on a full remodel that is often the right call. On a retrofit it usually is not, for one reason: height.

A properly built tiled curbless pan needs enough depth for a mud bed with correct slope plus the tile itself. In an existing bathroom you rarely have that room and still come out flush with the surrounding floor. On top of that, a tiled curbless base requires tile installation on the bathroom floor as well – the two have to be built together to land at the same height. That turns a shower project into a whole-bathroom project.

The one-inch acrylic base solves the height problem in a single factory-sloped, single-piece unit. It is faster, it is cheaper, there is no field-built slope to get wrong, and in a bathroom that is already tiled it leaves the rest of the floor alone entirely.

The waterproofing detail that matters

When the bottom foot of tile comes off, the substrate behind it comes off too. It gets replaced with waterproof board, normally Schluter Kerdi-Board, and the new waterproofing is tied into the existing substrate above it so the system laps correctly and water always runs back into the pan.

This is the step that separates a retrofit from a patch job. Done right, the transition between new work and forty-year-old original tile is a continuous waterproof plane. Done wrong, you have built a leak on a schedule. You can read more about the systems we use on our methods and services page.

Glass doors out, heavy curtain in

Glass enclosures are the enemy of accessibility. Fixed panels eat half your opening, the track creates a trip edge right where you least want one, and no walker or wheelchair is clearing that geometry.

A heavy weighted curtain gives back the full five-foot opening, folds completely out of the way, and lets a caregiver reach in from any angle. Combined with correct pan slope, a properly weighted curtain keeps water where it belongs without a curb to do the work. It is also cheap to swap out, which glass is not.

Grab bars and the rest of the bathroom

Grab bars, towel bars, shelves, niches, benches, seats – if it mounts in a bathroom, it can usually go in during the same visit while the wall is already open and blocking can be added properly. A grab bar screwed into tile with drywall anchors is a decoration. One anchored into real blocking is a safety device.

The limits are electrical and plumbing relocation, which fall outside our insurance limitations. Moving an existing 2″ shower drain is in scope. Anything requiring new circuits or re-plumbing back to the stack is not.

What could disqualify your shower

Most of the objections people expect turn out to be non-issues. A few are real.

• Finished ceiling below the bathroom? Not a problem. The compression drain we use installs entirely from the top. No access needed underneath, no ceiling cut.
• Joists running the wrong way? Not a problem, as long as you have an existing builders pan. The replacement base is ordered to the same drain location, so nothing structural gets touched.
• Slab on grade? Doable. The bathroom flooring and substrate get built up to meet the base. The one hard limit is total flooring height: if your finish floor build-up is under half an inch, the numbers do not work, and you are left with the half-inch ADA entrance rather than flush.
• Replacing a tub with a curbless shower? Possible, but this one has a real catch. Tubs drain through a 1-1/2″ line. Every shower base requires a 2″ drain, run all the way back to the stack. That conversion requires a licensed plumber, and we do not do it. We can move an existing 2″ drain. We cannot upsize a 1-1/2″ tub drain. Budget for a plumber before you budget for tile.
• No acrylic base at all? If you have a site-built mud pan, the retrofit math changes and it may genuinely be a rebuild. That requires at least a conversation, and likely an in-person assessment.

Time and cost

This Loveland shower was three days, start to finish.

On cost, the useful comparison is not a dollar figure, it is a ratio: a curbless retrofit runs roughly 25% of what a full curbless rebuild costs. You are not paying for full tile demo, full re-tile, plumbing relocation, or two weeks of labor.

The one thing that can expand the scope is the bathroom floor. An already-tiled bathroom keeps the job contained to the shower. Vinyl or carpet has to be dealt with, and that becomes a floor tile installation on top of the shower work.

If accessibility modifications are being made for a medical reason, it is worth asking whether a VA benefit or a long-term care policy covers part of it. Many do.

The short version

The curb is the problem. The base with the curb can be replaced. If your shower has a builders-grade acrylic base – and it almost certainly does – the path to a curbless, accessible shower is a bottom-foot retrofit measured in days, not a gut remodel measured in weeks.

We handle curbless retrofits throughout Northern Colorado, including Loveland, Fort Collins, Berthoud, Windsor, Greeley, Johnstown, Longmont, and Estes Park. The only way to know whether a given shower can be a retrofit or requires a rebuild is to look at it.

Get in touch for an on-site evaluation, or browse more finished work in our shower gallery and service areas.

Frequently asked questions

Can an existing shower be made curbless without a full remodel?

Yes. If the shower has a builders-grade acrylic base, only the bottom twelve inches of tile and substrate need to come out. The base is swapped for a one-inch low-profile curbless unit and the bottom band is rebuilt. The top six to seven feet of existing tile stays.

How much tile has to be removed for a curbless conversion?

Twelve inches, measured up from the floor, around the full perimeter of the shower. The tile and the substrate behind it both come out so waterproof board can be installed and tied into the existing waterproofing above the cut line.

Does the drain have to be moved to go curbless?

Almost never. Builders-grade acrylic pans use standardized drain locations – center for square showers, center or end for rectangular ones. A curbless base is ordered to match, so the drain stays exactly where it is.

Will a curbless shower be completely flush with my bathroom floor?

It depends on the floor. Tile allows the substrate to be built up to meet the one-inch base, so dead flush is achievable. This Loveland job kept its existing tile floor and finished with a 1/4″ rise. Vinyl left in place leaves a 3/4″ to 1″ rise because the subfloor cannot be cut down.

Does my bathroom floor have to be tiled for a curbless shower?

Not always. A tiled curbless base does require bathroom floor tile, since both have to be built to the same height. A low-profile acrylic base does not, as long as the existing floor is already tile. Vinyl or carpet needs to be replaced with tile to land within ADA threshold spec.

Is a low-profile acrylic base as good as a tiled curbless pan?

For a retrofit it is usually better. A tiled pan needs enough height for a sloped mud bed plus tile, and it requires tiling the bathroom floor to match. The acrylic base delivers factory slope and single-piece waterproofing in one inch, without expanding the job to the whole room.

Will a curbless shower leak onto the bathroom floor?

Not when the pan is properly sloped and a heavy weighted curtain is used. The factory slope pulls water to the drain, and the curtain contains spray better than most people expect. Correct waterproofing at the wall transition handles the rest.

Can a bathtub be converted to a curbless shower?

Yes, but a licensed plumber is required first. Tubs use a 1-1/2″ drain and every shower base requires a 2″ drain run back to the stack. That upsize is plumbing work. Once the 2″ drain exists, the curbless base installation proceeds normally.

Does a curbless shower have to meet ADA standards in a house?

No. ADA applies to public and commercial spaces, not private residences. But ADA clearances are the best available blueprint for what actually works, so we build to them anyway – including the half-inch maximum threshold height at the entry.

Why use a shower curtain instead of glass doors for accessibility?

Glass doors cut the usable opening roughly in half and the track creates a trip hazard at floor level. A heavy weighted curtain preserves the full opening, moves completely out of the way, and lets a caregiver assist from outside the shower.

How long does a curbless shower retrofit take?

Three days for the Loveland shower described here. A typical time frame for a standard alcove retrofit where the drain stays in place and the existing bathroom floor does not need replacing is 3-5 days start to finish.

Does a finished ceiling below the bathroom cause a problem?

No. The compression drain used in these retrofits installs entirely from above, so there is no need to open the ceiling in the room below.

Do you do curbless shower retrofits outside Loveland?

Yes. We work throughout Northern Colorado, including Loveland, Fort Collins, Berthoud, Windsor, Greeley, Johnstown, Longmont, and Estes Park.