# Bathroom and Shower Remodel: Cost, Hours and Process in Hacienda Heights An RV bathroom remodel rebuilds the wet space: shower pan and surround, vanity and sink, toilet, flooring, ventilation and storage. It is the room most likely to be hiding water damage, because a one piece plastic shower with a flexing floor under it is a joint that moves every mile the coach travels. ## Specifications - Price band: $750 to $12,000 - Shop hours: 4 to 55 hours - Turnaround tier: Interior remodel - Insurance billable: no - Parts lead time: Toilets and fixtures in stock or 5 to 10 business days, moulded pans and surrounds 3 to 8 weeks, custom pans built in house - OEM brands: Thetford, Dometic, Lippert, Corian, RecPro ## Why the wet space is where water damage starts The shower pan in most coaches is a thermoformed plastic tray sitting on a laminated floor that flexes. Every mile the coach travels, that tray works slightly against the floor and against the surround panels at the wall joint. The sealant at that joint is doing structural duty it was never designed for, and eventually it opens. When it opens, the water does not appear in the bathroom. It goes under the pan, into the floor core, and it tracks outward along framing, which is why the first sign is frequently a soft spot in the hallway or a stain in a cabinet in an adjacent room. By the time an owner notices, the subfloor under and around the pan has usually been wet for a season or more. So the first thing on a bathroom job is a moisture read of the floor, and the first thing that happens once the pan comes out is a look at the deck. We do not set a new pan on a floor that reads wet. That is a structural repair, it is priced separately, and skipping it produces the same failure again on a shorter timeline because the new pan is now sitting on softer material. ## What a rebuilt wet space actually looks like There are three approaches and they differ in cost, weight and how long they last. A replacement moulded pan and surround is the closest to factory, the lightest, and the fastest to install, and modern one piece units are better than what came out of coaches built fifteen years ago. It is the right answer for most owners. A custom pan with a solid surface or composite surround costs more and is the solution when the original size is no longer made, when the bathroom is being reconfigured, or when the owner wants a seamless surface with no sealant joint at the wall. Solid surface can be seamed and coved so the pan to wall transition is a continuous material rather than a caulk line, which removes the failure mode entirely. Tile is possible and it is the option we discuss carefully rather than sell. Over backer board it is 8 to 10 pounds per square foot, so a full surround and floor adds several hundred pounds, and grout on a flexing substrate needs an uncoupling and waterproofing membrane system installed correctly or it will craze and leak. Done properly it is beautiful and it is expensive. Done cheaply it is the worst outcome available in an RV bathroom. - Moulded pan and one piece surround, lightest and closest to factory - Custom pan with coved solid surface surround, no sealant joint at the wall - Tile over a full waterproofing and uncoupling membrane system, heaviest - Vanity rebuild or replacement with a solid surface integrated bowl - Toilet replacement, including composting and macerating conversions - Vent fan upgrade sized to actually clear moisture from the room ## Toilets, venting and the two upgrades that matter most The toilet itself is usually the least interesting part of a bathroom job, with one exception: if the toilet rocks, the problem is almost never the toilet. It is the floor under the flange, and replacing the toilet without repairing the floor produces a new toilet that rocks. We check the flange and the deck around it every time. Composting and macerating conversions come up frequently and both change how the coach is used rather than just what is in the room. A composting unit removes the black tank from the equation and adds a ventilation requirement and a routine you have to be willing to keep. A macerating unit lets the toilet sit away from directly above the tank, which is what makes a bathroom relocation possible at all. We will walk through the practical consequences of each rather than just quoting the fixture. The upgrade that gives most owners the largest daily improvement is the vent fan. Factory bath fans in coaches are frequently undersized to the point of being decorative, and a room that cannot clear moisture grows mildew in the ceiling corners no matter how well it is cleaned. A properly sized powered vent fixes the actual cause. ## Not included - We do not perform wet space work at a customer location. Nothing about a shower rebuild belongs in a driveway. - Black tank, drain and vent failures are diagnosed and repaired as systems work, not as remodel work. - We do not install a new pan over a subfloor that reads wet. The floor is repaired first, as its own line item. ## Questions **Can an RV shower pan be replaced without replacing the whole bathroom?** Yes, provided the floor under it is sound. The pan comes out, the deck is read for moisture, and a new pan is bedded and sealed properly at the wall transition. If the deck reads wet, that repair comes first as its own line item, because setting a new pan on soft decking reproduces the failure on a shorter timeline. **Why does my RV bathroom floor feel soft?** Almost always because the sealant at the shower pan to wall joint opened and water went under the pan into the laminated floor core. The core loses its bond and the floor loses stiffness. It usually shows up outside the shower or at the toilet flange first, and the wet area is normally larger than the part you can feel underfoot. **Can you tile an RV shower?** We can, with a full waterproofing and uncoupling membrane system underneath, and we will discuss it honestly first. Tile over backer is 8 to 10 pounds per square foot, so a surround and floor can add several hundred pounds, and grout on a flexing substrate fails without the right membrane. A coved solid surface surround gets you a seamless wet space at half the weight. **My toilet rocks. Does it need replacing?** Probably not. A rocking toilet is nearly always a floor or flange problem rather than a fixture problem, and fitting a new toilet to a compromised flange gives you a new toilet that rocks. We pull the fixture, read the deck around the flange, repair what is soft, and reset on a sound flange with a new seal. **Is a composting toilet worth it in a coach?** It depends on how you use the coach. It removes the black tank from your routine and is genuinely liberating for boondocking, and it adds a ventilation requirement and a maintenance habit you have to be willing to keep. For a coach used mostly at full hookup sites the benefit is small. For one used off grid it can be the best change in the bathroom. --- Source: https://ocrv.club/rv-remodel/bathroom-and-shower-remodel OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 Phone (949) 799-3387. Email info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Hacienda Heights and the surrounding area. 18.4 miles, 24 to 38 minutes via SR-60 west to Fullerton Rd, then south to La Palma Ave. In shop work only. All estimates are priced and credited against an authorized repair.