Tub-to-shower conversions in Upper Arlington
Upper Arlington has the oldest housing we work in regularly, much of it built between the 1920s and the 1950s. Those bathrooms are small, they were built to a standard that assumed one bathroom per house, and what is behind their walls is nothing like what is behind a bathroom wall in Dublin. That changes the planning far more than it changes the price. The year-built figures for every town are on the house styles page.
Last updated August 2026 · No prices on this page; the Estimate Builder carries those · Part of the knowledge base
A small bathroom is often the best candidate
People with small bathrooms tend to assume a walk-in shower is out of reach, and the opposite is usually closer to the truth. A bathtub occupies its entire footprint permanently. A shower built into that same footprint gives the floor in front of it back to the room and, because you can see into and through it, makes a small bathroom read as larger than it did with a tub in it.
Where a small bathroom does constrain things is at the edges: the door swing, whether there is room for a bench, and how much glass makes sense before the room starts feeling like a shower with a sink in it. Those are worth settling on paper first.
Plaster, lath and what is behind them
Plaster on wood lath is what most of these walls are, and it comes off differently from drywall. It is heavier, dirtier and slower, and there is more of it than a modern bathroom would have. The work is not harder in any interesting sense; it is simply more, and an estimate that has not accounted for it will be wrong.
Behind it, in the oldest of these houses, there may be galvanized supply lines and cast-iron waste. Neither is automatically a problem and neither automatically needs replacing. But an open wall is the only moment either is reachable without opening a wall again, which is why it is worth looking rather than closing it up unexamined.
Getting a cast-iron tub out of the house
A cast-iron tub is extremely heavy and the stairwells in these houses were not designed around removing one. In practice it is usually broken up in place and carried out in pieces, which is loud for a while, entirely routine, and part of the work rather than an extra.
The asbestos question, answered plainly
In houses of this age, asbestos can be present in old floor tile, in the mastic under it, and occasionally in pipe insulation. It is a fair thing to ask about and we would rather you asked. What the federal and Ohio rules say about lead paint and asbestos before an old bathroom wall opens is on the lead paint and asbestos page, and what the supply pipes are likely to be, by era, is on the supply pipes page.
Testing and removal are a specialty trade with its own licensed abatement contractors, and they are not something we perform. If material is suspected, the honest sequence is that it is tested before it is disturbed, an abatement contractor handles it if it needs handling, and that work is priced and scheduled separately from ours. Anyone who tells you it is nothing to worry about without testing is guessing.
When it is the only bathroom
Many of these houses still have one full bathroom, and that changes the decision in two ways. It is the household's only bathing fixture, so removing the tub is a real trade-off worth thinking through. And the room is out of use for the one to two days a conversion takes, which is a genuine inconvenience when there is no second bathroom to fall back on. Both are worth planning around rather than discovering.
Common questions
Our Upper Arlington bathroom is tiny. Can it really take a walk-in shower?
Usually, and small bathrooms are often better candidates than large ones. A tub takes up its whole footprint whether anyone is using it or not, while a shower in that same footprint gives the floor in front of it back and, because you see into and through it, makes the room read larger. What a small room does constrain is the door swing, whether a bench fits and how much glass is sensible.
What happens to the plaster walls?
They come out where the work reaches, and there is more of them than a newer bathroom would have. Plaster on wood lath is heavier, dirtier and slower to remove than drywall. That is not difficult work, it is simply more of it, and an estimate that has not allowed for it will be wrong in a way you find out about later.
How do you get a cast-iron tub out of an old house?
Usually by breaking it up in place and carrying it out in pieces, because the stairwells in these houses were not designed around removing one intact. It is loud for a while and completely routine. Taking it away is part of the work, not a separate charge.
Could there be asbestos in our old bathroom?
In a house of that age it is possible, most often in old floor tile, the mastic beneath it, or pipe insulation. It is worth asking about. Testing and removal are a specialty trade that we do not perform: if material is suspected it should be tested before anything disturbs it, an abatement contractor deals with it if it needs dealing with, and that work is priced and scheduled apart from ours.
The old pipes are exposed once the wall is open. Should we replace them?
Not automatically. Galvanized supply and cast-iron waste can have years left in them and neither is a problem simply for being old. What is true is that an open wall is the only moment either is reachable without opening a wall again, so the sensible thing is to look while we are in there and give you a clear answer with a price, rather than close it up unexamined and leave you to find out later.
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