Shower Installation & Replacement

The shower is the hardest-working fixture in the house and the one most likely to fail. When an old shower starts leaking, growing mould in the grout, or simply looking tired, replacing it well is one of the best-value improvements you can make, provided the work behind the tiles is done properly. Most shower failures we are called to are not caused by the tiles you can see, but by the waterproofing you cannot.

This page covers walk-in showers, frameless glass, the choice between tiled and acrylic, and the hidden causes of leaks in old showers. When you are ready, Get a Free Quote.

Walk-in showers and frameless glass

The walk-in shower has become the default for good reason. A single fixed glass panel with no door, no tray lip, and a level or low entry looks clean, feels spacious, and is far easier to use and clean than an old framed cubicle. For many Auckland bathrooms it is the single change that modernises the whole room.

• Frameless glass — a thick toughened panel with minimal hardware, which looks sleek and has far fewer joints and channels for grime and mould to collect in than a framed screen
• Walk-in with no door — where the room allows, a single panel keeps spray contained while leaving the shower open, which suits smaller bathrooms especially well
• Semi-frameless — a cost-effective middle ground with slim framing on fewer edges

A walk-in shower only works if the drainage and falls are right, otherwise water escapes the open side. That planning is why the look and the engineering have to be designed together, see our wet room page for the fully level-entry version of this idea.

Tiled vs acrylic showers

One of the first decisions is whether to build a fully tiled shower or install an acrylic shower system. Both have their place, and the right choice depends on budget, look and the room:

• Tiled showers look premium, can be designed to any size and shape, and let you carry the room's tiling continuously into the shower. They require full waterproofing beneath the tiles and skilled tiling with correct falls, so they cost more and take longer, but the result is seamless and long-lasting.
• Acrylic showers, a moulded base and lining or a complete enclosure, are quicker to install, lower cost, and have no grout to maintain. They suit tighter budgets, rental properties and second bathrooms, though the look is more utilitarian and sizes are standardised.

The most common hybrid we build is an acrylic or tiled base with tiled walls, which balances cost and durability. Whatever the surface, the waterproofing underneath has to be done to the same standard, a tiled shower is not automatically more waterproof than acrylic; it simply has a different wearing surface over the membrane.

Why old showers leak

This is the part that matters most, because almost every shower we replace is being replaced due to a leak, and the leak is rarely where people think it is. Behind the tiles of an old shower, the most common faults we find are:

• No waterproof membrane at all — many older showers were tiled straight onto the substrate with no membrane beneath, relying on the grout and tiles to keep water out, which they never do forever
• A failed or cracked membrane — early or poorly applied membranes crack, especially at the corners and the wall-to-floor junction where movement concentrates
• Failed grout and silicone — grout is not waterproof and silicone perishes, so water gets behind the tiles through the joints
• Poor falls — water that pools instead of draining finds its way through any weakness it can
• Movement in the substrate — a flexing floor or wall cracks tiles and grout and breaks the seal

The damage is slow and hidden. By the time you see staining, swollen skirtings or a soft floor, water has often been getting into the framing for a long time. This is why we always strip a leaking shower back and rebuild the waterproofing to AS/NZS 3740, rather than tiling over a problem.

Drainage and falls

A shower that drains properly is a shower that lasts. Water has to leave the shower as fast as it arrives, and it only does that if the floor is graded correctly to a well-sized, well-placed drain. When we build or replace a shower we get the drainage right first:

• The shower floor is graded so water runs to the drain with no flat spots or pooling
• The drain is sized to clear the flow of a modern showerhead, and positioned to suit the falls and the tile layout
• Linear channel drains are a popular choice because they let large tiles fall in a single clean direction and look tidy against a wall
• The waste is connected by a registered plumber and tested before the room is closed in

Pooling water is the enemy of a shower. It sits on the grout, works into any weakness, and is the sign of falls done poorly. Getting this right is unglamorous and completely essential.

Niches, benches and the details

The details are what make a new shower a pleasure to use. The ones we recommend in most Auckland showers are:

• A recessed niche, built into the wall framing and tiled to match, giving you somewhere to keep bottles without a protruding shelf. Niches are formed at rough-in stage and waterproofed as part of the shower, so they cannot be added neatly later
• A built-in bench or seat, useful for comfort, for shaving, and for accessibility, in a larger shower
• A quality showerhead setup, whether a single rail, a fixed rain head, or both on a diverter
• A thermostatic or pressure-balanced mixer so the temperature stays steady when someone uses water elsewhere in the house

These are planned before the tiling, because every one of them sits inside the wall or affects the waterproofing. Deciding on them up front is what makes the finished shower feel considered rather than standard.

Replacing a tired shower, and next steps

If your existing shower is leaking, mouldy, or simply dated, replacing it well means more than swapping the glass and re-tiling. We strip it back far enough to check and rebuild the waterproofing, fix any damage to the framing, correct the falls, and rebuild the shower to current standard so the problem does not come back. Tiling over a leaking shower buys a year or two at most and usually makes the eventual repair bigger.

A standalone shower replacement is more affordable than a full bathroom renovation, though the exact figure depends on the size, whether it is tiled or acrylic, the glass, and what we find behind the old tiles once it is opened. Every quote is fixed and written after we have seen the shower. To get a clear scope and price, Get a Free Quote, combine it into a full bathroom renovation if the whole room needs updating, or learn more about Bathroom Renovation Auckland.

Related services