Remodel plumbing, Aurora side of the metro
Aurora's bathrooms, opened up and plumbed right.
Tub-to-shower conversions, moved toilets and drains, new vanity runs, and full gut jobs. A master plumber does the rough-in and comes back to trim it out.
What the tile is hiding
Aurora bathrooms are older than they look.
Aurora is the third-biggest city in Colorado and it grew in waves, so no two remodels here start from the same place. A bath near Fitzsimons was framed in the fifties. A bath off Buckley went in during the eighties tract boom. A bath out toward E-470 might be newer than the truck we drove there in.
That matters the day the tile comes down. In the older ranches west of Chambers we still open walls and find galvanized supply feeding the lav and the tub, plus a cast iron drain and stack. Galvanized closes up from the inside as it ages, which is why the shower goes weak the second someone runs the kitchen sink. Cast iron can still have years left in it, or it can be paper thin along the bottom of the run. You cannot tell from the bathroom side of the wall, which is why we look before we scope anything.
The other thing we find often is a fixture somebody added later with no vent. A wet bar sink, a second lav, a stool moved four feet to make room for a linen closet. It drains, so nobody questioned it for thirty years, but it gurgles and it pulls the trap dry. If we are already in the wall, that gets corrected and inspected the right way.
Call (303) 883-9075 or send us the details and we will come look. Recent work is in the gallery.
- Tub to walk-in shower conversion
- Toilet relocation
- Vanity and double-lav runs
- Full gut and rebuild
- Shower valve upgrades
- Freestanding tub supply and drain
Slab or joists
Moving a drain is a framing question first.
Homeowners usually arrive with a layout already drawn. Stool on the other wall, shower where the tub sat, floating vanity on the window side. Before any of that is a design decision, it is a question about what is under the floor.
If the bath sits over a basement or a crawl, we are in good shape. We pull the new waste and vent from below, keep the fall where it belongs, and nobody loses a finished ceiling. Plenty of Aurora homes on the older side give us that. If the bath is on a slab, and a lot of the seventies and eighties builds out here are, relocating a drain means saw-cutting concrete, trenching for the new run, setting slope by hand, and pouring back. It is real work and it changes the schedule. We tell you which one you are dealing with before you commit to a layout that fights the house.
Front range clay is the quiet part of this. Expansive soil moves with moisture and it has been working on that buried line since the house went up. When we are already open, we check the line we are tying into rather than trusting it.
- Under-floor access review
- Slab cut and trench work
- Drain slope set and verified
- Vent tie-in to the stack
- Closet flange height for the new floor
- Pressure test before close-up
Decisions that move the number
What actually drives the scope.
People ask what makes one bath bigger than another. It is rarely the finishes. It is these.
Fixtures staying put
Same stool, same tub footprint, same lav wall. That is finish plumbing and a short rough-in. Everything stays inside the existing openings.
Anything moving
A drain on the other side of the room means new waste, new vent, and permit work. On a slab it also means concrete.
What is in the wall now
Galvanized or old cast iron in the branch runs is worth changing while the wall is open. Doing it later means going back through new tile.
The shower base
A tile-ready pan drops in and drains clean. A traditional mud-set bed takes longer and needs the drain height dead on before the mud goes down.
Hard water
Front range mineral scales cartridges and shower valves. If the old valve dripped after every cartridge swap, the body is the problem and it belongs in the scope.
One bathroom or two
Single-bath homes get sequenced tighter so the family is not without a stool longer than they have to be. We plan that with you up front, not on day three.
The order of operations
Rough-in, inspection, then finish.
Walk it and plan
Look at the layout, confirm what is under the floor, and set drain and valve positions against the fixtures you actually picked.
Rough it in
Supply, waste, and vent set to plan and pressure tested. Aurora inspection scheduled before any wall board or tile goes on.
Trim it out
Back after tile for valve trim, faucet, drain, stool, and new shutoffs. Same plumber who set the rough-in, so nothing misses the opening.
One license, one crew
Master plumber and general contractor, same truck.
Wes holds both, which means the rough-in never gets subbed out and nobody stands in your bathroom pointing at the other trade. The valve gets set at the depth the tile calls for because the person setting it knows what tile is going on. Permits pulled, inspection scheduled, and the finish fixtures hung by the guy who put the rough-in in the wall. Call (303) 883-9075.
Straight answers
What Aurora homeowners ask us.
Do I need a permit to remodel a bathroom in Aurora?
If you are moving or adding plumbing, yes. Swapping a faucet or setting a new stool in the same spot usually does not require one. Moving a drain, adding a shower, or running new supply does. We pull the permit and schedule the inspection so it is not on you. Call (303) 883-9075.
Can you move the toilet or shower drain in my Aurora house?
Usually. What it takes depends on what is under the floor. Over a basement or crawl we work from below and it stays clean. On a slab we saw-cut, trench, set the new run, and pour back. We look first and tell you which one you have before you settle on a layout. Call (303) 883-9075 or send us the plan.
My house is from the sixties. What will you find behind the tile?
In that era around Fitzsimons and the older Aurora neighborhoods we commonly see galvanized supply, cast iron waste, and at least one fixture somebody added later without a vent. None of it is a crisis. It is just work you want to know about before the tile order shows up rather than after.
Should I replace the old supply pipe while the wall is open?
If it is galvanized, yes. It narrows from the inside and it is why pressure drops when a second fixture runs. Swapping the branch lines to PEX or copper while the wall is open is a fraction of what it costs to go back through finished tile in five years. We show you what is in there and let you decide. See our gallery.
How long will my only bathroom be out of service?
Depends on whether fixtures move and whether we hit a slab. What we can do is sequence it so the stool goes back in as early as the work allows instead of sitting on a pallet through the tile phase. We lay that out before we start so nobody is guessing.
Tile-ready pan or a mud-set shower base?
Both work. A tile-ready pan is faster, comes with the slope built in, and gets the drain height locked early. A mud bed gives more freedom on odd shapes and custom sizes but takes longer and is less forgiving if the drain sits wrong. We set the rough-in for whichever you choose, so tell us early.
Does Aurora water hurt new fixtures?
Front range water is hard, and mineral is what scales up cartridges, aerators, and shower valve bodies. That is why an old shower keeps dripping after a third cartridge. New fixtures do better paired with a softener or a whole-home filter, and a remodel is the easy time to add one. Ask when we scope it.
Will you work with my tile guy or general contractor?
Yes, and we do it often. We coordinate rough-in timing, inspection dates, and the waterproofing handoff so nobody is waiting on anybody. Wes also carries a general contractor license if you would rather have the whole bathroom under one roof. Call (303) 883-9075 or reach out.
Ready to open up that bathroom?
Tell us what you want in there. We will look at what is behind the wall and give you a straight quote.
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