Bathrooms

Boss PDX is a licensed Portland, Oregon general contractor (CCB #232383, WA license BOSSPPL793RN) that handles every type of bathroom remodel — from a cosmetic refresh on a powder room to a full gut renovation of a primary suite with custom tile, walk-in shower, and relocated plumbing. We've remodeled bathrooms in Craftsman bungalows with original cast iron stacks, mid-century ranches with galvanized supply lines ready to fail, and modern builds that just need better fixtures and layout. Free scope and estimate, same-day reply, one lead carpenter and one project manager on every job.

Types of Bathroom Remodels We Handle

Primary Suite Bathrooms

The primary suite bathroom is usually the biggest project and the highest-impact upgrade in a home. These rooms often involve layout changes — moving the vanity to a different wall, adding a second sink, or converting a tub alcove into a walk-in shower with a bench. In Portland's older homes, primary suite bathrooms often didn't exist when the house was built. Creating one usually means stealing square footage from an adjacent closet or bedroom, which adds framing, plumbing, and electrical scope but transforms the daily experience of the house.

Guest, Hall, and Powder Room Bathrooms

Guest and hall bathrooms are the workhorses — shared by kids, visitors, and everyone who doesn't use the primary. A poorly laid out 5x8 hall bath feels cramped; the same footprint with the right fixture placement, a pocket door, and floor-to-ceiling tile feels intentional. Powder rooms are the fastest bathroom project we do and often the most visible, since guests actually see them — a vanity, mirror, faucet, and light fixture swap can be done in a week or less.

ADA-Accessible and Aging-in-Place Bathrooms

Curbless (zero-threshold) showers, grab bars mounted into blocking — not just drywall — comfort-height toilets, wider doorways, and non-slip flooring aren't cosmetic upgrades; they're the difference between someone staying in their home safely or being forced to move. We design accessible bathrooms to meet ADA guidelines and real-world usability, not just code minimums.

Scope Levels: Cosmetic Refresh vs. Full Gut Remodel

Cosmetic Refresh ($15,000 - $25,000)

A cosmetic refresh updates the visible surfaces and fixtures without moving plumbing or opening walls. New vanity, new toilet, new faucet and shower trim, fresh paint, updated lighting, and sometimes new flooring over the existing subfloor. This is the right scope when the layout works but the finishes are dated — 1990s builder-grade oak vanity, brass fixtures, peel-and-stick vinyl. Timeline is typically two to three weeks.

Partial Remodel ($25,000 - $40,000)

A partial remodel opens selected areas — typically the shower or tub surround — to address waterproofing, replace deteriorated backer board or subfloor, and install new tile, while leaving the overall layout intact. This is common when the shower pan has failed, when you want to convert a tub alcove to a walk-in shower, or when existing tile is falling off because the original installer used greenboard instead of cement backer. Two to four weeks.

Full Gut Renovation ($40,000 - $60,000+)

A gut renovation strips the room to studs and subfloor — or in many Portland homes, to the original diagonal shiplap and post-and-beam framing — and rebuilds everything: plumbing, electrical, mechanical venting, waterproofing, tile, fixtures, and finish. This is the path when you're changing the layout, relocating plumbing, or dealing with structural issues like a rotted subfloor. If the house was built before 1978, expect lead paint abatement. Four to six weeks.

Tile, Waterproofing, and Shower Construction

Tile is the most visible part of a bathroom remodel, but what's behind the tile determines whether the room lasts ten years or thirty. We've torn out bathrooms remodeled less than five years ago because the waterproofing was done wrong — no membrane behind the tile, a shower pan with no slope, or cement backer installed over drywall instead of replacing it.

Every shower and tub surround we build gets a bonded waterproofing membrane — Schluter Kerdi, Laticrete Hydro Ban, or RedGard — applied to cement backer board before tile is set. Shower floors get a pre-sloped mortar bed or a Schluter Kerdi tray with factory-engineered slope to the drain. Grout is not waterproof. The membrane is.

Walk-In Showers vs. Tub-Shower Combos

The tub-to-shower conversion is one of the most requested bathroom upgrades in Portland. A walk-in shower with frameless glass opens up the room visually and eliminates the step-over that makes tub-shower combos less accessible. We build walk-in showers with curbless entries for accessibility or standard 4-inch curbs when the floor slope allows it. Linear drains along the back wall handle water volume well and allow the shower floor to slope in one direction instead of four.

That said, we'll push back if removing the only tub in the house is a mistake for resale. A home with zero bathtubs can hurt your sale price, especially in family-heavy neighborhoods. Keep at least one tub in the house — usually the hall bath — and convert the primary.

We install porcelain, ceramic, natural stone, and large-format tile (12x24 and bigger). Heated floors (electric radiant mats under tile) are common in Portland remodels — the damp climate makes a warm floor feel less like a luxury and more like a baseline. We install Schluter Ditra-Heat and similar systems as part of the flooring scope.

Plumbing Considerations in Portland Homes

Galvanized Supply Lines and Cast Iron Drains

Homes built before the late 1960s almost always have galvanized steel water supply lines that corrode from the inside out, gradually reducing water pressure and eventually developing pinhole leaks inside walls. If your remodel opens a wall and we find galvanized lines, we'll recommend replacing them with copper or PEX while the wall is open — doing it later means paying for the drywall, tile, and paint a second time. Cast iron drain stacks are common in pre-1970s Portland homes and are now hitting the 80-to-100-year failure window. Rusted-through cast iron shows up as slow drains, sewer smell, or stains on the ceiling below a second-floor bathroom. More on pipe replacement on our plumbing and pipe fitting page.

Water Heater Capacity and Portland's Water

A remodel that adds a second showerhead, rain shower, or soaking tub can exceed what your existing water heater delivers. We flag this during the scope phase — if you're adding a two-head shower system to a 40-gallon tank from 2008, you'll need a larger tank or a tankless unit. Tankless water heaters are popular in Portland but require gas line sizing or electrical panel capacity your house may not have. We scope the full hot-water path, not just the bathroom fixtures.

Portland's Bull Run water supply is softer than most cities, but homes on groundwater-supplemented systems or wells in outer Southeast and unincorporated Clackamas County deal with mineral buildup on fixtures and glass. Hard water also affects the longevity of cartridge-style faucet valves — a consideration we build into fixture selection.

Ventilation in Portland's Wet Climate

Portland gets over 150 days of measurable rainfall per year. Indoor humidity during the wet season is already elevated before anyone turns on a shower. Proper bathroom ventilation isn't optional — it's the single most important thing protecting your remodel from mold, mildew, and premature finish failure.

Every bathroom remodel we do includes a properly sized exhaust fan — CFM rated for the room's square footage. The fan must be ducted to the exterior, not into the attic — a code violation we find in older Portland homes constantly, where the original builder dumped warm moist air directly onto roof sheathing, causing mold and rot. BDS requires mechanical ventilation permits when adding or relocating a bathroom fan. For bathrooms without exterior wall access, we use inline fans for long duct runs — quieter and more powerful than ceiling-mounted units.

Permits and Code Compliance

Portland's Bureau of Development Services (BDS) requires permits for any bathroom work involving plumbing, electrical, or mechanical ventilation changes — which covers most remodels beyond a vanity swap:

• Plumbing permit: Moving or adding fixtures, replacing drain lines, new shower drains, water heater replacement
• Electrical permit: New circuits, relocated outlets, heated floor systems
• Mechanical permit: New or relocated exhaust fan ducting
• Building permit: Structural changes — removing walls, changing window openings, altering floor framing

Boss PDX pulls and manages all permits as part of the project scope. Permit fees are included in your estimate, inspections are scheduled by our team, and the project doesn't close until all inspections pass. Simple trade permits come back in days; structural plan review can take three to four weeks. We factor this into the timeline so the schedule is honest from the start.

Timeline and Living Through the Remodel

• Cosmetic refresh: 2 to 3 weeks
• Partial remodel: 3 to 4 weeks
• Full gut renovation: 4 to 6 weeks
• Bathroom addition: 6 to 10 weeks

Working Around a One-Bathroom Home

A lot of Portland's pre-war housing stock has one bathroom. We keep the toilet functional as long as possible, disconnecting it only when floor or subfloor work requires it — usually two to three days, not weeks. A portable restroom covers those days, and we schedule the toilet-out phase early in the week so it's reconnected before the weekend.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a bathroom remodel take in Portland?

Most bathroom remodels take two to six weeks from demo to final walkthrough. A cosmetic refresh with no plumbing changes runs two to three weeks. A full gut with layout changes and new plumbing rough-ins takes four to six weeks. The biggest variable is permit turnaround from Portland BDS — simple trade permits come back in days, but structural plan review can add three to four weeks before work starts.

Do I need a permit to remodel my bathroom in Portland?

If the remodel involves plumbing changes, electrical changes, or mechanical ventilation changes, yes — Portland BDS requires permits and inspections by licensed trades. A purely cosmetic update — new vanity in the same location, new paint, new mirror — typically does not require a permit. Boss PDX pulls and manages all required permits as part of every project.

Can I use my bathroom during the remodel?

For partial remodels, we keep the toilet functional for as much of the project as possible. During a full gut renovation, the bathroom is completely out of service for the duration. In one-bathroom homes, we keep the toilet connected until floor work requires it — usually a two-to-three day window — and provide a portable restroom for those days.

Should I convert my tub to a walk-in shower?

If the primary suite has a tub-shower combo and you never take baths, converting to a walk-in shower is one of the best upgrades you can make. However, if it's the only bathtub in the house, removing it can hurt resale value in family-oriented neighborhoods. Our recommendation: keep at least one tub in the house (usually the hall bath) and convert the primary to a walk-in shower.

What should I know about remodeling a bathroom in an older Portland home?

Older Portland homes come with predictable challenges: galvanized supply pipes with reduced water pressure, cast iron drains approaching end of life, lead paint on pre-1978 surfaces, subfloors made of original diagonal shiplap, and walls that aren't plumb after decades of settling. None of this is a dealbreaker — we remodel bathrooms in old Portland houses every month — but the scope needs to account for what's behind the walls, not just in front of them. That's why we don't price bathrooms from photos alone.

How do I choose between a cosmetic refresh and a full gut remodel?

Start with this question: does the layout work? If the shower is in the right place, the vanity fits the space, and the plumbing behind the wall is in good condition, a cosmetic refresh gives you a new-looking bathroom at roughly half the cost and timeline. But if the layout is wrong — the shower is too small, there's no room for a double vanity — no amount of new tile and paint fixes that. A gut remodel lets you build the room the way it should have been designed. If you're not sure, that's what the free consult is for.

Get a Free Bathroom Remodel Estimate

Call 844-BOSS-PDX (844-267-7739) or start with the free estimate form. One licensed lead will walk your bathroom, listen to what you want, and come back with a fixed written scope and estimate — not a ballpark, not a range, a real number you can plan around. Same-day reply on every inquiry.

Bathrooms are one piece of a larger renovation for a lot of our clients — see kitchen remodeling, plumbing upgrades, or flooring if you're considering adjacent work. Have a commercial restroom? See commercial bathroom remodeling.