Bathrooms · Showers · Tile & Stone · Flooring

Curbless primary bath in large-format porcelain

Full bathroom renovation with a curbless shower and heated stone-look floor

Location: Leesburg, VA
Completed: September 2025
Duration: 2 days + 4 days + 2 days + 6 days + 4 days
Category: Bathrooms

Representative curbless bathroom concept with a linear drain, full-height porcelain, frameless glass, and oak vanity

Representative concept image — not a customer project photograph

Representative project.This record describes the scope, materials, and construction method of work we carry out. It is not a specific customer’s completed job, and the photography has not been shot yet. Ask to see finished work in person.

Overview

A dated primary bathroom with a built-in tub was rebuilt as a single open wet room. The shower entry is flush with the rest of the floor, which makes a small room read as a much larger one and removes the only real obstacle in the space.

The material palette is deliberately narrow: one large-format stone-look porcelain on the walls and floor, one metal finish, and one timber tone at the vanity. Restricting the palette is what allows a compact room to feel calm rather than busy.

What the owners wanted

Remove the tub, which had not been used in years
Make the room feel larger without moving walls
Warm floor underfoot in winter
A shower that is easy to clean and easy to enter

Services performed

Full bathroom renovation
Curbless shower construction
Bonded waterproofing
Large-format porcelain installation
Electric underfloor heating
Fixture and lighting coordination

Materials used

Walls and floor: 600 × 1200 mm stone-look porcelain, matt finish
Waterproofing: Bonded sheet membrane with banded corners and pipe collars
Drainage: Stainless linear drain with a tileable insert
Underfloor heating: Electric mat set in levelling compound
Grout: High-performance grout, warm grey

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Existing conditions

What we found

Alcove tub with a tiled surround showing failed grout at the corners
Floor structure not level, with a 19 mm fall across the room
No blocking behind the walls for future grab bars
Original ventilation undersized for the room volume

Design direction

The decisions that shaped it

One tile format across walls and floor to reduce visual joints
A linear drain against the far wall so the floor slopes in one direction only
A full-width niche aligned with the horizontal grout line
Wall-hung vanity to keep the floor plane continuous

Before and after

The same room, twice

The original bathroom before renovation, with a built-in tub and dated wall tile — Primary bathroom, Leesburg
The tub alcove became the shower. The floor plane now runs unbroken from door to drain.

Drag the handle, or use the arrow keys once it has focus. Comparisons are shot from the same position with the same lens so the change you see is the room, not the photograph.

Problem solving

What had to be worked out

Challenges

The existing floor structure fell 19 mm across the room, which is unworkable under a curbless entry.
The only practical drain location was on the wall furthest from the existing waste connection.
Ceiling height below the bathroom limited how far the framing could be recessed.

How they were solved

The floor was built up rather than recessed, using levelling compound to establish a single plane and a low-profile linear drain assembly to keep the build-up within the available height.
The waste run was re-piped between joists with the fall calculated before framing was closed up, rather than discovered afterwards.
Blocking was added behind the shower wall and beside the toilet for grab bars that are not being installed today.

How it was built

Construction sequence

01
Demolition and assessment
Strip back to the substrate and confirm what the structure is actually doing before committing to the design.
02
Structure and services
Re-pipe the waste, add blocking, upgrade ventilation, and correct the floor plane.
03
Waterproofing
Bonded membrane over the full wet area with banded corners, collars at every penetration, and a flood test before tile.
04
Heating and levelling
Heating mat embedded in levelling compound, tested for continuity before and after.
05
Tile
Dry layout, then setting with back-buttering and a levelling system across the large-format field.
06
Finishing
Grout, sealant at movement joints, fixtures, glass, and a final clean.