What is the threshold that tells you that it’s time to replace your shower?

For me it was water dripping from the ceiling in the room beneath my bathroom as I showered.

The dripping didn’t occur from water that had leaked out of the shower and accumulated on the floor. Rather, this was water that had seeped behind the worn grout on the shower walls, then flowed down to the ceiling below and softened a spot there before dripping down.

After seeing this a number of times, I resorted to a Band-Aid approach to solve the problem (placing Scotch tape over the grout) as I devised a plan of action and time to implement it.

The dripping, which began this past summer, made me face the reality that my shower tile had to be replaced. Further thinking about it led me to consider a walk-in shower to replace the tub, which is rarely used. This, in turn, led me to consider replacing all the 30-year-old components in the bathroom (vanity, toilet, medicine cabinet and floor tile) for uniform aesthetics.

By Labor Day the plan was all set. It would be a complete remodel. Great.

But how long would it take? When would it be finished? What would be the timeframe to implement this plan? Would it turn into a dragged-on, never-ending project I’d sometimes read about?

These were all contractor-related questions, so I immediately set out to find one the best way I know of — by word of mouth. I talked to a few close friends who’d had their bathrooms remodeled in recent years and saw the work they had done. I picked the bathroom I liked best and then contacted the contractor.

Our first meeting took place at my townhouse and was very informative, as he listened to all my demands and was repeatedly told my expense limitations. He took detailed measurements, discussed my options and even let me know which options would require permits from the local village and which ones met code or would need to be tweaked to meet code.

The next step was for me to go and purchase the components. The sooner I got this accomplished, the sooner he could remodel the bathroom. A first-timer at this sort of thing, I welcomed his advice on where to begin my shopping. He proposed two places: One was a well-known Big Box retailer and the other a well-respected tile distributor in the Chicagoland area.

Both places turned out to be excellent sources of information and products. I made two trips each to them and ordered my items on the follow-up visits. I notified my contractor of this and he said the only thing left for me to do was to let him know when the specially ordered vanity and vanity top arrive. The other items were either in stock or would be in a few days and he could pick them up for me.

Well, they’ve now arrived. My groundwork is done.

Now it’s the contractor’s turn.

His crew (including a licensed plumber) begins working next week. The contractor promised me it should take no more than a week to do the remodel. And that installation should go super smoothly.

I’ll keep you posted…