Types of Showers:  Tile, Fiberglass, Acrylic, Cultured Marble

There are 4 types of materials that showers can be made from:  tile, fiberglass, acrylic, and cultured marble.  Tile showers used to be the most common type, especially in homes built before 1990, but not so anymore.  Fiberglass and acrylic are now the most common types of showers, with cultured marble being the least common. Fast forward to today's new homes, which usually have showers made of tile or stone.

Showers made of cultured marble, acrylic, fiberglass, or even tile can really date a bathroom, especially when you're trying to sell your home. Refinishing to the rescue!

Shower refinishing will instantly update the look of those old shower materials - without tearing them out!  To get an accurate bid for refinishing a fiberglass, cultured marble, acrylic, or tile shower, we will need pictures of the inside of the shower, as well as measurements for the length and width of the shower walls, and dimensions of the floor. 

Be aware that some fiberglass (and even acrylic) showers are one-piece units, where the walls and the floor are one big molded piece of material.  How can you tell if your shower is a one-piece unit or if the floor and walls are two separate pieces?  Look for a caulk line that clearly separates the shower walls from the floor. 

If there is no caulk line, then yours is a one-piece shower unit.  Unfortunately, this means that even though only the floor may need refinishing, we must refinish the entire unit, because again, it is one piece of material.  NOTE:  If you are planning on replacing your shower doors, the time for refinishing is after the old doors have been removed and before the new doors are installed.

Repair Work Prior to Refinishing

Repairs are not optional.  In order to guarantee our work, all damage (rust, chips, nicks, holes, staining, discoloration, etc.) found on a shower's surface must be repaired prior to refinishing the shower.  However, having said that, please note that our warranty is specifically related to the two things under our control:  workmanship and product defects.  We can not guarantee that rust, cracks, or holes won't reappear later in a shower if the underlying source of the damage (possibly a house shift, improper initial installation, water leak, or previous damage to the same area) has not been corrected.

A crack in a fiberglass or acrylic shower floor is the most common kind of damage, because those surfaces flex, and over time, can crack out.  If the crack is small and not causing a leak, the repair is included in the cost.  However, if the crack is large or water is leaking through it, the repair process is much more involved at an additional cost of up to $250.  That's because cracks like this are usually indicative of and caused by an underlying problem.  Either the floor was not supported properly when the pan was installed, or perhaps the house has shifted.

In any case, the only way to try to support it from underneath is to drill one or more small holes in the surface and use a Froth Pak (a 2-piece insulation and sealant product) to try and fill up the cavity beneath the damage as much as possible.  Again, we cannot guarantee the crack won't come back, because the underlying source of the damage has not been resolved. 

Why Don't We Refinish Tile Floors?

The reason why is because the shower pan beneath the floor tends to collect moisture, which can works its way up through the grout lines and cause the refinished surface to bubble and peel.  The workaround is to replace the floor.