Bathroom Remodeling in Downey, CA

A bathroom remodel is mostly what you cannot see

A bathroom is the smallest room in the house and the hardest on the building. Water, steam and daily use punish every surface, so a remodel that looks good but is not waterproofed behind the tile will fail within a few years. The work that matters most happens before the first tile goes up: a sound substrate, a proper waterproof layer, correct slope toward the drain and a niche or bench that is built into the wall, not stuck onto it.

The photos on this page are from projects like that: green marble-look tile with brass fixtures and a pebble niche, a white double vanity with a tall linen cabinet, a glass shower beside a pebble floor. Each one starts with the same discipline of flat walls, level floors and straight grout lines, which is why a tile bathroom can look as good in ten years as on the day it was finished.

In Downey many bathrooms date to the original construction of the house: a pink or green tub, a small vanity and a window that does not open. Replacing a tub with a walk-in shower, adding a second vanity sink, or fitting a modern shower into the footprint of the old tub are the most common projects we are asked about.

Signs your bathroom needs more than a cosmetic fix

• Soft, stained or musty spots near the tub. A floor that flexes by the tub or a baseboard that has swollen suggests moisture has been getting behind the surface for some time.
• Grout and caulk that keep failing. If you re-caulk every year, water is likely moving through a joint or a wall that was never waterproofed properly.
• A tub nobody uses. Households that only shower often get more from replacing the tub with a walk-in shower than from any other upgrade.
• One sink for a full household. A double vanity does more for mornings than almost anything else you can put in a bathroom.
• Outdated tile in colors you can not match. When a chipped tile cannot be replaced because the color is no longer made, re-tiling the area is the real fix.

How we build a bathroom, in order

1. Plan the layout and pick the finishes

   We confirm what stays and what moves, then settle tile, vanity, shower glass and fixtures. Orders with a long lead time are placed before demolition.

2. Demolish and check what is behind the walls

   Old tile, tub and vanity come out, and we look at the framing, subfloor and pipes. Water damage and old plumbing show up now, while fixing them is still cheap.

3. Set the base: framing, pan and waterproofing

   Backer board is installed, the shower pan or floor is sloped to the drain, and the wet areas are waterproofed and tested before any tile is set.

4. Tile and grout

   Layout lines are snapped so the pattern is centered, niches and benches are tiled around, and the grout is applied once the thinset has cured.

5. Install vanity, glass and fixtures, then walk it

   The vanity, mirror, glass door and fixtures go in, the room is cleaned and we go through it with you.

What affects the price of a bathroom remodel

A bathroom remodel is a small space with a lot of labor, so the price is driven by decisions rather than square footage alone:

Why homeowners call us for bathroom work

Bathroom work is where Rigo’s tile skills and general contractor license come together. The crew handles demolition, framing, tile, flooring, paint and the vanity and fixture install in-house, so one team owns the result from the first hammer swing to the last bead of caulk.

You get a written scope up front. If your project needs plumbing or electrical work that falls under a different license class, such as a relocated drain or a new circuit, we tell you before the work starts and explain how it will be arranged.

Where we do this work

We remodel bathrooms in Downey and the nearby cities, including Bellflower, Norwalk and Paramount. Compact single-story homes in Paramount and South Gate often have one bathroom doing a lot of work, which makes these upgrades especially worthwhile.