Bathroom Remodel – Glenside, PA
A 40-square-foot bathroom at $13,800 is a high cost-per-square-foot, and the reason is structural: a floating wall-mounted double vanity was installed, which required full plumbing relocation from the floor to the wall behind the cabinet. That single decision — choosing a wall-mounted vanity over a floor-standing one — is what separates the plumbing scope of this project from a standard bathroom remodel of similar size. On top of that, the shower was built with a linear drain rather than a standard center drain, and white tile was run to the ceiling with an accent back wall at the shower base level.
What This Project Included
- Full demolition of the existing shower
- New walk-in shower with linear drain
- White tile on shower walls — floor to ceiling
- Accent back wall tile at the shower base level
- Built-in recessed shower light
- Floating wall-mounted double vanity
- Full plumbing relocation to the wall for a wall-mounted vanity
- New lighted mirrors above the vanity
- Recessed ceiling lighting throughout
- New toilet
The Floating Vanity and What It Required
A floor-standing vanity has its plumbing connections coming up through the floor — supply lines and the drain connect from below the cabinet. A wall-mounted floating vanity has those connections coming through the wall behind the cabinet, which means the supply and drain rough-in runs horizontally through the wall framing rather than vertically through the subfloor.
In a bathroom where the existing plumbing was floor-penetrating, switching to a wall-mounted vanity means relocating all of those connections. The wall has to be opened, the pipes rerouted, and the wall closed back up before any tile or finish work begins. It is a plumbing and framing task that adds real labor and cost but produces the result — a cabinet that appears to float above the tile floor, with no base or legs interrupting the floor surface. In a 40-square-foot bathroom, that visual continuity at floor level makes a noticeable difference in how large the room feels.
Linear Drain: What It Does Differently
A standard shower drain is positioned at the center of the shower floor with tile sloping toward it from all four sides. A linear drain is a long narrow channel, typically placed at one edge of the shower floor, with the tile sloping in one direction only — toward the drain line along the wall.
The practical effect is a cleaner tile layout. Because the floor only has to slope one way, large-format tiles can be used on the shower floor without the complex cuts required to make them drain correctly toward a central point. It also allows the shower floor tile to read as a single continuous surface rather than four triangular sections meeting at a center drain cover. The result is a shower floor that looks like an extension of the wall tile rather than a separate element.
White Tile to the Ceiling with Accent Back Wall
White tiles were installed on the shower walls from floor to ceiling — the standard approach in this portfolio for full moisture protection and visual height in the shower. The accent detail here is the back wall: the same tile used on the shower floor was installed as an accent on the back shower wall at base level, creating a visual connection between the floor and the back wall surface. It is a subtle but deliberate design choice that gives the shower a layered appearance without introducing a competing material.
Running white tile to the ceiling throughout the shower, combined with recessed lighting in the ceiling of the enclosure, produces a bright interior that reads as larger than a 40-square-foot bathroom typically allows.
Lighting: Recessed Throughout and Inside the Shower
Recessed ceiling lights were installed throughout the bathroom for general illumination. A dedicated recessed light was placed inside the shower — positioned during the rough-in phase so the fixture is properly sealed and waterproof-rated for a wet location. The lighted mirrors above the vanity provide close-range illumination for the vanity area. The combination of three lighting layers — general ceiling, in-shower, and vanity-level — is what allows a 40-square-foot room to feel adequately and evenly lit rather than relying on a single overhead fixture.
What This Project Cost and Why
At $13,800 for 40 square feet, this is one of the highest cost-per-square-foot bathroom projects in this portfolio. The drivers are the plumbing relocation for the floating vanity, the linear drain installation, and the overall finish quality — recessed lighting in three locations, tile to the ceiling, and a floating vanity that required structural wall work. These are not costs that show up in a standard bathroom update of a similar size.
The finished result is a bathroom that functions and reads at a level that its square footage alone would not suggest. That is what the additional structural work produced.
Bathroom Remodeling in Glenside
Glenside is a Montgomery County community in Cheltenham Township, with a mix of older single-family homes and newer construction. Bathrooms in older homes here often have the standard floor-standing vanity, center-drain shower configurations, and single overhead lighting that were typical at original construction. When a homeowner wants a genuinely modern aesthetic rather than just updated finishes, the structural decisions — vanity type, drain type, lighting placement — are where that difference is made.
Belmax Remodeling works throughout Glenside and the broader Montgomery County area. For more on our bathroom work, see our bathroom remodeling service page. Homeowners in Glenside can also visit our Glenside bathroom remodeling page for more completed local projects.
Considering a Similar Project?
Bathroom remodels in the 40-square-foot range that include a wall-mounted floating vanity with plumbing relocation, linear drain, recessed lighting in multiple zones, and floor-to-ceiling tile typically fall in the $12,000–$16,000 range in Montgomery County. This Glenside project came in at $13,800, completed in February 2025. To discuss what your bathroom would involve, request a free estimate.