Master Bathroom Remodel – Bensalem, PA
This 90-square-foot master bathroom in Bensalem started with a small shower and a bathtub the homeowner no longer used. The tub came out, and the shower expanded to take its place — seven feet long, with two faucets, a built-in bench, and three recessed niches for storage. A window was relocated to improve the layout and natural light distribution. New plumbing throughout, four recessed lights, a heated floor, a new vanity and medicine cabinet, and an HVAC outlet complete the scope.
Scope of Work
- Bathtub removed
- 7-foot shower built in reconfigured footprint
- Two shower faucets installed
- Built-in shower bench
- Three recessed niches in the shower walls
- New shower drain and updated plumbing for vanity and toilet
- Four recessed lights added
- Electric radiant heated floor
- Window relocated
- New vanity and medicine cabinet
- Exhaust fan and HVAC outlet installed
Removing the Tub: The Decision That Drives the Layout
The original master bathroom had both a shower and a bathtub — a layout common in homes of this era that left the shower undersized and the tub underused. In a master bathroom where the tub has become a surface that primarily collects bottles and gets cleaned around rather than used, removing it is the decision that unlocks what the space can become.
Once the tub came out, the floor area it occupied became available for the shower expansion. In a 90-square-foot bathroom, that additional square footage is the difference between a shower that feels like an afterthought and one that functions as the centerpiece of the room. The floor plan was reconfigured around the new seven-foot shower footprint before any new plumbing or tile work began.
A Seven-Foot Shower with Two Faucets and a Bench
The new shower is seven feet long. At that length, the enclosure has room for two separate faucet positions, a bench at one end, and three recessed niches along the walls. Two faucets allow two people to use the shower simultaneously without sharing a single showerhead’s temperature and pressure controls. Each faucet requires its own supply lines and mixing valve, which is part of the plumbing scope that runs new connections throughout the shower zone.
The built-in bench was tiled as part of the shower construction — a permanent surface integrated with the surrounding tile rather than a portable accessory. A tiled bench at shower height is useful for multiple daily tasks: resting, shaving, washing feet without balancing on one leg, or having a lower surface within the enclosure for any grooming task that benefits from it. Installing it during the tile work means it is properly waterproofed and does not require separate maintenance over time.
Three Recessed Niches
Three niches were built into the shower walls — recessed storage areas tiled flush with the surrounding wall surface. Three niches distributed across the shower walls provide dedicated storage for the range of products a shared shower typically needs, without any of them sitting on the floor, the bench ledge, or hanging from the fixture. Built-in niches are permanently integrated into the tile installation, correctly waterproofed, and require no replacement over time the way freestanding shower caddies do.
Window Relocation
The window was relocated as part of this remodel. Moving a window is not a cosmetic adjustment — it involves framing changes to the exterior wall, closing the original opening, framing the new one, and finishing both interior and exterior surfaces at each location. The reason to take on that work is layout: the original window position conflicted with the shower expansion or the light distribution in the reconfigured room. Moving it resolved that conflict and produced a bathroom where the shower, vanity, and natural light work together in the updated floor plan rather than being constrained by where the window originally sat.
Heated Floor and Four Recessed Lights
An electric radiant heating mat was installed under the bathroom floor tile. The mat is placed on the substrate before the tile is set, so the floor surface warms from below when the system is on. In a bathroom used first thing in the morning, a heated floor is the detail most consistently noticed in daily use — and it is substantially easier to include during a full remodel than to retrofit afterward, which requires removing the tile to access the substrate.
Four recessed lights were added to the ceiling. In a 90-square-foot bathroom with a seven-foot shower, four fixtures positioned correctly provide even coverage across the room — including the back of the shower enclosure and the vanity area — without relying on a single overhead source.
Vanity, Medicine Cabinet, and HVAC
A new vanity was installed with updated plumbing connections. A medicine cabinet provides wall-recessed storage that keeps the vanity counter clear rather than cluttered. An HVAC outlet was added to give the bathroom dedicated climate control — relevant in a room with a heated floor and a large shower that generates significant daily humidity.
Bathroom Remodeling in Bensalem
Bensalem is a Bucks County township with a large residential stock including many homes built in the 1970s through 1990s where master bathrooms have the tub-and-small-shower configuration this project replaced. When the tub is no longer being used, and the shower is too small to be comfortable, a tub-to-shower conversion with an expanded enclosure is the remodel that most directly addresses what the homeowner needs from the space. Belmax Remodeling works throughout Bensalem and the broader Bucks County area. For more on our bathroom work, see our bathroom remodeling service page. Homeowners in Bensalem can also visit our Bensalem bathroom remodeling page for more completed local projects.
Considering a Similar Project?
Master bathroom remodels in the 90-square-foot range with a tub removal, large shower with multiple faucets and niches, heated floor, recessed lighting, and window relocation typically fall in the $13,000–$17,000 range in Bucks County. This Bensalem project came in at $14,800, completed in March 2024. To discuss what your bathroom would involve, request a free estimate.