Alpharetta Walk-In Showers

More than half of Alpharetta's housing was built between 1980 and 1999, and the 1990s alone account for about a third of it, more than any other decade, according to the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey. Only about 8 percent is older than that. If your shower is the one the builder put in, it's now somewhere between 25 and 45 years old.

TrueNorth Showers is based in Marietta and works in Alpharetta. Robert, the owner, installs every walk-in shower himself, with seamless Swanstone or tile-look NexTile walls, and most installs take 1 to 3 days.

A 1990s shower, 30 years on

The median Alpharetta home was built in 1996. Bathrooms from those years were usually finished with a fiberglass or acrylic stall, or a one-piece tub and shower unit, sitting on a molded base. Three decades later, the base is the part to worry about. A slow leak at the drain can soak the subfloor for years before anything shows on the surface.

Taking the old shower out is the first real look at the floor since the house was built. Soft or stained subfloor gets cut out and replaced, and the new base is bedded so it sits solid instead of flexing when you step on it.

Building it for later, too

About 8,900 Alpharetta residents are 65 or older, roughly 13 percent of the city. If you expect to stay in your house, it makes sense to build the new shower for the person you’ll be in 15 years as well as now:

• a low curb, or none at all
• a fold-down seat and a handheld shower head
• wood blocking in the walls anywhere a grab bar might go

The National Institute on Aging recommends grab bars on both the inside and the outside of the shower. With blocking already in place, a grab bar added later screws into solid wood, and nobody has to open the wall.

Walls and glass

Swanstone panels are solid-surface sheets with no grout lines, so there’s nothing to scrub out or reseal. NexTile gives you the look of tile, also without the grout. For the glass, the usual choices are a hinged door, a sliding door, or a fixed panel, and a fixed panel leaves the most open way in. Lighter walls and clear glass also make a primary bath from the 1990s feel less closed in.

Next steps

The exact price comes from a free in-home estimate. Typical ranges are in the walk-in shower cost guide. You can also compare walk-in shower options, read the longer Alpharetta shower installation guide, or look at tub-to-shower conversion in Alpharetta if your project starts with a garden tub. Materials carry manufacturer warranties, and the installation has a 2-year workmanship guarantee.