Featured Project Leaking Acrylic Shower Replaced With Custom Tile in Minnetrista In a newer home in Minnetrista, Minnesota, a small acrylic insert was pushing water past its edges and into the flooring and walls around it. John reached out to us as a homeowner who wanted the leak stopped for good, not patched. The house itself was fairly new, which made the failure that much more frustrating — the shower was the weak link, not the structure around it. When we walked the bathroom, it was clear the fix wasn't a bead of caulk but a full tear-out and rebuild. That's where this Bathroom Remodeling project started. Key Takeaways THE CHALLENGEA small acrylic shower insert was leaking beyond the shower area and damaging the surrounding flooring, drywall, and baseboards. THE BUILDWe built a slightly larger walk-in shower on a presloped mud bed and liner, with Go-Board walls, taped seams, and porcelain tile. THE RESULTOne technician completed the build in seven to eight days, delivering a watertight tiled shower with two custom niches. John chose a tiled shower because the acrylic unit had already failed once and he didn't want to repeat it. A properly built tile shower also gave him room to make the footprint slightly bigger and to add storage he never had before. We went with the traditional presloped mud bed and liner method rather than a foam pan, and handled the demo, the repairs behind the old unit, and the tile work as one continuous scope. Project Summary Client Profile: John, homeowner of a newer single-family home Project Location: Minnetrista, Minnesota (west metro Twin Cities) Primary Objective: Stop the leak at its source and replace a failing acrylic insert with a watertight walk-in shower, handled by our Shower Remodeling Contractor crew. Shower Build: Presloped mud bed, shower liner, concrete-style curb, Go-Board walls, taped seams, and porcelain Bathroom Tile Installation on the floor and walls. Key Outcome: A slightly larger walk-in tiled shower with two custom niches, completed in seven to eight days and backed by a seven-year workmanship warranty. What We Found Behind The Acrylic The shower was a small acrylic unit, and the water wasn't staying inside it. Before we touched anything, the leak had already reached the flooring and the walls surrounding the shower, which is the point where a cosmetic fix stops being honest advice. Pulling the unit out told the rest of the story. We found moisture and damaged drywall around the shower that had to come out and be replaced with new material, and several baseboards next to the old pan were warped and beyond saving. Those repairs had to happen before any waterproofing or tile went in, because new tile over a wet, damaged substrate is just a slower version of the same failure. Building The Tiled Shower Pan We removed and disposed of the old shower, then brought in our plumber to install a new shower rough-in valve and a new shower drain. Our tech built a preslope on the shower floor pitched toward the drain, set the shower liner over that preslope and inside the concrete-like shower curb, then floated a second mud bed over the liner, also sloping to the drain. That two-layer approach gives the water two paths out instead of one, which is exactly why we still build pans this way. "Even though I knew that they were going to do a great job with our bathroom, I was truly impressed with how they went about doing it. Val is reliable, trustworthy, fair. Communication was always easy and fast, each day's work was planned and scheduled very efficiently, and all changes were handled very professionally and reasonably." - (Jocelyn, A to Z Construction) On the walls we installed Go-Board, then taped every seam and corner with waterproofing tape to prevent leaking or cracking once tile was set. Porcelain tile went on the shower floor and walls, we built and tiled two custom niches for soap and shampoo, and we finished with high-performance grout plus 100% silicone around the fixtures and in the corners where movement can crack grout over time. That silicone is the insurance policy — if a grout line ever hairlines in a corner, water still has nowhere to go. You can see how we sequence a job like this on Our Process page. Porcelain tile set over a presloped mud bed, liner, and taped Go-Board walls, with two tiled custom niches. A Watertight Walk-In Shower Minnetrista One technician handled most of the project, and the full build ran seven to eight days from demo to grout. John selected a Delta shower rough-in valve and fixtures along with porcelain tile for both the walls and the floor, and we're building him a custom frameless glass enclosure with a swing door as the last piece. The new shower is slightly larger than the acrylic unit it replaced, with the niche storage the old insert never offered. John was thrilled with how everything turned out and texted us personally to say he loves it — he said it was hard to believe his new shower looked so good. Compared with an acrylic insert that flexes, fades, and cracks, a properly built porcelain shower can last a lifetime and be cleaned up down the road to look new again. We back new showers with a seven-year workmanship warranty, with a lifetime warranty available for an additional cost. Thinking About a Tiled Shower? We've been building custom tile showers for Twin Cities homeowners since 2005, and we handle the whole job — demo, plumbing coordination, waterproofing, and tile. If a targeted repair will solve your problem, we'll tell you that instead of selling you a full rebuild. You're calling a local partner, not a 1-800 number. Dealing with a leaking shower or an acrylic insert you're tired of in Minnetrista or anywhere in the West Metro? Reach out, and we'll come look at it and get you a Free Estimate. A to Z Construction 124 County Rd 81, Maple Grove, MN 55369 Call 612-366-1386 or Schedule Online Frequently Asked Questions How does an acrylic shower compare to a tiled shower in Minnetrista? An acrylic shower is flimsy, makes a lot of sound, and is prone to damage, fading, and cracking over time. A porcelain or ceramic tiled shower, when it's built properly, will last a lifetime and can always be cleaned up down the road to look like new again. In the long run, you save money by building a solid shower instead of installing another acrylic insert. How long does a shower rebuild like this take? This Minnetrista shower took seven to eight days from start to finish with one technician on it most of the time. That window covered demo, drywall and baseboard repairs, the plumbing rough-in, the mud bed and liner build, tile, and grout. The custom frameless glass enclosure is installed afterward, once the tile work is complete. How messy is a bathroom demo, and what warranty do you offer? We protect your property as well as we can with floor coverings and poly, and we set up air scrubbers when a job calls for it. On the finished work, we provide a seven-year warranty on newly built showers, with a lifetime warranty option available for an additional cost. We also use 100% silicone in the corners and around fixtures so the shower stays watertight even if a grout line cracks later.