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Completed bathroom remodel in La Mesa with a tiled tub surround, recessed niche and matte black fixtures
Bathroom RemodelLa Mesa, California

Bathroom Remodel in La Mesa

A dated tub enclosure with framed sliding doors, stripped out and rebuilt — new tub, a fully tiled surround with a recessed niche, matte black fixtures and a new vanity.

Before & afterTub replacementTiled surroundRecessed nicheMatte black fixturesNew vanity
Bathroom
Project type
La Mesa
San Diego County
Tub & surround
Fully replaced
CSLB #1083621
Permitted & inspected
01
Before & after

The same room, before and after

The La Mesa bathroom before the remodel, with framed sliding shower doors over the tub and a dated vanity
Before
The same La Mesa bathroom after the remodel, with a tiled surround, recessed niche and matte black fixtures
After
02
The brief

The sliding doors were the whole problem

The room started with a framed sliding shower enclosure over the tub — the arrangement that was standard in San Diego County housing for decades. It works, but it collects water in the bottom track, the frame corrodes, and the panels cut the room visually in half.

Removing them was the decision the rest of the project followed from. Once the doors go, the surround has to be rebuilt to take a curtain rod instead of a track, and the tiling has to run properly to the ceiling rather than stopping at the old frame line.

So the room came out entirely: tub, surround, vanity and fixtures. What went back in is a plain, well-built arrangement designed to be easy to clean and hard to date.

Strip-out underway in the La Mesa bathroom, with the original tub still in place Strip-out · During
Tub set and the surround tiled with the recessed niche formed, before fixtures were fitted
During

New tub, tiled surround, niche formed

The new tub was set and levelled before any tile went up, because a tub that is out of level shows at every horizontal grout line above it for the life of the room.

The surround was then tiled to the ceiling with a recessed niche formed into the wall — blocked out behind the substrate at framing stage, not cut in afterwards. A niche gives you somewhere to put things that is not a suction-cup caddy hanging off the tile.

Completed La Mesa bathroom showing the tiled tub surround and new vanity
Set the tub level first. Every grout line above it is measured from that one.
Sheiner Construction · CSLB #1083621
03
Details

The finished room

Tiled tub surround with the recessed niche and matte black tub filler
Matte black shower set and handheld mounted against the tiled surround
New tub and curtain rod in place of the original framed sliding doors
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The result

Plain, and deliberately so

Nothing in the finished room is unusual, and that is the point. Tile to the ceiling, a niche where a caddy would otherwise hang, matte black fixtures against white, a curtain rod instead of a track that traps water, and a new vanity with storage.

Every stage was permitted and inspected under CSLB License #1083621. If your La Mesa bathroom still has the original framed sliding doors, this is roughly what replacing them involves.

Side-by-side comparison of the La Mesa bathroom before and after the remodel
SHEINER
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Services used on this project

CSLB License #1083621 · Licensed, bonded & insured