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Oldcastle Bathroom Remodeling: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
Oldcastle bathroom remodeling in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $9,000 – $28,000 installed, depending on scope, materials, and what we find once the old tile comes off the wall. We stock Oldcastle-compatible tile backer boards, shower bases, and accessories, and our crews can have your bathroom stripped and rebuilt in as little as one to three weeks depending on project size. Most Fort Lauderdale homeowners discover their Oldcastle shower system has failed when grout starts crumbling, water stains appear on the ceiling below, or the shower floor feels soft underfoot. That soft spot is usually the backer board underneath giving up after years of South Florida humidity and daily use. Call us at (754) 354-3720 and we’ll tell you what we found, what it takes to fix it, and what it will cost, before we touch a thing.
One thing up front: Mason Remodeling Co Fort Lauderdale is an independent service provider. We’re not affiliated with Oldcastle, but we’ve torn out and rebuilt enough of their shower systems across Fort Lauderdale to know exactly where they hold up and where they don’t.
Which Oldcastle Models This Applies To
Over the years, Oldcastle has supplied bathroom products under a few different lines, mostly through builder and distributor channels rather than retail shelves. The two most common in Fort Lauderdale homes are the Oldcastle SureCap shower base line and their cement-based backer board panels, which you’ll often find in tract homes built from the early 2000s through about 2018. If you have a fiberglass or acrylic shower pan with a pebbled or tiled-look surface and no visible manufacturer name on the underside, there’s a fair chance it’s an Oldcastle SureCap.
Here’s the compatibility gotcha Fort Lauderdale homeowners run into: Oldcastle shower bases were manufactured in specific drain offsets that don’t always line up with the current plumbing rough-in. If you replace with a generic pan from a big-box store, the drain often lands an inch or two off, and you’re suddenly re-plumbing the waste line. We measure the existing drain center from both walls before ordering anything. It’s the difference between a clean swap and a project that turns into a floor demolition.
For backer board, Oldcastle’s panels came in the standard 3×5 foot sheets, but their formulation trends denser than some competitors. That’s good for rigidity, not so good when water gets behind them and the board swells against the wall framing. We stock OEM-equivalent Oldcastle-compatible backer board on our trucks, along with quality aftermarket options like USG Durock and Wedi, which we’ll recommend when the original failure was water intrusion rather than age. On shower bases specifically, we usually recommend a quality aftermarket pan with a matching drain kit when the original Oldcastle unit has cracked, because the newer composite pans take tile better than the older fiberglass units.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Oldcastle Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing
- Soft spots in the shower floor. If the pan flexes or feels spongy underfoot, the substrate underneath has likely been soaking up water for a while. By the time you feel it, the framing below is usually involved.
- Grout that crumbles and won’t stay put. Oldcastle backer board that has absorbed moisture will flex microscopically with every shower, cracking grout lines within weeks of regrouting. Regrouting won’t fix it, the board behind it has to come out.
- Water stains on the ceiling below the bathroom. This is the one Isaac sees most often in Victoria Park homes. The stain usually starts small and faint, then darkens. If the shower is on the second floor, the leak has already been running through the subfloor for weeks by the time you see it.
- A persistent musty odor you can’t source. Oldcastle backer board holds water like a sponge once the surface waterproofing fails. That smell is trapped moisture inside the wall cavity, not something a dehumidifier will fix.
- Tile corners lifting near the shower base. When the pan or its water-seal connection fails, water wicks upward into the wall assembly. The first visible sign is often a tile or two pulling away at the bottom edge where the wall meets the floor.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A full Oldcastle bathroom remodeling job in Fort Lauderdale runs $9,000 – $28,000 installed. A small bathroom remodel, where you’re keeping the footprint and replacing the shower, floor, vanity, and fixtures, lands between $5,000 – $12,000. A tub-to-shower conversion with an Oldcastle-compatible replacement pan runs $3,500 – $10,000 depending on whether we have to move the drain, and a walk-in shower installation settles at $4,500 – $12,000.
What drives the range: whether the water damage extended into the wall framing or subfloor, whether the drain location needs re-plumbing, and your tile and fixture choices. We like Kohler, Moen, and Toto fixtures in Fort Lauderdale bathrooms because they hold up to the humidity better than budget brands. Every price we give is written, delivered before work starts, and never changes mid-project unless you change the scope. Our workmanship is covered by a written guarantee for 365 days from the completion date, and if something isn’t right inside that window, we come back and make it right at no cost to you.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things yourself before calling: look for the soft spot in the shower floor, run your hand along the bottom tile edge for lifting, and check the ceiling below for stains. That tells us what to bring. But tearing out an Oldcastle shower pan or backer board is not a weekend project. You’re working around glass, the waterproofing detail is unforgiving, and if the drain doesn’t line up, the job turns into plumbing work half the time. We’ve fixed plenty of DIY shower replacements across Fort Lauderdale where the homeowner got the pan in, got it mostly sealed, and then the first shower leaked into the kitchen below. Water damage multiplies the bill every week it sits.
If the shower floor is soft, the pan is cracked, or the grout won’t stay put across the full wall, call us at (754) 354-3720. We’ll walk you through what we’re looking for on the phone, and if it makes sense, send a crew out with your technician’s name and photo before they arrive.
FAQs
Most Oldcastle shower bases and backer board installations last 12 – 20 years in Fort Lauderdale homes, but the Florida humidity and hard water can push that number down by a few years if the bathroom had poor ventilation. The backer board usually fails before the pan in homes where the vent fan either wasn’t installed or was never run during showers. Call (754) 354-3720 if you’re seeing early signs, the estimate is free.
We don’t repair cracked Oldcastle shower pans, because the crack is almost always a symptom of movement or failed support underneath. A surface patch looks fine for a few weeks, then the same crack returns because the pan is still flexing. We replace the pan and correct what caused the movement. Call (754) 354-3720 and we’ll tell you honestly which situation you have.
Most Oldcastle shower base and wall replacements take 2 – 5 working days from demo to final caulk. If the water damage extended into the subfloor or framing, add a day or two for structural repair. We’ll give you a written timeline before we start, and the crew’s names before they show up.
Yes, our Fort Lauderdale crews roll with Oldcastle-compatible backer board, drain kits, and shower pan options on the truck for most common replacements. If your model needs a specific drain offset or a special-order pan, we measure first and order before we schedule demolition, so you’re not living with a gutted bathroom any longer than you have to be.
If you’re also dealing with KraftMaid cabinets, Cambria countertops, or Silestone surfaces in the same bathroom, we work with those brands regularly and can handle the full remodel in one pass.
We tell you what we found, what it takes to fix it, and what it will cost, before we touch a thing. Call Mason Remodeling Co Fort Lauderdale at (754) 354-3720 to schedule your free estimate. A live person answers, and you’ll know exactly who’s coming to your door before they arrive.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co Fort Lauderdale at Mason Remodeling Co Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
