Stonehurst · East Oakland · Bathroom Remodeling
Bathroom remodeling in Stonehurst
Early-1900s East Oakland bathrooms, rebuilt at the existing footprint. Plastic pan liner waterproofing, plumbing replaced where it needs to be, permits on every job.
Stonehurst bathroom specialists
Built to stay dry in East Oakland\'s oldest homes
Stonehurst is one of the oldest residential pockets in East Oakland. Most of the housing stock is early-1900s through 1940s — bungalows, small Craftsmans, modest cottages built when the neighborhood was first developed. The bathrooms are original or near-original, and the plumbing behind the walls usually shows it.
We remodel bathrooms across Stonehurst and the surrounding East Oakland neighborhoods — Maxwell Park, Eastmont, Highland Park, Sobrante Park. The scope is consistent: full showers and full bathrooms at the existing footprint. Pre-slope under a CPE plastic pan liner. Cure times respected. Permits pulled every time through the Oakland Planning & Building Department. On these older homes, full guts almost always include plumbing replacement — galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains from a hundred years ago do not get more reliable with age. The call is made at demo day, not on the quote.
Custom vanity · Stonehurst
Stonehurst Budget Ranges
What to budget for a Stonehurst bathroom
Bay Area market ranges we see for full bathroom remodels at the existing footprint — includes demo, waterproofing, tile, vanity, plumbing coordination, and permits. Use them as a budgeting guide, not a quote.
Light Refresh
$8K–$15K
1–2 weeks
Fixtures + vanity, no shower rebuild.
New vanity, new toilet, new faucet and mirror, repaint, light flooring. Keeps the existing shower. Common when a previous owner already updated tile within the last 10 years.
Mid-Range
$15K–$25K
3–5 weeks
New shower tile + new pan + new vanity + new floor.
Full shower rebuild including waterproofing and new pan, plus all the light-refresh items. Common Stonehurst bathroom scope when the original tile and tub are at end of life but the plumbing is sound.
Full Gut
$25K–$35K
5–8 weeks
Demo to studs + new plumbing + full waterproof + tile + permits.
Everything new. Standard scope on an early-1900s East Oakland home where galvanized supply lines or cast iron drains need replacing while the walls are open.
Cure times set the timeline floor. Mortar layers set between steps. Thinset cures 24 hours before grout. Grout cures 48-72 hours before shower use. Chemistry, not labor — we do not compress these windows.
Build Process
From demo to handoff
Four phases, every Stonehurst bathroom. Cure times set the timeline floor — we work with the chemistry, not against it.
Walkthrough
We walk the bathroom, measure, flag what we see — original galvanized lines, subfloor condition, tile choice. Talk through scope, timeline, permit. No pressure, no upsell.
Demo & Rough-in
Demo to studs. Plumbing and framing rough-in. We call plumbing replacements when we see them — galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains in early-1900s East Oakland homes are usually overdue. Permit rough-in inspection before we close walls.
Waterproof & Tile
Pre-slope, CPE plastic pan liner, cement board, tile. Cure times respected between thinset and grout. Chemistry, not labor.
Finish
Vanity, fixtures, paint, punch-list walkthrough. Warranty in writing. You have our phone number for anything that comes up.
Stonehurst Logistics
What's different about Stonehurst
Permits Through Oakland
Stonehurst is in the City of Oakland. Every bathroom gets a permit pulled through the Oakland Planning & Building Department at 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza. No exceptions. The review time is already baked into our quoted timelines. The permit protects your insurance claim and keeps the work clean on a future home sale.
Hundred-Year-Old Plumbing
Stonehurst homes are mostly early-1900s through 1940s — almost all of them were originally plumbed with galvanized steel supply lines and cast iron drains. Galvanized lines corrode from the inside, slowly choking water flow. Cast iron cracks at the joints. When we open the walls for a full gut, we replace failing lines while the access is open.
Subfloor Condition Matters
On homes this old, the bathroom subfloor sometimes shows water damage from prior leaks — soft spots, joist damage near the toilet flange, plywood that has delaminated. We flag subfloor repair on demo day and price it transparently. A new tile floor on a soft subfloor will crack within a year — we will not install over questionable substrate.
Inspections = Free Second Eyes
The city inspector looks at our rough-in plumbing and waterproofing and signs off before we close the walls. We welcome it. Good contractors welcome inspections; nervous contractors avoid them. A free expert review of our own work.
What We Refuse
Things we won't install
Pebble Stone Shower Floors
Looks incredible in magazines and on Instagram. In real life, cleaning between the pebbles is impossible, soap scum and hair collect in the grout crevices, and the uneven surface is painful to stand on. We have been called in to replace pebble floors on bathrooms less than 5 years old.
Small-Format Floor Tile
Anything smaller than 12×12 on a bathroom floor is a grout-maintenance nightmare. We install 12×24 or 18×36 porcelain on almost every bathroom floor — fewer grout lines, easier cleaning, calmer visual.
No-Permit Shortcuts
We will not skip the permit to save a few hundred dollars upfront. The cost savings on day one turn into insurance denial and failed home-sale disclosure down the road. Every bathroom, every time.
Why Soto Bay
Why Stonehurst homeowners choose us for bathrooms
Plastic pan liner, every job
One waterproofing system on every bathroom — a traditional CPE plastic pan liner. Pre-slope mortar UNDER the liner. Finish slope mud bed ON TOP of the liner. Cement board walls above the liner turn-ups. One proven system done right beats mixing membranes job-to-job.
Pre-slope under the pan
The single most-skipped step in bathroom remodels. Without a pre-slope, water gets stuck in pools against the pan liner and the shower fails from the inside out. We do it on every job, as a separate step before the finish slope goes on.
Old plumbing called at demo day
Stonehurst's early-1900s housing stock is known for original galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains. We do not pretend to know what is in your walls before we open them — but when we see failing lines on demo day, we replace them while the walls are open. Doing it later means tearing the finished bathroom apart again.
Quote matches the actual scope
If you want the bathroom redone within the existing walls, that is one quote. If the scope grows — moving a drain, relocating fixtures, expanding the footprint — we price the plumbing and structural work as separate line items, not buried in the bathroom number. The quote matches the work, not the other way around.
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Common bathroom questions
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Ready to remodel your Stonehurst bathroom?
Free walkthrough. Honest scope. Permits on every job. Text us, call us, or use the instant bid tool.
Licensed CSLB #1054501 · Oakland-based · Family-owned
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