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Boise Bath — bathroom remodeling in Boise and the Treasure Valley

Comparison guide · Boise & the Treasure Valley

Wet room vs. walk-in shower: which one belongs in your bathroom?

A walk-in shower waterproofs and slopes a single fixture, keeping the rest of the bathroom dry; a wet room waterproofs the entire floor, letting a curbless shower — and sometimes a tub — share one open space. Walk-in showers cost less and suit most households; wet rooms cost more but maximize small footprints and accessibility.

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  • Idaho LicensedRCE-6681702
  • 3-YearWorkmanship Warranty
  • Fixed-PriceQuotes
A finished Meridian master bathroom with a tiled walk-in shower, linear drain, navy double vanity and quartz counterWalk-in shower
Meridian Master Bath: Tub-shower replaced with a tiled walk-in shower; new double vanity. Built by Iron Crest Remodeling Group.
Close-up of a wet room floor showing sloped matte porcelain tile leading to a linear drain with no curb or thresholdWet room
Illustrative design concept, not a finished bathroom.

The whole difference

It comes down to how much of the floor gets waterproofed

Everything else follows from this one decision: the cost, the build time, whether the room has a step in it, and whether the vanity stays dry.
Walk-in shower plan: only the shower floor and its walls are waterproofed, behind a curb, and the rest of the floor stays dryVANITYSHOWERcurb

Walk-in shower

The shower floor and the walls around it are waterproofed and sloped. The rest of the bathroom floor stays exactly as dry as it always was.

Wet room plan: the entire floor is waterproofed and slopes to one drain, with a glass panel sheltering the vanityVANITYSHOWERglass panel

Wet room

The entire floor is waterproofed, which Today’s Homeowner calls “tanking,” and This Old House’s design guidance slopes it at least 1/4 inch per foot to the drain. That is what lets the room lose the curb and the enclosure.

Waterproofed and sloped to the drain · schematic, not to scale

Side by side

The trade-offs, one line each

Wet room vs. walk-in shower at a glance
DimensionWalk-In ShowerWet Room
Waterproofing scopeShower pan and walls onlyEntire bathroom floor, often lower walls too (This Old House)
Typical installed cost$5,000–$11,000, avg $8,000 (Fixr); up to $20,000 (This Old House)$14,000–$22,000 installed (Fixr); about $21,600 for a 144 sq ft room (Fixr)
LayoutEnclosed fixture, often with a curbOpen, curbless; shower and sometimes a tub share one zone
Construction complexityModerate — waterproof and slope one panHigher — waterproof and slope the whole room ("tanking")
AccessibilityCurbless entry available, $3,000–$6,000 ADA (Bob Vila)Barrier-free across the entire room, not just the shower
Rest of the roomStays fully dryVanity/toilet area needs a glass partition or defined dry zone
Best forMost households, budget-conscious remodelsSmall or awkward footprints, full accessibility, open design

What it costs

The ranges, drawn to the same scale

National figures from Fixr and This Old House, next to the range Boise Bath publishes. Your room is priced at the consultation, not on this page.

  1. Walk-in shower

    Fixr · national

    $5,000 – $11,000Average $8,000

  2. Walk-in shower

    This Old House · national

    $4,000 – $20,000Average around $12,000

  3. Wet room

    Fixr · national

    $14,000 – $22,000Installed

  4. Wet room, 144 sq ft example

    Fixr · comparison

    $21,600About 20% above the $18,000 Fixr gives for a standard bathroom the same size

  5. Walk-In / Custom Tile Shower

    Boise Bath · published range

    $12,000 – $22,000Frameless glass, custom tile, niches and benches.

Wet rooms are quoted individually. Room-wide waterproofing and layout vary too much from one bathroom to the next for a single published rate.

Accessibility alone doesn’t require a wet room. Bob Vila prices a curbless, ADA-compliant shower entry at $3,000–$6,000.

30-second fit check

Five questions, and the layout they point to

Each question comes straight from where this comparison says one layout genuinely beats the other. Answer them and the estimate form below picks up the result.
  1. 1.Is this the only bathroom in the house, or one shared with kids?
  2. 2.Is keeping the cost down the top priority?
  3. 3.Is the bathroom small, or an awkward shape?
  4. 4.Does someone need to move through the whole room, not just into the shower, with no threshold?
  5. 5.Do you want the shower and a tub to share one open, enclosure-free space?

0 of 5 answered. Your result appears here.

The honest verdict

Where each one genuinely wins

A walk-in shower wins when…

  • The rest of the room should stay dry and low-maintenance.
  • Budget is a real constraint.
  • It is the only bathroom, or shared with kids.
  • You want the faster renovation.
  • You want no step into the shower, without waterproofing the whole room: go curbless.

A wet room wins when…

  • The footprint is small or awkward, and an open layout makes it feel bigger than any enclosure could.
  • Someone needs to move through the whole room without a threshold, not just into the shower.
  • You want a shared tub-and-shower zone in a primary suite you are investing in for the long term.

Before you choose

Three things the design photos don’t show

  1. 01

    Waterproofing is the bigger job in a wet room

    One veteran tile setter’s method in This Old House’s wet room guide (a copper pan, a mortar bed, then two coats of liquid membrane) “takes three days” with wait time. Built correctly, neither layout leaks more than the other; a wet room simply asks more of the installer over a larger wet area.

  2. 02

    Clearances apply to both

    This Old House’s guidance calls for 36 inches around the shower, 24 inches in front of the toilet, and 15 inches from the toilet’s centre to the nearest wall. A wet room removes the floor-level barriers between them; it does not create more room.

  3. 03

    A wet room needs a dry zone and a fan

    Without a glass panel or a clearly separated area by the vanity, the whole room ends up damp after every shower, and with no door holding the steam in, ventilation stops being optional.

A finished Caldwell walk-in shower with a full-width tiled bench, grab bars, a long niche and a handheld shower head
Caldwell Accessible Shower: tiled walk-in shower with a full-width bench and grab bars. Built by Iron Crest Remodeling Group.

How it works

Five stages, and you always know which one you're in

No mystery, no drip-fed surprises. Here's the whole path from first phone call to warranty.
  1. 1

    Consultation & Design

    We listen to your goals, measure your space, and shape an Idaho-inspired design built around how you live.

    One visit

  2. 2

    Fixed Quote

    You receive a clear, written price before any work begins — no surprise change orders mid-project.

    A few days after your visit

  3. 3

    Build

    Our craftsmen handle demolition through finish work, keeping your home clean and the timeline on track.

    Typically three to five weeks for a full bathroom

  4. 4

    Final Walkthrough

    We review every detail together and make sure your new bathroom is exactly what you imagined.

    One visit, plus punch-list time

  5. 5

    3-Year Warranty

    Every project is backed by a workmanship warranty on top of manufacturer warranties on materials.

    3 years

Start with a free consultationSee each stage in detail →

Wet room or walk-in

Get a fixed price for the one that fits your room

Tell us a little about the bathroom. A project manager calls to book a free in-home consultation, measures, walks through both layouts with you, and follows up with a written price.

  • A fixed, written price after a free in-home consultation
  • 3-year workmanship warranty
  • Licensed Idaho contractor RCE-6681702
  • A reply within one business day, Monday to Friday

Rather talk it through? Call (208) 775-8999

Price your shower or wet room

Name, phone and project. We reply within one business day.

Licensed Idaho contractor · RCE-6681702 · Fully insured · We reply within one business day (Mon–Fri).

Questions

What people ask before they decide

Is a wet room more expensive than a walk-in shower?
Usually, yes. Fixr prices a walk-in shower installation at $5,000–$11,000 (averaging $8,000), while Fixr prices a wet room at $14,000–$22,000 installed, and a 144-square-foot wet room at about $21,600, roughly 20% more than a traditional bathroom the same size. The gap comes down to scope: a wet room's waterproofing covers the entire floor, not just one shower fixture.
Do I need a wet room to get a curbless, accessible shower?
No. Bob Vila prices a curbless shower entry that meets ADA requirements at $3,000–$6,000 — well within a standard walk-in shower project. A wet room extends that barrier-free feel to the entire bathroom floor, which matters if the whole room's maneuverability is the goal, not just the shower itself.
Does a wet room leak more than a walk-in shower?
Not when it's built correctly. This Old House's wet room design guidance calls for a waterproofed, sloped wet area, with the floor falling at least 1/4 inch per foot to the drain. It's a bigger waterproofing job than a standard shower, not a less reliable one, but it does make hiring an experienced installer more important as the wet zone gets larger.

By Boise Bath · Updated September 12, 2026

Sources

National figures come from the sources above and are general guidance; your bathroom is priced at the consultation, not on this page. Images marked as an illustrative concept are design renderings, not finished work. Photographs credited to Iron Crest Remodeling Group are real completed bathrooms.

Keep planning

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Where we work

Wet Room Conversions across the Treasure Valley

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