Bathroom Remodeling in Newark, NJ

Newark has more housing units than the rest of our service area combined, and roughly 87 percent of them sit in buildings with more than one unit. That single fact changes bathroom work here more than the age of the housing does.

Median year built

1966of 121,546 housing units

Built before 1940

23.7%42.9% before 1960

Single-family detached

12.6%63.8% in 1–4 unit buildings

Owner-occupied

24.4%24.14 sq mi, Essex County

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates. Figures describe Newark city, Essex County, NJ.

Stacked bathrooms and what they mean

In a frame two- or three-family, bathrooms are aligned vertically so they can share a waste and vent stack. It is efficient construction, and it has three consequences.

Leaks are other people's problem too. A failing shower pan on the second floor shows up as a stain on the first-floor ceiling, which is why we get called about Newark bathrooms sooner and more insistently than about bathrooms elsewhere. That is genuinely a good thing: the damage is caught earlier.

The toilet is hard to move. Its drain is the largest in the room and it ties directly into the shared stack. Relocating it means rerouting through the ceiling of the unit below, which is a considerably bigger job than moving a sink.

The work affects neighbors. Shutoffs, noise, stairs, debris. In an owner-occupied two-family that is a conversation. In a condominium it is a set of written rules.

The bathrooms themselves are typically 35 to 45 square feet with an alcove tub. In the older frame houses the wet wall is often plaster with tile set into a mortar bed and no waterproof membrane behind it, because the concept did not exist when it was built.

What we handle in a Newark bathroom

Demolition, framing and subfloor repair, plumbing and electrical, waterproofing, tile, fixtures and finish. Permits filed with the city. In condominiums, we work within your association's requirements as well as the code.

Shower Remodeling in Newark

The single most common job we do in the city, and almost always a repair of an assembly that was never built to keep water out. Grout is porous and water passes through it in normal use; the membrane behind the tile is what protects the structure. In most failures we open up, there is no membrane at all: tile on cement board, or on greenboard, which is moisture-resistant drywall and unsuitable in a shower. A rebuild means a sloped pan, a continuous bonded membrane detailed at every corner, curb and drain, then backer and tile. We do not tile over a wet substrate. See shower remodeling.

Full Bathroom Remodels in Newark

Usually the right call once the wet wall has failed, because the demolition, containment, permits and waterproofing are already happening and the marginal cost of finishing the room is smaller than doing it in stages. In an older frame house this is also the moment to replace galvanized supply lines that are closing up, repair subfloor around the toilet flange, and duct the exhaust fan properly to the outside. Three to four weeks with the layout unchanged. See full bathroom remodeling.

Bathroom Tile in Newark

Two substrate realities dominate here. Floors in older frame houses flex more than a rigid tile assembly tolerates, so an added plywood layer or an uncoupling membrane is frequently necessary before tile goes down. Walls of old plaster are rarely flat, and tile follows exactly what it is set on. On upper floors there is a third consideration: sound transmission to the unit below, where an acoustic underlayment is worth specifying and is sometimes required by a condominium association. See bathroom tile.

Small Bathroom Remodeling in Newark

Almost every bathroom in the city's multi-family housing qualifies. The changes that matter are not structural: a clear glass panel instead of a curtain so the eye reaches the far wall, a recessed medicine cabinet using four inches of depth between studs, tile carried to the ceiling to remove the horizontal break, and a shallower vanity to free the door swing. In an interior bathroom with no window, better lighting and a properly sized fan do as much for how the room feels as any finish. See small bathroom remodeling.

Tub-to-Shower Conversions in Newark

Popular in owner-occupied units and worth thinking about carefully in rentals, where a family with young children may want a tub. The alcove stays and the drain relocates from the tub position to a shower position with correct fall and venting, and in a stacked building that work has to respect the shared stack, which limits how far it can move. The finished result makes a small bathroom feel considerably larger. One to two weeks and a permit. See tub-to-shower conversion.

Bathtub Replacement in Newark

Cast iron is standard in the older frame houses and gets broken up in place, because a 400-pound tub does not go down a narrow staircase whole. Expect the surround to come with the tub, since the tile laps the flange and matching old tile is not realistic. This is also the moment to replace the valve with a pressure-balancing type, which matters in a multi-family building where a flush in another unit can change the water temperature in your shower. See bathtub replacement.

Bathroom Vanities in Newark

Many of these bathrooms have a wall-hung sink and no storage at all, so adding a vanity is a real improvement. Depth is the constraint in a small room: an 18-inch cabinet instead of a standard 21-inch gives back three inches where the door already clips something. Drawers hold far more usable material than a door with a P-trap through the middle. Before ordering, check that the cabinet clears the existing supply stops and drain, which in an old house are rarely where you would expect. See bathroom vanities.

Permits and inspections in Newark

Newark's Office of Uniform Construction Code issues and inspects construction permits. Bathroom work altering plumbing or electrical requires one, which covers essentially every real remodel. In a condominium or co-op, the city permit is separate from your association's approval, and the association may have its own requirements about insurance, work hours, sound insulation and what constitutes common property. Both need sorting before work starts.

Where we work in Newark

Across the city, most frequently in Vailsburg, Weequahic, Clinton Hill and Roseville, which are closest to our shop, and regularly in the Ironbound, Forest Hill and downtown buildings.