Meadow Vista Well-Water Bathroom Rebuild
A 1970s ranch home on five acres in Meadow Vista, on a private well. We rebuilt the untouched original primary bath: replaced the visible galvanized supply with PEX, removed a failing fiberglass shower and an unused tub, and built a walk-in shower with a linear drain.
IllustrationIllustration — representative of the finished design, not a photograph of this job. Photos of our recent foothill work are on the projects page.
This Meadow Vista ranch home was built in the 1970s on five acres and runs on a private well. The primary bath hadn't been touched since construction: galvanized supply lines, an alcove tub the owners didn't use, a fiberglass shower stall whose original substrate was failing at the pan, and a single oak vanity.
What we changed
- Removed the tub, demolished the shower to the studs, and replaced the visible galvanized supply with PEX up to the manifold
- Built a walk-in shower on a bonded sheet-membrane waterproofing system with a linear drain
- Chose fixtures with replaceable cartridges, sealed the grout with a penetrating sealer, and installed a frameless glass enclosure with a hydrophobic coating
- Replaced the oak vanity with a walnut floating vanity on honed quartz
What “well water” means for a bathroom here
Private-well water in Meadow Vista varies from parcel to parcel, so there is no single number for it. The problem we see most often on foothill wells is iron staining on light-colored grout — not hard water. Public supplies in the area are soft: the Placer County Water Agency classes water under 60 mg/L as soft. That is why the grout sealer and easy-clean glass coating were part of this scope.
Permit
Meadow Vista is unincorporated, so the permit was pulled with Placer County; replacing supply piping inside open walls is part of the plumbing inspection. Details are in the Placer County permit guide. Because the home predates 1994, California Civil Code §1101.4 requires noncompliant plumbing fixtures to be replaced as a condition of final permit approval.
Result
A 1970s bathroom rebuilt from the supply lines out: new PEX where galvanized had been, a waterproofed walk-in shower in place of the failing stall, and finishes chosen for easy cleaning on well water.
