Tub to shower conversion in Coral Springs.

The tub alcove in that house is a 60-inch fiberglass unit or 4-by-4 tile on drywall, a drain at one end, no blocking, and a surround that was closed in before the current owner moved in. The conversion is the first time anyone sees behind it. Tub out, alcove to the studs, the drain line checked in the slab, then a mortar pan sloped to the drain, a low curb, cement board, membrane, and a flood test before the first tile.

• Maplewood, roughly 1977 to 1986, and Ramblewood, 1970s, are the oldest alcoves; Eagle Trace, Wyndham Lakes and Heron Bay run from the late 1980s to about 2001.
• Coral Springs households are the largest in the northern half of my area, with a quarter of residents under 18, so I usually convert the primary tub and keep the hall tub for the kids.
• The slab decides the threshold: a 2-inch curb is standard, curbless is a linear drain or a recess.

The city's own plant draws from 18 Biscayne Aquifer wells as deep as 145 feet and runs conventional lime softening, which removes iron and hardness without the report giving a number. North Springs Improvement District, in the north of the city, draws from both the Biscayne and Floridan aquifers and added reverse osmosis to its nanofiltration plant in 2023, which makes some of the softest water around. Coral Springs Improvement District and Royal Waterworks serve other addresses. I ask for your water bill at the first visit and pick the glass treatment and the trim finish to match.

• City water plant 954-345-2160; NSID 954-752-0400; CSID 954-753-0380. Which one answers is which water you have.
• Porcelain needs no sealing on any of them; a squeegee and a ducted fan keep lime-softened glass clear.

The HOAs matter for access instead: Eagle Trace is guard-gated around the clock, Heron Bay spans 34 neighborhoods under a master association, and Wyndham Lakes splits into several sub-HOAs with gated sections. None of them publishes interior rules, so I bring the one-page scope and the crew's names to whoever runs the gate.

• Only 13 percent of residents are 65 or over, so most Coral Springs conversions are for convenience, not mobility. The blocking goes in the wall regardless.