Tub to shower conversion in Sunrise, FL.

Phase 1 is 1,152 condos built from 1971 to 1974, concrete block, three and four stories with elevators. Phase 2 followed in 1974 with 900 homes in 25 buildings of 36 units each. Phase 4 Inc 2 runs 23 buildings. These are 55-plus communities, and the bathroom is a 50-year-old alcove with a 14-inch tub wall the owner has stopped stepping over. The job is the same each time: tub out, a waterproofed pan with a low curb, tile to the ceiling, a bench, a hand-held on a slide bar, and blocking in the wall for grab bars whether you want them now or later.

• Thirty-six units share a building's risers. The plumber's shut-off is scheduled with the manager and posted for the neighbors, and it lasts hours, not days.
• The old tub goes down the elevator on its edge with floor and wall protection, on the day the building allows.
• Each phase runs its own association and budget; the insurance certificate goes to yours, not to a Sunrise Lakes office.

Opening it is the point of a tiled conversion. The city's own utility runs a Lead and Copper Testing Program because copper pipe joined with lead solder was common in South Florida from 1983 to June 1988; in a house from those years, the plumber remakes the joints at the valve while the wall is open, and the new valve goes in with the right solder. A liner over the old tub would seal all of that in.

• No blocking, no waterproofing, the drain at one end: normal, and the reason the job takes 7 to 10 working days, not one.
• If the alcove is a 1980s fiberglass unit, it comes out in pieces and the studs behind it get cement board.
• A ducted exhaust fan goes in or gets upgraded. In a 36-unit building, I confirm the duct path with the manager first.

Both are soft by Broward standards, and both reported sodium under 39 ppm in April 2025. The difference shows up on frameless glass: Springtree water leaves a little more spotting, and the Springtree report logged a color exceedance in spring 2025, which is why some east-side owners see tint on white fixtures. Neither changes the build. The city's Service Area Map shows which plant serves your street, roughly east for Springtree and west for Sawgrass, and a squeegee on the wall covers the rest.

• Porcelain tile needs no sealing in either water; natural stone does, once a year.
• A new white porcelain shower floor shows tint less than old cultured marble did.