Dripping tub spouts, showers that scald when a toilet flushes, valves seized mid-temperature: bathroom water problems, solved behind the wall where they live.
Most bath and shower complaints trace to one component: the mixing valve behind the trim. In the county's older housing stock, two- and three-handle setups with worn seats and stems drip past their washers and cross-feed hot into cold; their replacement parts grow scarcer every year, and at some point the honest fix is converting to a modern single-handle pressure-balancing valve — the device that ended the era of the shower scalding whenever someone flushed. In newer homes the cartridge inside that single-handle valve is the wear item, a genuine repair rather than a replacement. Either way the work happens behind the wall, which is why access matters: a closet-backed shower wall opens gently, a tiled-on-all-sides one costs more to enter, and a fair quote says which situation you own before anyone cuts.
The other regulars: tub spouts whose diverters no longer send water up to the shower head without a thumb on the plate, drains that pull hair into a felted plug on a schedule, and the caulk line whose slow failure lets shower water into the wall — small to fix, expensive to ignore. Batch them with the valve work and the visit earns its trip charge several times over.
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Cartridge / stem replacement | $160 – $375 |
| Pressure-balancing valve conversion | $450 – $1,100 — access depending |
| Tub spout / diverter replacement | $130 – $260 |
| Tub or shower drain repair | $150 – $425 |
Access behind the valve wall is the price-mover in this category; everything else is parts. Ranges are researched regional figures — the free look makes them one number.