How do you add a walk-in shower to a Bushwick row house bathroom?

The problem

An owner on Wyckoff Avenue wanted a walk-in shower instead of the existing tub. The building was a late-1800s attached row house, wood subfloor, original cast-iron waste stack running through the interior wall. The new shower drain position couldn't use the old tub drain location; it needed to move 14 inches to center in the shower footprint. That meant cutting the subfloor and making a new connection to the cast-iron branch, the kind of work that gets done once and should be done right. The original tub supply stubs were galvanized and had enough internal corrosion that we replaced them back to the shutoffs while the wall was open. No extra trip needed.

What we did

Pulled the DOB permit, demo'd the tub and surround, cut the wood subfloor at the new drain location. Made a no-hub connection into the cast-iron branch using a proper sanitary fitting, not a straight tee, to ensure correct flow direction. Installed a 2-inch PVC shower drain with P-trap and cleanout access from the basement. Roughed in half-inch copper hot and cold to the shower valve position, set blocking for the valve body at the correct depth for the tile assembly. Pressure tested with the floor and wall open. DOB inspection passed first visit. Waterproofing contractor in the next morning, tile followed. Applied Schluter Kerdi membrane at the floor-to-wall transition and corners before the waterproofing contractor took over. That seam is where failures start in buildings this old.