By Don Vedaa · Updated November 2026
Aging in place in Portland: a curbless bath and a main floor suite
Two rooms decide whether you can stay in your house as you get older: a bathroom you can walk into and a bedroom you do not climb stairs to reach.
Talk to Don about your projectHe comes out and prices it himself
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What would let you stay in the house?
Tick what you need. It sorts into the jobs it takes, with how long each one runs.
That is one job
A bathroom remodel
A hall bath takes three to four weeks and a primary bath four to six. Full bathrooms run from about $20,000 to $50,000. Everything you ticked for the bathroom is built in before the tile.
A bathroom you can walk into.
The details that make a bathroom safe later are built in before the tile.
A walk in shower where the tub was
When a tub the household never uses comes out, a tiled walk in shower goes in its place, with a new pan, waterproofing, a tile surround and glass.
No curb at the entry
A curbless shower has no step to lift a foot over. This one is in the Foster-Powell bungalow, a house built before 1920.
See the Foster-Powell bungalow
Grab bar blocking goes in at rough in
Grab bars need solid blocking inside the wall. It goes in at rough in, before the waterproofing and the tile, along with lever fixtures and the curbless entry.
A primary bath rebuilt in Bethany
This late 1990s house got its primary bath rebuilt with a curbless shower, a freestanding tub and a double vanity, as part of a whole home remodel.
See the Bethany homeA bedroom and bath on the main floor.
When the bedrooms are upstairs, a suite can be added to the main level, or a small house can go in the yard.
A suite added on the main level
The 1924 Creston-Kenilworth bungalow took a rear addition that extended the main level and added a primary suite, a bedroom and bath on the ground floor. From the street the house looks the same.
See the Creston-Kenilworth bungalowA small house for family on the same lot
An ADU puts a parent or grown children a few steps away in a home of their own. We check what the lot can carry before any design is paid for.
Read the ADU guideCommon questions.
Yes. When a tub comes out we build a tiled walk in shower in its place, with a new pan, waterproofing, a tile surround and glass. It is a bathroom job and priced like one. We do not install conversion kits.
At rough in, while the walls are open. The blocking they fasten to goes in then, before the waterproofing and the tile.
Often, with an addition. On the Creston-Kenilworth bungalow a rear addition extended the main level and added a primary suite. It went through structural engineering and the city's plan review, and it was matched to the original roof pitch.
Yes. The bathroom under construction is sealed off with dust control walls and the work hours are kept predictable. Where the house has only one bathroom, we keep the fixtures usable overnight wherever the plumbing allows.
A full bathroom costs about $20,000 to $50,000. Tile, plumbing moves and glass decide where yours lands, and Don prices it line by line after the site walk.
Three to four weeks for a hall bath and four to six for a primary bath. The glass is custom, so it is measured once the tile is up and takes one to two weeks to make.
Talk directly to Don about your project.
Or pick a time for Don's site walk
“DWV Construction is a top-notch local contractor, whether you need a bathroom update or a full home remodel.”
Eleni Gerding · Google review