Tub-to-Shower Conversions in Irving, TX

Irving began on December 19, 1903, when O. Schulze and Otis Brown bought 80 acres and auctioned off lots. It stayed small for decades: the Handbook of Texas counts just 2,621 residents in 1950. Then the city exploded, reaching 45,985 by 1960 and 97,260 by 1970.

The 1970s brought the changes Irving is still known for. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport was built along the city's western edge, the planned Las Colinas development started on the north side, and the Cowboys began playing at Texas Stadium in 1971. Population climbed to 155,037 by 1990 and 191,615 by 2000.

Much of Irving's housing came out of that period. The 1980s are the largest single decade of construction in the city, accounting for about 22% of all housing units, and the median year built is 1986. Roughly a third of the housing is older still, including about one in five units from the 1950s and 60s.

A typical 1980s Irving bathroom has a fiberglass or acrylic tub-shower combination, or a steel tub with a surround, set in a standard five-foot alcove. Forty years on, the surfaces are worn, the caulk joints fail quickly, and the 14-inch-plus step over the tub wall is no easier than it ever was. Older Irving homes from the 1950s and 60s are more likely to have a steel or cast-iron tub set in tile, which brings its own set of worn grout lines and stubborn stains. Both types come out the same way, and both leave a standard opening that is well suited to a walk-in shower.

Irving is a young city by the numbers, with fewer than one in ten residents aged 65 or older. For most owners here a conversion is about planning ahead: a shower that works after a knee surgery, for a visiting parent, or for whoever buys the house next. It is far simpler to build that in now than to do it in a hurry later.