How to Design a Bathroom Remodel in South Florida

Bathroom design

The short answer

Step 1

Start with the layout: the clearances that decide what fits

Before any finish is chosen, a bathroom plan has to pass a handful of minimum dimensions in the Florida Building Code, Residential (8th edition, 2023) and the Florida Plumbing Code. They are small numbers, but in a 5-by-8-foot room they decide whether a double vanity, a separate shower or a bigger shower actually fits:

• Toilet: at least 15 inches from its centre to any side wall or fixture, and 21 inches of clear floor in front of it (FBC-Plumbing 405.3.1; FBC-Residential P2705.1).
• Basin: 21 inches of clear floor in front of the lavatory.
• Shower: at least 900 square inches of floor and at least 30 inches in its smallest dimension, with a clear way in of at least 22 inches (FBC-Plumbing 421.4 and 421.4.2; FBC-Residential P2708.1). Hinged shower doors open outward.
• A new bathroom door: new homes must have at least one bathroom with a door giving a 29-inch clear opening (R320.1.1). The rule is written for new construction, but it is the right target whenever a remodel changes the doorway.

The plumbing wall is the budget line. Keeping the toilet, basin and shower drains where they are is the least invasive remodel. Moving them means cutting the slab or floor for new drain and vent piping, and a plumbing permit and inspection before it is covered. In South Florida’s slab-on-grade houses that cut is also what makes a level-entry shower possible, so decide the two together. Three common starting points:

Keep the tub

Refresh in place

The tub, toilet and basin stay on their drains; the budget goes into tile, glass and fixtures.

Photo: a bathtub under a sliding glass panel on a black track, with a lit niche.

Tub to shower

Convert the tub

The drain usually moves and the floor is rebuilt as a shower pan with a liner, which is tested before tile.

Photo: a walk-in shower with a bench, a niche and frameless glass beside the toilet.

Wet room

Go level

A curbless floor needs the slab recessed or the floor built up, and a drain placed for the slope.

Photo: a freestanding tub inside a level shower area with a linear drain along the floor.

Step 2

The wet zone: glass, walls and the shower floor

The shower is where the code is most specific, and where the work that goes wrong is hidden behind tile. Four height lines govern it:

• Safety glass. Glazing in the walls or enclosure of a tub or shower is a hazardous location when its bottom edge is less than 60 inches above the standing surface, so it must be safety glazing (R308.4.5). That covers shower doors and screens, and a window inside or beside the shower.
• A window in the shower. Beyond safety glazing, a replaced exterior window in Miami-Dade or Broward (the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone) must meet impact test criteria or be protected (FBC 1626.1). Replacing a window needs a permit (FBC 105.1), and windows are among the envelope products that need a product approval (Rule 61G20-3.001). Palm Beach County is outside the HVHZ, so its wind-borne-debris rules differ. Our hurricane-rated window systems page explains the difference.
• Wall finish. Walls around a tub with a shower, and around a shower, need a smooth, hard, nonabsorbent surface to at least 6 feet above the floor (R307.2). Tile in tub and shower areas goes on one of the backers the code lists: cementitious backer units, fiber-cement, or glass-mat or fiber-reinforced gypsum (R702.4.2). Water-resistant “green board” may not be used where it is directly exposed to water (R702.3.7.1).
• The shower pan. A tiled shower floor is made watertight with a liner that turns up on all sides at least 2 inches above the finished threshold (FBC-Plumbing 421.5.2), and the liner is flood-tested before tile: filled to at least 2 inches at the threshold and held for at least 15 minutes with no leak (312.9). Ask to see that inspection pass.

Step 3

Air and power: ventilation and the electrical code

Ventilation. A bathroom needs either a window of at least 3 square feet, half of it openable, or an exhaust fan with artificial light (R303.3). The fan must move at least 50 cubic feet per minute if it runs on demand, or 20 cfm if it runs continuously (FBC-Residential Table M1507.4). The exhaust goes directly outdoors, not into the attic (M1501.1, M1507.2), and the outlet ends at least 3 feet from property lines and from doors and windows (M1506.3). In South Florida’s humidity, the window alone rarely keeps a shower room dry; plan the fan and its duct route with the ceiling.

Electrical. The Florida Building Code adopts the 2020 National Electrical Code (section 2701.1; FBC-Residential E3401.1). In a bathroom:

• Every 125-volt to 250-volt receptacle needs GFCI protection (NEC 210.8(A)(1)).
• At least one 20-amp circuit supplies the bathroom receptacles, with no other outlets on it, except that a circuit serving a single bathroom may also supply other equipment in that bathroom (210.11(C)(3)).
• At least one receptacle within 3 feet of the outside edge of each basin (210.52(D)), so a long double vanity may need two.
• No receptacle within 3 feet sideways and 8 feet up from the tub rim or shower threshold, a zone that includes the space directly over them (406.9(C), with narrow exceptions). The same zone excludes pendants, track lighting, cord-connected fixtures and ceiling fans, and fixtures over the tub or shower must be rated for damp or, in the spray, wet locations (410.10(D)).

Step 4

Fixtures: flow limits and scald protection

Fixture choice is freer than it looks, with two rules to design around. New fixtures must meet the maximum flow rates in the Florida Plumbing Code (Table 604.4): 2.5 gallons per minute for a shower head at 80 psi, 2.2 gpm for a private lavatory faucet at 60 psi, and 1.6 gallons per flush for a toilet. A rain head plus a hand shower plus body jets on one valve is a question for the plumber and the drain size before it is a style choice.

Scald protection. Every individual shower valve must be a pressure-balance, thermostatic or combination valve that limits the maximum setting to 120°F (FBC-Plumbing 412.3), and a bathtub filler needs a temperature-limiting device set no higher than 120°F as well (412.5). It is the one fixture where the cheapest valve body is not an option.

The order of decisions

What belongs on the drawings, and what can wait for the showroom

The left column is what the permit drawings, the rough-in inspection and the waterproofing depend on; changing it after the walls close means opening them again. Blocking is the cheapest item on the list: a wood backer in the wall where a grab bar may go later costs little during framing and a lot afterwards. The right column changes only what you see. Our accessible bathroom page covers aging-in-place layouts.

The paperwork

Permits, inspections and condo rules

A bathroom remodel that moves or adds plumbing, adds circuits or changes a window needs permits for that work. Florida’s HB 803 (in force since July 1, 2026) lets a single-family owner request an exemption for small jobs, but it excludes electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical and gas work and homes in a flood hazard area, so it rarely covers a real bathroom remodel. The same law set review clocks (section 553.792). Inspections happen before anything is covered (Miami-Dade County), so the plan must allow for them: rough plumbing and electrical, then the pan test, then close-up.

1. DesignLayout and wet zone on paperDrains, shower, glass, fan and outlets drawn and priced.
2. PermitPlumbing, electrical, windowFiled with the drawings; in a condo, after the association approves.
3. Rough-inInspected before walls closeNew drain, vent, supply and wiring are inspected open.
4. Pan testLiner flood testAt least 2 inches of water held 15 minutes with no leak, before tile.
5. FinishTile, glass, fixtures, finalBacker, waterproofing, tile, safety glass, trim-out and final inspection.

Condos add a layer: the association decides what you may change, when work can happen and what it must approve first, often including any change to plumbing risers or waterproofing. Our condo renovation guide walks through it, and how long a bathroom remodel takes covers the permit clocks and inspection hold points.

Interactive checklist

Before you pick tile: a bathroom design checklist

Our process

How we design a bathroom remodel

We design a bathroom remodel from the room outwards: we measure the clearances, find the drain and vent routes, check the panel and the fan path, and settle the shower, glass and waterproofing on the drawings before tile and fixtures. If the tub is coming out, our walk-in shower conversion page shows the options; on a design-build project the drawings the building department reviews are the drawings we build.

For finished examples, see our primary bathroom with a freestanding tub and walk-in glass shower and our frameless glass shower remodel. Send us photos or a plan of your bathroom and we will tell you which of these decisions your room forces first.