Kitchen Remodels and Curbless Showers in Hollywood Park (78232)

Single-story ranch homes are a natural fit for a shower you walk straight into, with no curb to step over. Owners plan them for aging in place, for a family member who uses a walker, or simply because they look clean. In a ranch house on a slab, the work happens in the concrete: the shower floor has to drop below the bathroom floor so water runs to the drain instead of across the room.

We cut and recess the slab, set a linear or center drain, and slope the new floor toward it. A curbless shower done this way stays dry outside the glass and gives you one continuous tile floor.

1. Lay out the shower and confirm drain location against the existing line
2. Saw-cut and remove the slab section, then trench to the drain
3. Set the drain and pour a recessed, sloped base
4. Apply waterproofing across the shower and past its edge
5. Tile the floor continuously from the room into the shower

Mature trees are the reason many people choose Hollywood Park, and they also affect what happens under the house. Large roots draw moisture from clay, which can let a slab shift over dry summers, and that movement shows up as cracked tile and doors that stick. Older drain lines from this era can also take in roots at the joints. Our notes on slab foundations and drains go deeper.

• Have the main drain scoped before any bathroom remodel
• Use a crack isolation membrane under every new tile floor
• Look for diagonal drywall cracks that hint at slab movement
• Keep sprinklers and foundation watering steady through dry spells

Kitchens in these houses were often built as closed rooms with a small window over the sink, even though the backyard is the best view on the lot. A kitchen remodel here often widens that window, opens the wall to the family room or both. The sink usually stays under the window, which keeps plumbing in the slab where it already runs.

Many of these kitchens also have soffits above the cabinets and a single ceiling fixture. Removing the soffits makes room for taller cabinets, though they sometimes hide ducts or vent pipes, so we look inside before we promise that space. Recessed lights and under-cabinet strips take the place of the old fixture.

Hollywood Park runs its own permits and inspections, separate from San Antonio. Plumbing, electrical and structural work, including cutting a slab for a curbless shower, goes through the town. We pull the permits and build inspections into the schedule.

Low branches and narrow driveways can make deliveries tricky, so we check clearance for cabinet and stone trucks during the first visit. Deer don’t bother the work, but they do mean we keep tools and debris contained and gates closed. If you’re comparing ideas with neighbors in Shavano Park, the process feels much the same.