Tub to Shower Conversion in Sun City, Arizona

Desert Bath Conversions handles tub-to-shower work throughout Sun City, and the paperwork here catches people out who assume a place this size runs its own city hall. Sun City is a census-designated place rather than an incorporated municipality, so permits route through Maricopa County Planning and Development, the department that regulates development activity and land use within the unincorporated areas of the county. The 2020 Census counted 39,931 residents. Census QuickFacts puts 74.7 percent of them at 65 and over and 1.3 percent under 18, with owner-occupancy at 84.2 percent against a median owner-occupied home value of $280,900. Most of these bathrooms belong to the person standing in them.

The rule that shapes this job most in Sun City is a covenant rather than a code. The Sun City Home Owners Association is charged with ensuring compliance with the CC&Rs, which require at least one occupant of each residential unit to be 55 years of age or older and bar anyone under 19 from occupying a residential unit for more than 90 days in any 12-month period, with the community's housing-for-older-persons standing measured against an 80 percent threshold. Those covenants govern setbacks, fence heights and what the street sees. They do not govern what happens inside a bathroom wall. The county permit does.

A County Permit Counter, a 55-and-Over Covenant, and Water at Twelve Grains

Because Sun City is unincorporated, the code book that applies is the county's. Maricopa County adopted its current construction codes on August 17, 2022, taking in the 2018 International Building Code, the 2018 International Residential Code, the 2018 International Plumbing Code, the 2018 International Mechanical Code, the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code, the 2018 International Existing Building Code and the 2017 National Electrical Code, each carrying Arizona Building Officials and MAG amendments. The county does publish work that no longer needs a permit, and the list is shorter than homeowners hope: replacing an existing water heater is exempt provided the work is done in accordance with manufacturer's specifications. Relocating a shower drain is not on it. Fire and life-safety review comes from the Sun City Fire and Medical Department, which serves this county community along with the Town of Youngtown and bases its construction permits on the mandatory fire, building, mechanical and electrical codes in force in Youngtown or Maricopa County.

Water is the other Sun City variable, and it is measurable. EPCOR Water Arizona's Sun City district, public water system AZ0407099, serves Sun City and the Town of Youngtown through nearly 24,000 connections, drawing groundwater pumped from the West Salt River Valley Sub-Basin. The 2024 water quality report for that system puts hardness at 7 to 12 grains per gallon and total dissolved solids at 221 to 359 parts per million. Hardness is not a regulated contaminant; EPCOR lists it among unregulated substances and states that hardness and the deposits left by hard water do not pose a health concern and may have health benefits. What it does decide is surface choice. At the top of that published range, mineral film returns to glass and grout within days of a scrub, which is why seamless acrylic and solid-surface panels get recommended here more often than grouted tile.

See Sun City, AZ on Google Maps — we cover the whole area from Peoria.