Remodel a Bathroom
Just Do It!

Remodel a bathroom, to do or not to do, that is the question. I see in the rss feeds that every one is planning, planning, planning. Thinking, thinking, thinking, should we do this? Will it raise our property values, will it be worth it, we have the money, but, is this the right time? The sky is falling, in a tornado one of the safest places in your house is an interior bathroom, run, seek safety, if the sky falls, it won't land on you in your safe bathroom. Just kidding, I got carried away with my metaphors. Here is the only thing you need to ask yourself right now. Do you need to remodel a bathroom? Did you know that the average bathroom expires every ten years or so. So, here are signs that your bathroom may be expiring.

• The sink faucet won't quit leaking no matter what you do or don't do;
  
• The toilet requires 3 flushes to work, or it won't stop running, or it is leaking, or all 3;
  
• The ceramic tile in the shower is falling off one by one. You now have a checkerboard look, interesting except the colors don't jive. Also, you are thinking that this might be why your vinyl floor is peeling up in the corners by the tub;
  
• Last but not least, dark walnut stained cabinetry has not come back into vogue - it is still an outdated '70's thing, therefore, you still have the right to hate it.

If you can say you have all of these things going on, quit planning and start doing. You need to remodel a bathroom.

If you have 3 of the 4, I am thinking there will be a bathroom funeral in your coming year.

Less than that, it will depend more on how you feel about prevention being a pound of cure rather than if it is a good idea considering the economy.

Prices go up, they go down, banks fail, they get bailed out. But, investing in the maintenance of your house will never be a bad choice to make. So, start today or start tomorrow when it is worse and now you have subfloor damage from the leaking shower.

Ok, ok, you are ready to begin to remodel a bathroom! Now what? Are you going to do it yourself or are you going to hire it out? To help you with this question, review our pre-planning eworkbook that helps you calculate the time and money you will be investing in it should you do it yourself.

At the same time, start interviewing general contractors. Do this for 2 reasons. If you are going to do it yourself, it would be the perfect best case scenario to have a contractor on stand by for questions, guidance and to save the day if need be. These things are not in the scope of a "free bid", you will have to pay for them, but, not as much as you would if you hired the contractor to do the whole thing.

The second reason is that after reviewing your pre-planning eworkbook, you might decide to just hire the contractor instead. If this is the case, go to our section on how to hire a contractor and then visit the section on where to find one.

Now then, let's talk about how to remodel a bathroom! We are going to review with you the procedures to remodel every type of bathroom. These will include:

• a typical hall bathroom - tub/shower, vanity/sink, toilet;
• an older version of the master bath - tub, shower(you know the 3'x3' stall that no one can fit into); double sink/vanity and toilet;
• a powder room - toilet, sink;
• and in each case I will show you how to do a typical upgrade and the dream version, you know, where money is no object.

You already know the home remodel sequence of a home addition, so, if you are planning on a bathroom addition, just add one of the above to the addition sequence and you are set.

Ready, set, go. Tomorrow. I need to write this stuff up still. Don't worry, you have homework to do, so when you are ready, those pages will be too. If you are already there, contact me and I will give you a personal guided tour experience.

Oh, did I tell you that I do awesome bathrooms, should you need to hire a general contractor? Check it out.

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