subject: The Reality of a Bathroom Remodel [print this page] The Reality of a Bathroom Remodel The Reality of a Bathroom Remodel
You hate the way your bathroom looks. Every morning you silently (or not so silently) seethe at its ugliness, its inefficiency, the fact that the toilet does not stop running for a full five minutes every time it is flushed. So you have decided that it really is time to remodel your bathroom. But maybe you can save some cash by doing it yourself.
If your idea of bathroom remodeling is repainting a couple of walls and changing the shower curtains then fine, go right ahead. But that really isn't bathroom remodeling it's bathroom tweaking. To do anymore than that to your bathroom you will probably need to be experienced in the following trades:
Builder
Carpenter
Glazier
Plumber
Electrician
Flooring specialist
Plasterer
Tiler
Painter
If you are experienced (and we mean experienced, not just that you have read a couple of books on the subject) in all of the above you are either a contractor reading this blog or your name is Bob Vila. Or Superman. The simple fact is that a full bathroom remodel is not a DIY project.
Plumbing is where most DIY bathroom remodeling efforts run into trouble. There is a reason that plumbing professionals are called master plumbers, theirs is not any easy trade. But an overflowing toilet or burst water pipe is not the only danger an amateur has to worry about.
One inch off on those tile measurements and your whole floor is going to look dreadful and wear badly. And those easy to assemble bathroom cabinets from the home store? So easy that six hours later you still haven't figured out which of those wooden planks is A,B,C or F and the pictures are not helping one little bit.
And then there's the neighbors. They admire your effort to build a beautiful new bathroom but the fact that your household has practically been camping out in theirs for the last week or so is really straining the relationship.
Bathroom remodels can make a huge difference in the lives of each one of a household's members, but only if done right. Save yourself a lot of time, hassle and in many cases money (contractors often charge more to fix homeowner remodeling mistakes than they would have done to do the work in the first place) and commission a professional bathroom remodeling company to do the job right the first time.
