Renovating a full bathroom- advice!

amother

Wed, Aug 26 2020, 7:30 pm

finally after many years we are redoing our guestroom bathroom.

the bathroom came in terrible condition when we bought the house, so I'm excited to do it properly and make it practical and beautiful!

but I know nothing!

being this is just for the guestroom, we don't want to spend too much on it, but still want to make it functional and nice, and don't want it to require too much maintenance in the future.

here are the questions:
1.whats best for the walls? half tile/half paint, or all tile?
2. what materials should I be looking for and/or staying away from?
3. give me any other tips and tricks you learned over the years (either from a bathroom you already have, or one you renovated)

THANK YOU!!

tweety1

Wed, Aug 26 2020, 7:46 pm

1. If it's a full bathroom do full tile. You don't want the steam from the bath/shower to ruin the paint.
2. Invest in a door rather than curtains for the bathtub. I have curtains, my mother has doors. The doors are so much better. It's a big difference in price. When my pocket will allow it, if ever, I'll do the doors.
3. Vanity- search search search. Don't buy local just yet. There are so many pretty ones out there online for so much cheaper. I was pressed on time so I couldn't do it. I had to go to a store and have it delivered next day. I have one bathroom that's unfinished. One day iyh I'll give myself 2-3 to browse and will get it done.

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Aug 26 2020, 8:05 pm

I'm assuming a guest bathroom won't get as intense use as a regular bathroom, so if you price it out and it makes a big difference, you can do half tile and half paint.

Tiles vary greatly in price range. You can get good quality nice tiles at the cheapest price point. Fancier tiles can be 20-30 times the price and not worth it IMO if you're on a budget. Also pricier tiles sometimes cost more for installation, such as glass tiles, so that's another good reason to go with basic.

I would NOT do doors. Glass doors break. Again for an infrequently used bathroom, a nice curtain is good enough.

If you put in a tub, you don't need a cast iron tub; acrylic is good enough and much cheaper.

Don't go stingy on the plumbing hardware. Faucets for sink and bathtub should be brand name.

rachel6543

Wed, Aug 26 2020, 8:09 pm

So I did a full bathroom remodel a few years ago. My advice.

Get quotes from multiple contractors. Make sure you have a detailed contract, that includes what costs will be for “surprises” and how payment will be set up. When you tear up the bathroom, there could be additional expenses not included in the original estimate. That happened to me. Turned out there was some significant water damage behind the wall that required extra labor & supplies not initially quoted. There were no issues in figuring out the additional costs for this because it was clearly labeled in the original contract.

Know your state or country’s laws for contractor work. In my state, contractors are not allowed to charge a deposit before work starts for more than 10% or $1,000 (whatever is less).

You don’t have to tile the entire bathroom in my opinion. My bathroom has half tile and the rest drywall. Tiling is much more $ & was out of my price range.

I disagree with tweety’s above about the shower door vs a shower curtain. I personally hate the shower door. It’s harder to clean and if you have a bathtub with a door it can make the bathroom feel smaller. I personally prefer a shower curtain. I also like that every once in a while I can change the bathroom look with a different shower curtain. That’s just my opinion.

You don’t have to buy expensive tile to look nice. I got the tile for my bathroom at Lowe’s & Home Depot. Looked great what we ended up buying and it was not crazy expensive.

Have realistic expectations & discussions with your contractor. If you go with a cheaper contractor, expect the work to not be 100% perfect. To clarify, the contractor I used for my bathroom did a very good job, but was up front with us the tile work might not be absolutely 100% perfect. Which is the case. My bathroom still looks very good, but there is a spot or two that could look a little better, but it’s barely noticeable.

Make sure to discuss and have in writing what work they will warranty and for how long. I had a few minor issues that came up after the job was complete in which the contractor had to come back and fix or redo.

If you want to put in wall shelving (like glass shelves) I recommend you check out the Container Store for that. I found some great shelves there that I had the contractor install for me.

amother

Bronze

Wed, Aug 26 2020, 8:43 pm

amother [ Burlywood ] wrote:

A curtain downgrades the bathroom a lot! It’s much nicer to have a door.

We did our bathroom 10ish years ago, tile 3/4 way up. never had an issue with the paint. Cheapest tiles we could get for good quality. Ikea vanities (we have more than a few and again zero issues) they look sleek and up to date.

Per pro advice we spent on the workmanship, and I think baths/ toilets + hardware.

The only thing we have issues with ironically is the expensive hardware... go figure.

tweety1

Thu, Aug 27 2020, 12:13 am

amother [ Burlywood ] wrote:

It's not glass doors. It's like a very thick plastic. I'm sure it has a name. My mother has it for abt 20+ yrs with alot of usage, it's the best thing! She never had an issue.

Amarante

Thu, Aug 27 2020, 7:04 am

I did a full remodel of several my bathrooms recently and my best advice is to hire a professional that you trust and collaborate with them.

As the saying goes, you don't know what you don't know. I didn't when I started and no offense but I can tell from your original post that you are like I was when I started my remodel.

A GC executes the plan and design that he is given. If he is a good General Contractor, the workmanship will be fine. However, the functionality and aesthetics of the result will not be as good as if the General Contractor were following plans that were provided by a professional designer.

I could NEVER have achieved the results both functionally and aesthetically if I had attempted to design it myself. There are so many decisions in terms of a bathroom design that you don't even realize need to be made unless you have designed a bathroom.

Also bathrooms are a room that require that they be designed and constructed so they follow multiple regulations so that they are within the Code of your jurisdiction. This is because electricity and water are involved. My plans were drafted by my designer and submitted to the City for permit and approval. Then the electrical and plumbing were inspected multiple times to ensure that they were safe and up to Code.

Also my designer was very knowledgeable about construction as well as design so she acted as my eyes to inspect the work being done so that it was done really well. There were things that I might not have noticed because I lack construction expertise that she did to ensure that work was done really well.

Also the cost of a designer is well worth it because many items were fcr less than I might have paid since her to the trade prices even with a markup were still less than I would have paid. And of course she provided services in terms of design that were worth the money.

Be prepared for sticker shock because a bathroom is the most expensive room to build or remodel because of both the materials and the way it has to be constructed to be safe and functional. You want high quality plumbing fixtures - even the rough plumbing which is what you don't see - because it is expensive down the road to have malfunctioning showers. There are tiles at different price range to be sure but much cheap tile is inferior quality and will produce lippage. And high quality labor is expensive - tile setting is an extremely skilled profession - licensed plumbers and electricians are expensive.

In terms of the "fun" part which is what it looks like, look at pictures of bathrooms on the internet to see what inspires you and then discuss it with a designer and see what can be accomplished on a realistic budget.

houzz.com has a forum that is a wonderful site and I would suggest that you spend time on the forum reading and then asking questions so that you can achieve the bathroom of your dreams.