Before You Start Renovating Your Bathroom

Renovating your bathroom is a great way to add value to your home — both for your family’s daily living and for future resale.

Before you decide to go ahead with a renovation, it’s critical to have a good idea of any underlying problems that could cause unwelcome and costly surprises. Taking time to find problems before you start your renovation will save you money, protect the indoor air quality and preserve the durability and structure of your home.

Common Situations

A bathroom renovation is one of the most common home improvement projects. Bathroom renovations come in all types and sizes—from a simple update of the flooring, to enlarging the room and replacing all fixtures and finishes.

Your project is unique, but your reasons for renovating will probably fall into these common categories.

• Size and design — The room may be small or poorly designed.
• Fixtures — The fixtures may be outdated, small, hard-to-clean, leaky, cracked or inefficient.
• Structural — There may be problems that require structural changes or repairs.
• Moisture — Excessive bathroom moisture may have deteriorated the bathroom surfaces, affected the indoor air quality or jeopardized the structure of your house.
• Plumbing and electrical — If your house is 30–40 years old, the plumbing and electrical services may be outdated and need upgrading. Houses built prior to 1950 often have lead piping that may pose a health hazard.
• Heating and ventilation — Bathrooms are often cold because of poor insulation or poor heat delivery. Ventilation is often inadequate, non-existent or causing secondary problems that need to be fixed.

How much should a Bathroom Renovation cost 

In the long-run, your bathroom may no longer satisfy your needs. This can happen simply because the number of people living in your home may have increased. It may also be because the design is boring you that you no longer enjoy it. Or probably because it is almost on the point of crumbling down that you constantly experience problems when using it.

You can expect that this will happen to you. Your bathroom is just like any parts of your home. It could wear out eventually. When this time comes, you would have to resort to bathroom renovations. This turns your bathroom into a whole new facility while capturing your idea of comfort.

When you plan to renovate your bathroom, one of the most common questions that people ask is, "what is the cost?" It is quite understandable because renovation can be a major project that involves a lot of money. Some experts say that the typical cost of renovation would fall between 9,000 to 25,000 dollars. While others say it could cost around 12 to 15 grand for minor renovations; 15 to 20 grand for moderate changes; and up to 30 grand for top-quality renovations. However, there is no specific cost because there are different basis for pricing. Here are the bases:

1. The size of the bathroom- You need to know exactly how big your bathroom is. This will give you or your builder a clear estimate of the renovation based on its floor area or wall space. You may have to get an accurate measurement or a good estimate of your bathroom space to get a fairly accurate estimate.

2. The kind of materials used- You may be planning to replace the shower heads, sink, toilet, faucets and other stuff. If top quality materials will be used, expect the cost of renovation to rise. You also have to know what needs to be replaced as this can also impact the cost.

3. The complexity of your design- Some people may want to alter the surface of the bathroom. Tiles and walls may be replaced and new features may be added. This is inevitable especially when the walls are starting to rot or perhaps, the tiles begin to loosen up. When the overall layout of the room will be changed, it will also increase cost.

4. The contractor you hired- Different contractors have different estimates. To get the most economical deal, you need to get more than one estimate. You may have to shop around and find two or more reputable contractors. Pretty sure they will give you a copy of their written estimates.

Others would also think of renovating their bathrooms by themselves. This is a great idea because you can actualize what you have in mind for the design (given of course you know what you are doing). On top of that, the cost of renovation could also be cut down about 20 to 40 percent.

The cost of renovating your bathroom could really vary but it is controllable. Just make sure not to sacrifice the quality of materials just to lower the cost.