Have a great guest post today from Cooper Klein @ Smooth Decorator with some excellent bathroom remodel tops. He’s an entrepreneur with a degree in Marketing. He’s interested in real estate and home decor. In order to spend more time with his family, Cooper decided to take a break, and he’s currently working from home as a blogger for SmoothDecorator.com and several other sites. You can find him on Twitter. Let us know what you think of Cooper’s take in the comments. Enjoy!
A bathroom remodel is an extensive project that involves skilled trades like plumbing, electrical and tile work. On top of that, it’s a dense work environment where every square foot counts and every element needs to fit perfectly. Then, there are nasty surprises, such as damaged subfloor or joists due to a leaky shower. This is why many homeowners decide to call professionals. However, there is also a limiting factor – money.
If the money is taken out of the equation, no homeowner would think of DIY remodelling. Still, the cost of designer fixtures and quality stonework may prompt us to cut the expenses by doing some of the work ourselves, and call the cavalry only when our skill isn’t enough.
The price
Let’s face it, by remodelling your own bathroom you can save 50% and sometimes even more. But what is the real price of luxury? The luxury here isn’t referring to creating a spa-like, Carrara-marble tiled bathroom Xanadu. The luxury here means that someone else will do your bathroom remodel while you do something nice and clean. If you do it yourself, you are still paying for the materials, but cutting the labour costs. With contractor-grade materials, most DIY enthusiasts opt for surface-remodelling.
The time issue
By hiring professionals to do your work, you can save time measured in weeks, even months. You wouldn’t believe how expedient these pros can be. In the morning there is no shower, but when you come back from work, the shower stall is right there, with all the plumbing attached. If you’re accustomed to polar ice caps melting speed of DIY remodelling, the above scenario is like watching Back to the Future. So, if you have only one bathroom at your disposal, you may want to hire professionals.
Floor work
For an experienced DIYer, installing bathroom flooring is relatively simple. With certain types of flooring, such as luxury vinyl plank, it gets even easier and you earn no points by having pros do it. With the limited space in most bathrooms, laying any type of flooring can be done within a few hours. If your bathroom aesthetics suits luxury vinyl plank, which is becoming more popular every year, your flooring can be done by the evening.
Walls
Professional drywall installers will almost always produce flawless bathroom walls. On the other hand, even an experienced homeowner-decorator often ends up with anomalies that a professional must repair or mask. Installing a moisture-repellent green board in the bathroom is much like hanging a regular drywall in other parts of the home. It’s actually mudding and sanding which separates a DIYer from a contractor. If you are looking for a smooth finish, hire a pro – if you are fine with flaws, save money and do it yourself.
Sink, shower and tub
If there are supply lines running straight to your sink location, and a drain pipe runs out, sink installation is easy. On the other hand, if the work requires pipe relining, you should seriously consider calling a plumber. With showers and tubs, many homeowners from Australia decide to hire out the task, even if they are doing the rest of the bathroom themselves. This is especially true if you’re building your own shower with the pan and tiled walls. With pre-fabricated shower stalls, the project moves back into a DIY arena. Still, even if you do something wrong, and realize there’s more water on the floor than in the tub, you can always rely on an experienced Melbourne plumber to save the day.
Cabinets, counters and vanities
Except for larger bathrooms, where the amount of work often breaks through time limits, you’ll gain nothing if you have professionals install your bathroom cabinets and counters. Unlike long runs of cabinets found in kitchens, you won’t have a lot of issues installing these yourself. A majority of vanity units come in a prescribed size that makes counter installation even easier.
To sum up, unless your bathroom is large, you can do most of the smaller projects yourself. For extensive bathroom remodels, many homeowners rightly hire electricians and plumbers to do the tricky stuff, but do the rest themselves.
Leave a Reply