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Is it possible to both work with a contractor and DIY?
Hi Ladies :
First an introduction: I'm kind of new to the nest... i was a serious knottie back in the day when I was getting married (2004, my screen name was kimsann) but never really made it over to the nest because we weren't buying a house.
Well, 7 years later (holy crap how did it take us that long to buy a house?!) we closed on our first house!
I am really excited to do some renovating. We have two and a half bathrooms to redo and a big old kitchen reno coming down the road for us in the next few years.
Here is my question... We really need to redo one of the full bathrooms before we move in. We need to pull up the floor (several layers of linoleum) and tile the floor, replace the tub, and retile the shower surround. We need to complete it before we move in because it's the only bathtub in the place and our littles will flip out if they have to take showers.
But, we only have a 10 day window between when we get the keys and when we have to be out of our rental. I don't think that's enough time for us to DIY the thing - so we are thinking we will hire a contractor to do the demo and install the tub. I'd kind of love to try my hand at retiling the shower surround and the floor myself. Do contractors work like that? Can we hire someone to do only part of a job? Does anyone have experience with that?
Any advice on retiling is also appreciated!
Re: Is it possible to both work with a contractor and DIY?
How much experience do you and your H have? Do you have an estimate of how long it will take you? It might be better to move your stuff into the new house once your lease is up, and then stay in a hotel for a week while you finish the work.
Also, can you do all the prep work before you close? Take measurements, draw the plans, order the materials, etc. so once you get the keys, you just need to go shopping for the stuff.
I think it will depend on the contractor. You are looking for someone who does projects not additions. The two contractors I had we told him what we wanted to do and that was it.
Hmm ok thanks for the advice everyone! We are totally inexperienced with renovations, but generally capable adventurous and OCD perfectionist types, so I really think we could do a nice job on the shower tile.
And we are not changing the layout or moving any plumbing/electrical, so that should help.
If we were to demo ourselves, where do we start ? We want to just take out and replace the subfloor sine there is likely at least two layers of linoleum... Is that easy to do? How do we get the tub out ?
Also, do we buy our own tub/fixtures and just have a plumber turn up to instal it? I feel like the logistical learning curve is what I'm struggling with.
For demo, you should first remove anything you plan on reusing (vanity, toilet, etc) and store them in a safe place where they won't get damaged from the demo. I would then remove the tile surround, then the floor/subfloor. I would remove the tub last. The tub is usually put in before the floor, so it should be easier to remove after removing the floor. As for getting the tub out, do you know what material the tub is? It's harder to remove a cast iron tub than a fiberglass tub.
When you run your own renovation you usually buy the fixtures and materials you need for the jobs you are hiring out. That means you would purchase the tub and fixtures have them ready to be installed by your contractors. It tends to be cheaper this way because you're not getting charged a marked up price for materials.
We hired a plumber to install our tub and drain and we tiled our shower. It can be done. Find a plumber you like and trust...ask people for recommendations and start calling around. I would suggest you hire a plumber to set the tub, drain, and do the rough in plumbing first. Then have him come back and do the finished plumbing after you tile. Plumbers do that all the time only they work with pro tilers. That is 2-3 days out of your 10 day time frame though. And with such a small project you'll probably have to wait to see what time works best in their schedule.
Redoing a whole bathroom in 10 days is not a good idea though if you're DIYing it. There is too much to learn for a first timer and too many things you could screw up. Is the bathroom currently not functional at all? Didn't your lending agent have an issue with that? Can you just live with an ugly bathroom until you move in and unpack first?
You have a lot to learn and figure out first. Slapping something together quickly will just lead to regret later. Trust me. If you're going to gut a whole bathroom take your time and do it right so you're not wasting your hard earned money. The most important part of a shower install is the waterproofing and backerboard/construction behind the tile. The best and easiest to DIY waterproofing can not be bought at a big box store so right there you have lead time. Plus everything has drying time (waterproofing, thinset, grout, sealers, paint, mud for the tub install, etc.) and showers are one of the hardest places to tile (much harder than a kitchen backsplash or a floor).
Also check with your local inspector but most bathroom remodels need at least some permits pulled. Even if you are leaving everything in place odds are you might want to move or upgrade the bathroom fan exhaust, the vanity lighting, or a light switch. Plus you might open a wall and find some questionable electrical inside. You're just asking for trouble if you think you can get it done and handle all of the issues that come up in 10 days.
I'm feeling like maybe these are wise words. Our problem is that this is the only bathroom in the house with a bathtub. We really cant go without a bathtub because of the kids - it's pretty much bloody murder putting my 4 year old in a shower.
I think we should just have pros do this job. We can take our time and cut our teeth on the non-essential guest bath.
Plus if we just leave the bathroom to pros, we can focus on refinishing the wood floors.