Opinions on bath reno & ?s on MM remodeling.

als1982 · January 2015

We're looking at a complete gut and remodel of our only bath later this spring/early summer. This isn't our "forever home" but we hope to be here another 2-3 years and know that to maximize the sale of our home when we move, we'll need to update the bath. (The kitchen was new when I moved in 5 years ago.)

Right now, the bathroom is original to the home, a 1,100 one and half story cape cod built in 1951. Lots of the original details have been well maintained (hardwoods, doors, trim and molding - including corner protectors, and shake shingle siding), so we'd like to keep the bath consistent with the style of home and neighborhood. And since we have an eye on resale, we want a design that fits not only our taste, but has a broad appeal.

With this in mind, we're thinking traditional 1" hex tiles on the floor, a white or grey vanity with a marble top (we have a pedestal now and HATE it), white beveled subway tiles on the walls and blue/grey glass subway tiles in the tub/shower, which we'll outfit with a sliding glass door. The attached photos are similar to what we have in mind.

My questions are:

Do you think this look has a broad appeal?

We plan on gutting to the studs, removing a window, adding ventilation, and anticipating a strong possibility of rotting wood and mold, so we aren't planning on DIY, which the exception of possibly paint. Do you think a budget of $12,000 can accommodate our desired materials and a reputable contractor who can complete the project in its entirety in a week or less, considering it's our only bath? (We live in LCOL area.)

And of course, does anyone have any MM tips that could help us with this renovation?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and opinions!!

Erikan73 · January 2015

I like the design. Depending on the cost of materials and contractors in your area, you should be able to do it for that price. One thing that you can do to reduce the cost if you have to is skip the tile on the wall behind the sink. Not only would it reduce the costs, but if you paint it, then when it comes time for resale people can look at that wall and see that they can easily personalize the bathroom by painting the wall a color of their choice.

als1982 · January 2015

Erikan73 said:
I like the design. Depending on the cost of materials and contractors in your area, you should be able to do it for that price. One thing that you can do to reduce the cost if you have to is skip the tile on the wall behind the sink. Not only would it reduce the costs, but if you paint it, then when it comes time for resale people can look at that wall and see that they can easily personalize the bathroom by painting the wall a color of their choice.

Great suggestion! Thank you. I was wondering anyways if all of that would be too much tile, so your idea is a win/win.

Sisugal · January 2015

Make sure the blue/gray color has a warm undertone as some are cold -- too cold for a bathroom IMO.
Unless you have a good deal of plumbing changes - then 12K should be more than enough to achieve your plan.

vlagrl29 · January 2015

I don't have anything to add, just wanted to say I love the photos you attached.

CuriousKiddosMama · January 2015

Me too! I love your inspiration pics. I've never done a bath remodel, but 12 k seems doable.

emily1004 · January 2015

The ideas are pretty. I have a very similar house to you, a 1941 cape code. While ours is a little bigger, I too, am hoping to remodel to our bath and half bath. I might spend that much on both and we live in a M to HCOL area. I don't know what you paid for you house, but $12K seems a little high especially for a LCOL area. A good and properly priced bathroom remodel can pay back almost 95% when you sell, but you don't want to over improve.

als1982 · January 2015

vlagrl29 said:
I don't have anything to add, just wanted to say I love the photos you attached.

Glad you like them, especially since we live in the same city!

als1982 · January 2015

emily1004 said:
The ideas are pretty. I have a very similar house to you, a 1941 cape code. While ours is a little bigger, I too, am hoping to remodel to our bath and half bath. I might spend that much on both and we live in a M to HCOL area. I don't know what you paid for you house, but $12K seems a little high especially for a LCOL area. A good and properly priced bathroom remodel can pay back almost 95% when you sell, but you don't want to over improve.

Whew! I was thinking we were likely under budgeting. We'll stick to thinking $12k and if we have money over I'm sure we can find something else to improve on the house.

HoneyBee973 · January 2015

DH renovated both of our bathrooms himself, so I really have to idea how much you will spend paying someone to do the work, but I love the pictures you have attached!

hoffse · January 2015

Love the photos.

$12K will probably cut it, but also possibly not. You need to get bids to know. Bathrooms are the most expensive room per square foot to pay somebody to remodel.

The flip side is that they're also one of the cheapest to do yourself if you are at all handy. I know you don't want to DIY, but I would strongly consider it after you get the bathroom back to a certain place. Maybe have the pros move any plumbing/electric, replace anything that needs replacing in the subfloors, walls, etc. If you aren't confident with sheetrock, then they can do that too. At that point it's a clean slate and any interior damage will have been repaired, and all that's left is the cosmetic stuff.

You might also be happily surprised by how well houses were built back then. Our original 1959 hall bathroom had no rot when we tore it apart. I couldn't believe it, but it's true. We spent about $800 (which includes the cost of some tools) and 2 weeks remodeling ours, and the only thing we didn't tear apart was the bathtub because it was an odd size, and we would have had to move the drain to install a new one. Our tub was also in great shape, so we would have thrown out an antique tub that had a cool design element to it in order to replace it with something boring.

If it were me, I would get bids for somebody to do all of it and then also consider how much you would save by doing some of the easy stuff yourself. Floor tile is VERY easy to do if you watch a couple youtube videos. Tile is not expensive and a wet tile saw is also not expensive - less than $100 at home depot.

Installing a toilet takes maybe an hour if you've never done one before. H has now installed three, and by his third one he got it done in about 30 minutes. It's kind of gross, but there's nothing to it, and chances are the contractors would do the gross part for you (cleaning off the old wax ring) as part of the prep work.

Installing a vanity takes a few hours, but you could do it yourself if you read up on how they are plumbed, especially if you can use PVC that's hidden underneath the vanity. Vanities are much MUCH easier than pedestals, since you have more room to work, and the pipes themselves don't have to look pretty.

Light fixtures are easy to change out once the electric is in the correct location. It took H less than 20 minutes to swap our old one out for a new one, and he had never touched a light fixture before in his life.

Bathtubs, showers, etc. I would be inclined to leave to the pros, just because they are a bigger deal. The shower pans have to be water tight, everything has to be caulked and sealed correctly, etc. Tiling walls is a bit harder than tiling floors because of the gravity issue, but it's also not so bad if you use spacers to separate them until set. I might pay somebody to tile my shower because of the waterproofing concerns, but I wouldn't pay somebody to tile my sheetrock walls.

The rest of it I would have no hesitation in doing. You might save yourself a few thousand bucks if you tell them to stop once the sheetrock is done, the floors are prepped, and the shower is in place. I guess for me it would be a cost-benefit thing. I would pay something to not have to do it myself, but I wouldn't pay thousands. It's just not that hard.

als1982 · January 2015

hoffse said:
Love the photos.

$12K will probably cut it, but also possibly not. You need to get bids to know. Bathrooms are the most expensive room per square foot to pay somebody to remodel.

The flip side is that they're also one of the cheapest to do yourself if you are at all handy. I know you don't want to DIY, but I would strongly consider it after you get the bathroom back to a certain place. Maybe have the pros move any plumbing/electric, replace anything that needs replacing in the subfloors, walls, etc. If you aren't confident with sheetrock, then they can do that too. At that point it's a clean slate and any interior damage will have been repaired, and all that's left is the cosmetic stuff.

You might also be happily surprised by how well houses were built back then. Our original 1959 hall bathroom had no rot when we tore it apart. I couldn't believe it, but it's true. We spent about $800 (which includes the cost of some tools) and 2 weeks remodeling ours, and the only thing we didn't tear apart was the bathtub because it was an odd size, and we would have had to move the drain to install a new one. Our tub was also in great shape, so we would have thrown out an antique tub that had a cool design element to it in order to replace it with something boring.

If it were me, I would get bids for somebody to do all of it and then also consider how much you would save by doing some of the easy stuff yourself. Floor tile is VERY easy to do if you watch a couple youtube videos. Tile is not expensive and a wet tile saw is also not expensive - less than $100 at home depot.

Installing a toilet takes maybe an hour if you've never done one before. H has now installed three, and by his third one he got it done in about 30 minutes. It's kind of gross, but there's nothing to it, and chances are the contractors would do the gross part for you (cleaning off the old wax ring) as part of the prep work.

Installing a vanity takes a few hours, but you could do it yourself if you read up on how they are plumbed, especially if you can use PVC that's hidden underneath the vanity. Vanities are much MUCH easier than pedestals, since you have more room to work, and the pipes themselves don't have to look pretty.

Light fixtures are easy to change out once the electric is in the correct location. It took H less than 20 minutes to swap our old one out for a new one, and he had never touched a light fixture before in his life.

Bathtubs, showers, etc. I would be inclined to leave to the pros, just because they are a bigger deal. The shower pans have to be water tight, everything has to be caulked and sealed correctly, etc. Tiling walls is a bit harder than tiling floors because of the gravity issue, but it's also not so bad if you use spacers to separate them until set. I might pay somebody to tile my shower because of the waterproofing concerns, but I wouldn't pay somebody to tile my sheetrock walls.

The rest of it I would have no hesitation in doing. You might save yourself a few thousand bucks if you tell them to stop once the sheetrock is done, the floors are prepped, and the shower is in place. I guess for me it would be a cost-benefit thing. I would pay something to not have to do it myself, but I wouldn't pay thousands. It's just not that hard.

Frankly, it's worth thousands to us to have someone else do it.

vlagrl29 · January 2015

als1982 said:

I don't have anything to add, just wanted to say I love the photos you attached.
Glad you like them, especially since we live in the same city!

There are tons of things I would do to our house if I had tons of cash - one of them being bath remodel. I would love to have a bigger shower and install some rain shower heads, backsplash, and a double sink with those bowls that go ontop of the counter.

hoffse · January 2015

als1982 said:

Love the photos.

$12K will probably cut it, but also possibly not. You need to get bids to know. Bathrooms are the most expensive room per square foot to pay somebody to remodel.

The flip side is that they're also one of the cheapest to do yourself if you are at all handy. I know you don't want to DIY, but I would strongly consider it after you get the bathroom back to a certain place. Maybe have the pros move any plumbing/electric, replace anything that needs replacing in the subfloors, walls, etc. If you aren't confident with sheetrock, then they can do that too. At that point it's a clean slate and any interior damage will have been repaired, and all that's left is the cosmetic stuff.

You might also be happily surprised by how well houses were built back then. Our original 1959 hall bathroom had no rot when we tore it apart. I couldn't believe it, but it's true. We spent about $800 (which includes the cost of some tools) and 2 weeks remodeling ours, and the only thing we didn't tear apart was the bathtub because it was an odd size, and we would have had to move the drain to install a new one. Our tub was also in great shape, so we would have thrown out an antique tub that had a cool design element to it in order to replace it with something boring.

If it were me, I would get bids for somebody to do all of it and then also consider how much you would save by doing some of the easy stuff yourself. Floor tile is VERY easy to do if you watch a couple youtube videos. Tile is not expensive and a wet tile saw is also not expensive - less than $100 at home depot.

Installing a toilet takes maybe an hour if you've never done one before. H has now installed three, and by his third one he got it done in about 30 minutes. It's kind of gross, but there's nothing to it, and chances are the contractors would do the gross part for you (cleaning off the old wax ring) as part of the prep work.

Installing a vanity takes a few hours, but you could do it yourself if you read up on how they are plumbed, especially if you can use PVC that's hidden underneath the vanity. Vanities are much MUCH easier than pedestals, since you have more room to work, and the pipes themselves don't have to look pretty.

Light fixtures are easy to change out once the electric is in the correct location. It took H less than 20 minutes to swap our old one out for a new one, and he had never touched a light fixture before in his life.

Bathtubs, showers, etc. I would be inclined to leave to the pros, just because they are a bigger deal. The shower pans have to be water tight, everything has to be caulked and sealed correctly, etc. Tiling walls is a bit harder than tiling floors because of the gravity issue, but it's also not so bad if you use spacers to separate them until set. I might pay somebody to tile my shower because of the waterproofing concerns, but I wouldn't pay somebody to tile my sheetrock walls.

The rest of it I would have no hesitation in doing. You might save yourself a few thousand bucks if you tell them to stop once the sheetrock is done, the floors are prepped, and the shower is in place. I guess for me it would be a cost-benefit thing. I would pay something to not have to do it myself, but I wouldn't pay thousands. It's just not that hard.
Frankly, it's worth thousands to us to have someone else do it.

Well then at least get it itemized so you know what they are charging for each piece. If somebody charges you $400 to install a toilet, they will be royally ripping you off...

I don't know. If we hadn't had to tile, we could have done everything in one weekend. We basically demo'd/tiled one weekend and put the fixtures back the next weekend. It was easy enough that we are planning to DIY a remodel of our basement bathroom in a few months. We absolutely wouldn't consider doing it again if it were a really huge deal.

Just make sure they aren't overcharging you for the easy stuff. I think bathrooms scare people, and contractors often overcharge as a result. Is there a handyman or somebody like that you could use for the tile and fixtures who just charges by the hour? That could be the sweet spot.

MommyLiberty5013 · January 2015

I really like what you're going for too.

From a design perspective you may consider giving the eye someplace to rest, though. Your tiles on all walls and in shower and on floor (especially 1" ones) will be a lot of "movement." I like the PPs suggestion of leaving the wall behind the mirror a solid painted color.

A lot will depend on your grout color too. 1" hex tiles with brown, deep grey, or black grout will look ultra busy. That's okay if you can balance that intensity with a more solid, "quiet" appearance to other larger items in the space.

Another suggestion would be to frame your mirror(s) in a bronze or black frame as this will also provide a visual anchor.

FutureMrsMerati · January 2015

My husband and I live in a very HCOL area. We recently purchased a home and are doing a pretty substantial renovation by a general contractor. In our hall bath, we removed two layers of tile (yes, the previous owners were DIYers gone wrong!), replaced the subfloor (2-3 sheets of plywood x $50/ea), purchased these marble tiles for the floor (that bathroom is only 40sft. so we decided to go a bit upscale with the materials), are using these subway tiles in the shower and installing a new (fairly substantial) pedestal sink as we have a large linen closet adjacent to the bath and needed the floor space! Luckily for us, we have a beautiful tub already in place, nice toilet and beadboard wainscoting that we are incorporating into our design. Our contractor is charging us the following:

- Removal of preexisting vanity and installation of new pedestal sink: $550

- Tiling (we supply tile, his team installs): $7/sft.

- New vanity light installation (we supply light, his team installs): $80. We paid $76 for this light fixture at Home Depot.

FYI, I saw this beautiful vanity with a Carrera marble top at BJs and I think it's a steal @$2.2k and very closely matches your inspiration photos! Based on our experience, I think you should have no problem staying within a budget of $12k.

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