Money Matters
hoffse
member
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Master bath estimates/thoughts
H and I are contemplating redoing our master bath. We have not gotten so far as getting quotes yet, but I'm curious to get feedback from those of you who have gotten quotes or have done a remodel.
Our space is really good, and we would not move the location of any fixture. However, we would retile the floor and shower, rip out the tub (and not replace it), and then replace the vanity and toilet.
In the space where the tub is currently we would probably put a separate dressing table, which would require running electric to that spot.
Currently, when you walk into our master bath, you nearly run right into the humongous soaker tub. To the left of the tub is the shower and toilet, and to the right of the tub is a double vanity with limited space to walk around because of the stupid tub.
I hate the tub and want it gone. Currently our large bathroom feels rather small because this huge tub takes up all of our floor space. Combined, H and I have used the tub exactly once in the last 30 months of home ownership. I also hate that the vanity is really two single vanities with a single countertop that goes over the top of both of them, and the middle literally sags a little. I wish I was joking.
Just looking for thoughts/feedback on this one. FYI we do have another tub in a different bathroom on the same floor of our house.
Our space is really good, and we would not move the location of any fixture. However, we would retile the floor and shower, rip out the tub (and not replace it), and then replace the vanity and toilet.
In the space where the tub is currently we would probably put a separate dressing table, which would require running electric to that spot.
Currently, when you walk into our master bath, you nearly run right into the humongous soaker tub. To the left of the tub is the shower and toilet, and to the right of the tub is a double vanity with limited space to walk around because of the stupid tub.
I hate the tub and want it gone. Currently our large bathroom feels rather small because this huge tub takes up all of our floor space. Combined, H and I have used the tub exactly once in the last 30 months of home ownership. I also hate that the vanity is really two single vanities with a single countertop that goes over the top of both of them, and the middle literally sags a little. I wish I was joking.
Just looking for thoughts/feedback on this one. FYI we do have another tub in a different bathroom on the same floor of our house.
Re: Master bath estimates/thoughts
We got 2 estimates from local companies- both said they wouldn't charge anything less than 15K. Apparently everyone hates to do bathrooms and I kind of see why. We have spent $8,700 to date.
Right now, we have the new pedestal sink, toilet, tile, tub, and built in closet, but the shower is still not usable. We have white subway tile with black bull nose trim, black and white basketweave floor tile, and black grout. The black grout has to be cleaned up so we're still working on that. The lines have to be spot on because any variation is really noticeable. We also replaced all of the drywall with cement board where there would be tile (we did the shower and a 1/2 wall all the way around) and the mold resistant green board drywall for up top.
DH did a ton of work himself, but we did hire out some plumbing ($2,100), electrical and vent ($400), and the built in closet ($2,300). The tile was relatively inexpensive, but it's very time consuming. We started over the July 4th weekend and we're hoping to finish by the end of November. It's going to be great when it's done, but I wish we had finished it while the girls were in diapers- it never failed that they both had to go to the bathroom (so bad!) at the exact same time when we were down to 1 toilet.
We went with this style because it matches our original downstairs bathroom- basketweave and subway tile everywhere. The first picture is when the built in was installed, the 2nd is after grout with the toilet and sink installed, and the 3rd is when the floor is in and we were working on all of the bullnose.
Get some estimates for sure- your project may be more worth while than ours because of the size. There was just no way we were going to throw that much into the bathroom when our full kitchen gut (only kept the hardwood floors) was $15K (excluding appliances).
It's frustrating because our space is GREAT. Except for the stupid tub, the layout is great. Even the shower is huge. It's just that the fixtures are very cheap, bowed, and cracked. It's like whoever built this bathroom spent all the money on the square footage and then bought the cheapest variation of every fixture they could find. The vanity cabinets are literally the $89 prefab cabinets Home Depot sells with this sinking countertop across the top. It's very weird.
I'm really not out to create our dream bathroom or anything, but I would like it to be updated to match the rest of our house.
EDIT: The other thing we are considering is our neighborhood is going through a bit of a renaissance. The house two doors down from us that's 1,000 sq ft smaller than our house just sold for $40K more than we paid two years ago. 5 houses down a house sold for $100K more than ours, and it's about the same size. I don't want to overimprove for our neighborhood, but I think our house can absorb a bit more going into it than we have spent currently without outpacing the market.
I haven't taken out a bathtub, but looked into it and have also done a few "mini" remodels. These are some rough guestimates:
--Taking out the tub - $1,000
--Re-tiling - a fairly easy DIY job, but $1-$2/sq ft if you want to hire it out. Plus the cost of materials. Tile typically runs 50 cents-$4/sq ft, with most falling in the middle. Just depends on what you want.
--Toilet replacement - sounds easy, but hire a plumber for this. Labor - $100-$200, basic toilets run about $100.
--Running an electrical line to the dressing table should be a fairly minor job - $200ish
Can't really speak to vanities. I've replaced a few of them, but my H did it and they were single vanities.
My guesstimates are also based on hiring people out individually to do this work. I know you hired a contractor for your kitchen reno. A contractor will definitely add to the cost, but it certainly make things easier and then there is only one entity responsible for the whole job.
Something else to keep in mind since you all are TTCing. Will the other bathroom with the bath tub be convenient and easy for bathing a child? I hear tell that parents use tubs a lot for children.
@cbee817, I am super envious of your linen closet. So pretty and functional!
@hoffse, I meant to add. I'm picturing what you are talking about with the double vanity. It does sound awful. Plus a normal double vanity, that has cabinets running along the whole bottom, will be so much more useful.
Maybe it is just "HGTV fantasy", but I've seen people do fun stuff with pieces of furniture turned into a double vanity.
We paid our contractor $3,000 for labor (6 working days), and an extra $250 in additional materials. He was only supposed to repair our existing concrte subfloor to level it out, but he ended up needing to rip out the entire floor and install hardiboard (which was better anyway), pour a concrete shower base, lay the floor tile, lay new tile around the tub, lay tile on the shower floor and shower walls.
We spent another $1,100 on plumbing to have a shower pan liner installed, moved a portion of the shower vent pipe to get ride of a bend in the pipe, add a replacement shower valve, redo the toilet connection to lower the base, and replace the tub fixture and valve.
DH was handy so that saved us some money.
We installed the new toilet, new sink fixtures, and new shower fixture ourselves.
We did all the grout work in the bathroom.
We did a significant amount of tile installation over the weekend and our contractor was kind enough to leave us his tile cutter during that time as well.
We painted and added baseboards ourselves.
We did all the demolition work (removed the old tile from around the tub, bathroom floor, the old toilet, and removed the fiberglass shower insert).
We installed the shower door ourselves.
@short+sassy, we would not use the current tub to bathe a kid. The guest bath (which would become our kid's bathroom) has a tub with a much lower side, so I can easily reach in. In order to clean our current bathtub I have to either get in or lay on my stomach on the ledge and go in head-first. It's totally ridiculous. But yeah, we could never bathe a baby in that tub without getting in ourselves.
Honestly I'm willing to pay a bit more to have a contractor do it if it means it's done on a tight schedule. Also, H's salary and bonus is directly tied to how many hours he bills per year. With our kitchen renovation we figure we actually saved money by using a contractor vs. doing it ourselves, because it would have taken H so long that he probably would have lost his bonus and not advanced to get a raise. H and I are willing to tackle 1-2 weekend projects, but anything that takes much longer than that needs to be hired out.
We are going to ask our realtor about removing the tub, but this seems to be a growing trend as people realize they don't use them.
You have inspired me to drive my H nuts. We have an old linen closet behind the door. It was built to put a hamper in the bottom, but we don't use it for that, so it is just a lot of unorganized empty space. I'm going to show him your pic and see if we could do something similar.
As far as costs go, we removed an old tub, vinyl tub surround, linoleum floor, old toilet, sink/vanity combo and replaced with a large soaker tub and double shower with subway tile to the ceiling, new toilet, pedestal sink, heated natural stone tile floor and new drywall. We also had to add a vent to the outside and fan in the shower. We replaced some plumbing, but did not reroute or move any plumbing or electric. Our total cost, with decent but not top of the line materials and fixtures, was $14k all-in.
The other quotes we got ranged from $23k to over $50k for labor and materials. This includes some minor plumbing moves, heated floors, new doors, adding a laundry room and a 90 inch vanity.
We did the tile together- DH would cut and I would install. That took a lot of time too just because we have so much of it.
I originally wanted everything in marble, but realized quickly that it was too fancy for our house and it was best to stick to porcelain. It saved us a ton of $ too. Looking forward to getting the lights, mirror, and towel bars up- hopefully this weekend!
I love that bathroom, @cbee817
We completely remodeled our full bath right when we moved in. Gutted it down to the studs, re-did plumbing and wiring, new subfloor, tile, double sink vanity, separate walk-in shower and clawfoot tub. We did all of the work ourselves and the project cost us right under $3k. So I'd at least triple that for paying someone to do it.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
We have a Jacuzzi tub in our master. The only reason it doesn't get used more is that it's the normal bathtub size tub and I'm 6'4" tall and not exactly thin. So I just don't fit in it. I'd kill for a large soaker tub.
We do bathe our little one in it for whatever that's worth.
Somewhat jealous of those who work on billable hours. I work more and don't even get a pat on the back let alone more money. So my time is worth more staying home and trying to do what I can myself versus paying somebody for it.
H is pushing back on the tub removal thing, so we might compromise with a smaller free-standing tub. I measured our current tub, and it's a 36"x60" jetted tub with an 8-inch wall surrounding all sides (presumably to hide the coils for the jets). With the wall it's just too big. A 60"x30" free-standing tub would fit fine though, and I can find quite a few options in that size.
We paid approximately $13,000 for a full renovation of a small master bathroom about six years ago. I was surprised at how much it cost to renovate our very small bathrooms since we did not move anything.
My preferred option is to rip out the tub and put the shower there, but that would involve replacing or removing a window since it would be IN the shower but would make everything function so much better. The laundry area would go in the existing shower space.
Our second option, which would save us some money would be keep the layout as it is and possibly find a way to widen the shower a bit, but that would involve moving walls and toilets so it might not save us any money.
We have a tub in the 2nd bathroom and our realtor said that a "luxury" master suite would be okay without a tub if we have a huge shower.
I do love the look of the free standing tubs though, so pretty!
@AprilZ81 consider doing a glass block window in the shower. I love those
My all-time favorite bath tub was at a family friend's house. Just their master bathroom was about 400-500 sq ft. They had an enormous jetted tub. The sitting area of the tub was 8'-9' long and the width was about 4'.
I house sat for them when I was in college. I suspect their water bill went up a bit that month!
That was my dream bathroom and I have been ruined for all others, lol. But that's the kind of tub that a house would need to be built around.
We have a late 1800's clawfoot tub that I use at least once a week, 2-3 times/week in the winter months. I have yet to see our water bill increase from it.
Not sure how many gallons it holds, but it runs our water heater tank out of hot water before it's filled. That's 50 gallons, then the cold water that's mixed in.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
If I remember right, I think ours is a 75 gallon tub and we run into the same problem. I start out doing full hot because by the time it fills, it's a mix. I've not looked into the hot water heater, but it probably needs a size upgrade or maybe a conversion to one of those tankless deals.
Our house is 1 story, so the guest bathroom does have a tub/shower combo that is directly across the hall from the second and third bedrooms. It is staying, and this is the tub we would likely use with kids anyway because the sides are nice and low and easy to reach in.
I would love to have a shower with natural light!
I was watching one of those Selling New York shows. They were showing an apartment on a high floor. It was a corner apartment and had floor to ceiling windows around the entire apartment. The shower had a floor to ceiling window on one of its side. That would be awesome! For modesty's sake, there weren't any structures across from it that high.
Of course, I don't have millions of dollars for a 1,000 sq ft NYC apartment, albeit fancy and with great views, lol.