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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Bathroom Reno Costs?
F/U to needing a plumber...
I'm trying to gauge worst case scenario, being that whatever is going on with our shower is probably larger than a pipe leak. Our bathroom is original 50s (pink and grey) tile everywhere, and if we are going to need a new shower, we will probably just renovate the whole thing.
What are we looking at pricewise? What if we do the demolition ourselves? The bathroom is about 8 ft X 4 ft, no bathtub.
Also, how likely are we to get a home equity loan if we have only been in our house for 2.5 years?
Re: Bathroom Reno Costs?
It totally depends on what you want to do and who you get to do it. We redid our bathroom with a handyman and replaced the tile floor, vanity and toilet, as well as some sheetrock work, and it cost about $2K - he had it done in two days, we used a stock vanity from Home Depot, inexpensive 12x12 tile, etc. My parents just redid a bathroom of a similar size, did everything custom, and spent almost $20K.
Would you do a fiberglass insert in the shower or would it have to be retiled altogether? That would be a big difference in cost. Also, it would depend if the pipes could be repaired or if they would have to be replaced - that would probably be the biggest cost in the renovation.
As for the home equity loan, I would think that it all depends on how much equity you have in your house. We put 30% down when we bought our house, so even though the value has dropped, we still have equity based on the fact that we took a smaller mortgage. Do you know the value of your home vs. your current mortgage?
We had our small bathroom redone (it consisted of the tub and the toilet). Sink was outside the bathroom. Using HD tile and subcontractor, the estimate was over $5k and I think closer to 7k.
We used our handyman and he did a great job and it was closer to $3k for labor and tile, etc.
Definately get loads of estimates!
like PP said costs can vary but we got an estimate from a "small bathroom speciallist" for our tiny bathroom (with a tub) and it was $7K. we did not go forward with it.
DIY is an option but tile, supplies etc also add up not to mention time in doing it.
We just got an estimate to totally gut our small master bath (original '60's) and replace with basic tile and fixtures from this century, and it was about $8k. I thought that was pretty reasonable. The contractor comes pretty well recommended and I would be happy to pass on his info. We've had a really, really tough time finding a contractor.
ETA - I just saw that it's only a shower. We also got a quote to add a shower to our basement powder room and that was $7k. I would guess that just replacing would be cheaper, especially since our quote involved moving some piping.
I'd say if you're keeping layout the same and aren't moving plumbing or electrical you could probably do it for $5-7k as PPs suggested. We redid one bathroom (with a tub) for about $5k, but we redid our master bath and that was closer to $15k because we built a custom-sized/shaped shower which required moving the drain and getting custom glass doors too, which were pricey IMO. If you stick to standard sized/shaped stuff it will be more reasonable.
ETA: to your questions, we had the contractor break out demo and it was only about $300 so we didn't think it was worth it (between the work and figuring out how to dispose of the stuff). if it were me, I'd probably put it on a credit card instead of the home equity loan...especially if it was something I thought we could pay off within a year or so - lots of cards are offering low rates or promo rates for 6 months or a year. I think home equity loans have fees and/or closing costs associated with them so maybe compare the interest on a credit card vs. fees for the loan to see which would be better?