Bathroom remodel- nbr

MrsWhiteonWhiteSt

DH and I are thinking about redoing are insanely ugly bathroom. The best part is we're not going to DIY for the 1st time. It's just too much with the 3 kiddos. Has anyone done a remodel lately?  We would do new floors, window, countertop, light fixture and add shower doors instead of a curtain. Any tips/money saving ideas?

I'm curious most about flooring- we want new ceramic tile. I know that there are lots of costs besides the actual tile (cement board etc) but is there an approx reasonable price? Would you have a big place like Lowes install it or go through a private/smaller contractor. Any buffalo gals have a recommendation?

 

Kim72508

MrsWhiteonWhiteSt:

DH and I are thinking about redoing are insanely ugly bathroom. The best part is we're not going to DIY for the 1st time. It's just too much with the 3 kiddos. Has anyone done a remodel lately?  We would do new floors, window, countertop, light fixture and add shower doors instead of a curtain. Any tips/money saving ideas?

I'm curious most about flooring- we want new ceramic tile. I know that there are lots of costs besides the actual tile (cement board etc) but is there an approx reasonable price? Would you have a big place like Lowes install it or go through a private/smaller contractor. Any buffalo gals have a recommendation?

 

I have no idea about the cost of remodels, but our neighbor is a general contractor and has done work for a lot of our friends.  He's doing our kitchen this fall.  He's a really nice guy and our friends have all been happy with his work/the price.  Let me know if you want his information.   

MelissaSue81

i don't really have any tips (except that if i were you, i would NOT put in shower doors with 3 kiddos.. much harder to reach them to wash them and the ones at my parents house actually broke with people in the bath/shower more than once). Oh, and they're a PITA to clean! We took out our shower doors before Eve was born, but we still have the stupid track on the edge of the tub and even that is a pain when washing her..but I wanted to say that I am a little jealous and super excited for you that you get to redo your bathroom.

June4bride2be

MelissaSue81:

i don't really have any tips (except that if i were you, i would NOT put in shower doors with 3 kiddos.. much harder to reach them to wash them and the ones at my parents house actually broke with people in the bath/shower more than once). Oh, and they're a PITA to clean! We took out our shower doors before Eve was born, but we still have the stupid track on the edge of the tub and even that is a pain when washing her..but I wanted to say that I am a little jealous and super excited for you that you get to redo your bathroom.

I was going to say the same thing! Most people want the doors out, not in! They get so gross! I love being about to toss my curtain in the wash.

A remodel is very exciting though......enjoy! 

Telyco

You HAVE HAVE HAVE to make sure that you hire someone that knows what he is doing. Bathrooms have to be done right because there is so much moisture and water going on in there that it can build up and rot through the floor, etc. Have you ever watched Holmes on Homes on TLC? He gives great tips on hiring (basically what NOT to do since he goes in and fixes bad contractor mistakes)

My dad gave us a mini-makeover on our kitchen before we moved in. He tore up the old floor and put the Hardie board down and tiled onto that. We bought 12" tile from Home Depot...I can't remember the price, though. 95% of the cost for putting in the floors is the labor. It is a lot of work, even for a little bathroom. We also tiled out countertop (we just wanted something cheap to last until a larger makeover) and I bought a slab of marble from Buffalo Granite and Marble - which they cut to size. You could buy your own piece of countertop and have your contractor put it in on the existing cabinet - which you could paint or re-stain.

If you post pics of your bathroom - we can all give you ideas on what we would do!

Another thought is the noise...you may want to wait until kids are napping less. Tearing out a floor and sawing tile, etc is super noisy.

battybtags

I would definitely NOT do shower doors! We had ours removed and I like it so much more. They are a real PITA to clean-they never, ever look clean and the tracks for the doors get all nasty. I really, really hated them and will never have them again!

wendyj

We did a total remodel of our bathroom last summer. One way we saved money is by gutting it ourselves. We cleared out everything except the floor and tub because when we started pulling up the floor, we could see a lot of rot underneath, so we left it for our guy to decide how he wanted to proceed. With the tub, it was old porcelin over cast iron, and we had heard they're not easy to clear out, so we left it for him. He had it out in about 10 minutes.

With everything, I shopped around alot before deciding on everything. We found our tile at a store that specialized in tile. They had a huge clearance room, and we were lucky enough to find exactly what we wanted at a reasonable price. 

Our contractor is a family friend who has done all of the major work on our house to date. He did all of the plumbing, electrical, sheetrock and tile. He gave us a really great price, especially because we were extremely patient when he would stop work on our house to deal with another job or two.I did have a small budget, and we managed to stay within it. I bought some pieces over the course of a few months if they went on sale, or just so I wasn't throwing down a bunch of money all at once.

It was definitely an experience. If you have any questions, feel free to message me!

 

jess!ca

We JUST did ours.  We did most of the work ourselves, other than the tiling.  We don't have room in ours for a shower door (it is seriously the smallest bathroom ever.)  We completely gutted it, and replaced all the plumbing and electrical.  Since we did all that ourselves, the cost to gut and replace things was only a few hundred bucks.  We put up sheetrock and hardibacker ourselves too, which also didn't cost much in materials.  I think we spent about $2300 total on the whole bathroom, and a big chunk of that was materials and the tile guy, who we paid $600 to do the shower and the floor.  Again, we have SUCH a small bathroom that our materials cost was probably lower than yours will be since we didn't need that much tile.  But the tile was reasonable.  We got ceramic tile at Lowe's.  If you go to a big-box store for anything (which is fine, we did) I reccomend going to the Post Office and getting a change of address packet.  It has a 10% off Lowes coupon that they will take at Lowes or Home Depot.  We do this all.the.time. when we do projects.  We even used it on our special order carpet that we installed.  It has saved us literally hundreds of dollars over the last couple of years with all of our renovations.  If you want to see pics of our bathroom reno, they are in my blog.  GL with your project!!!! 

NikCole

We have a super ugly bathroom also (circa 1975, and 3 different shades of green!) and are thinking of gutting it before we sell (probably not for a couple years) My dad is super-handy man, so he will do a lot of the work w/ DH's help. He will probably have a friend of his (who is contractor) do the tile work. From what my dad has told us, it will probably cost about $2000-$2500. That is including the labor for the little work the contractor will do.

Oh, and another vote for NO shower doors. When I first moved in my house had them and I thought they were kinda cool... for like, a month. They are such a pain to clean (the track gets really gross) and it's near impossible to take a bath... I can't imagine giving little kids a bath. Plus, IMO, they are outdated and ugly... unless it's a stand alone shower w/ all glass inclosure. 

xKimx

Another word of warning against the shower doors. We had some at our old apartment and the fell in & shattered in the tub. I can't imagine what it would have been like if there had been a child in there