The bathroom in your Lewis Center home has seen better days. It is time for a full bathroom renovation, so you can retire the chipped tiles, leaking faucets, and a toilet the color of dead roses. But how do you avoid making costly mistakes?
At Columbus Bath Design, we’ve seen every pitfall imaginable. These are some of the most common errors homeowners make before they call in the professionals.
Buying Your Fixtures Before You Begin
It is so tempting to pick up that gorgeous soaker tub that is on deep discount at the home improvement center. But will it fit in your compact bathroom?
Before you even order the wall paint, you need to have a measured floor plan that includes the size and position of all your fixtures. There must be clearance left for the shower door, your knees when sitting on the toilet, and even enough elbow room to reach the toilet paper holder.
It is best to wait on the major purchases until the demo is complete, your plumbing is in its final position, and you have hard numbers for the items that you need.
Move the Location of the Toilet or Tub
Did you know that if you really want the tub under the window instead of in the corner, you are possibly opening up a complicated and expensive can of worms? The plumbing will need to be moved. That can translate into restructuring floor supports, creating a new plumbing stack, and even visits from engineers. You can see the budget for your small project triple or quadruple in short order.
Splurge on Trending Tech Toys
Oh, that heated toilet seat with motion activation sensors and lights would be so cool! However, most homeowners find that those super awesome upgrades you find in 5-star spa retreats often get mothballed after a few months or end up needing costly maintenance.
If your bathroom handles all the traffic in your home for the entire family, opting for tried-and-true fixtures is a more durable and budget-friendly choice.
Forget About the Exhaust Fan and Light
The lack of ventilation is the most common cause of mold growth in bathrooms. Even if you have an old fan in the bathroom, it may not meet modern building codes. Your new fan and light should vent directly outside, not into your attic space. It should be activated by a wall switch and operate anytime somebody is using the bathroom.
Good ventilation protects your investment in that stunning bathroom remodel.
Install a Wet Room without a Professional
The open-concept bathroom is hot and trending in the remodeling world. However, if you decide to go for a walk-in shower without a door and did not hire a professional bathroom fitter for the job, you could end up with significant water damage under your floors.
Wet rooms demand that the entire floor of the bathroom be gently sloped so that water will run toward the floor drain in the shower. The waterproof layer that goes down under your flooring must be expanded farther into the bathroom.
Eager homeowners that try to do this design themselves often discover serious damage to their homes long after the tile grout dried.
Cheap Out on Wall and Flooring Materials
Did you know that building materials designed for use in bathrooms are specially fabricated for wet environments? That is why you pay a little more for wallboard, flooring, and tiles. If you think that using regular materials will net the same result, you can end up spending twice the cost of your budget renovation in repairs down the road.
Selecting Today’s Hottest Color
Every year there is a hot new shade of blue, yellow, or green that everyone wants to add to their home decor. However, the 1970s did teach us that using those colors in the bathroom can have a lasting negative impact on your home value. Unless this is your forever home, stick to neutral shades of off-white and white for your fixtures. They will roll with changing tastes in decor over the decades. Leave the bright shades for your towels and rugs.
Become an Overnight Social Media Sensation
So, you don’t have a lot of experience fixing up the house, but changing out the toilet doesn’t look that hard. You set up your camera and start recording your weekend while you tackle this supposedly simple job. Now your kids are sharing your mishaps with their friends and the neighbors are laughing.
And you still don’t have a functioning bathroom.
Save Your Sanity and Your Bathroom: Call Columbus Bath Design for Help
There is a way to avoid all these common pitfalls of bathroom remodels. Work with the pros! At Columbus Bath Design, we have the people, skills, and all the latest design choices to create a stunning bathroom without making a single mistake. Your only job is to approve the finishes and sit back and watch. In many cases, we can complete a full remodel in a single day. Located in nearby Lewis Center, OH, we handle every detail from plumbing to tiles and carpentry,
Give us a call today to schedule your initial consultation and look forward to your new bathroom with confidence instead of fear.
