Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[fastfred]

Hand shower with plastic tub in door less shower works great for kids. Better than tub

Yup

[RootSkier]

Yup

Nope. Fuck that. I have two little kids and it would be hell without a real tub. That said, we only need one and don't really care where.

[Dantheman]

fuck resale

Seriously. Are you planning on moving in <12 months? If not, do what you want and fuck the opinion of hypothetical buyers who may or may not be buying your house a decade from now*.

* - statement excludes BDSM dungeons and other truly crazy shit.

That you are pro-reno then anti-reno based on nothing but your personal preferences.

It's pretty big stretch to classify replacing a dishwasher as "renovating."

[4matic]

Nope. Fuck that. I have two little kids and it would be hell without a real tub. That said, we only need one and don't really care where.

Of course. But in a few years you have a renovated tub you don’t need or want.

In another house I fixed up a single bathroom with tub for “resale” and regret it.

[4matic]

I didn’t renovate my kitchen if you had read correctly. Also, even if I had renovated the kitchen, if I planned on staying I would not trash a reliable dishwasher that is easy to replace later.

[old goat]

A bathtub is useful for many things. First of all, baths. I have a 30's house with an extra deep tub. I love soaking in it. I love it more the older I get. Washing dogs. Washing down sleeping bags. Cialis ads. I went home with a woman once, she changed her mind after we got into her bed. Her friend and my friend were in the living room not changing their minds so I spent the night sleeping in the bathtub. Spent 12 hours driving from the Grand Canyon to Albuquerque in a sub zero blizzard to visit a friend, he was on call, heat off, pipes frozen, warmest place in the house was the bathtub so I got in there in a sleeping bag until the place warmed up. Did I mention baths?

[4matic]

I love soaking in it. I love it more the older I get.

How do you get in and out? In my next next remodel I'm planning Japanese soaking tub. albeit bigger than the one pictured.

[AdironRider]

That is pretty awesome.

[skaredshtles]

I'm always amazed that some of these bathrooms appear to be larger than most of the bedrooms in my house. WTF are people doing in these giant bathrooms? It seems such a waste of real estate...

[powdrhound]

How do you get in and out?

Grab bars.

[::: :::]

Grab bars.

trapeze is the only way to go

[Kevo]

Alright, all things point to the tub being enamled steel and not cast iron. I don't think it makes sense to spend thousands having a new bathroom built around a questionable tub, so I just bought a cast iron tub to replace the current tub.

I know there's hate for tubs these days, but with the master not having a tub the closest tub would be down two flights of stairs in the basement if I were to remove this tub. I can't imagine your average parents being OK with that idea when house shopping.

Last question- I'm replicating the dark gray porceline tile for the floor and white subway tile for wall that my master bathroom has. I'm going to go tub to ceiling tile in the bathtub area. What are the collective's thoughts on doing subway tile halway up the walls outside the tub?

[4matic]

I don’t think tile outside the tub is necessary or aesthetic. It makes the room look colder which in a way is good for bathroom; certain sterility feel. A piece of art you like on the soft wall will look good. I ran out of stone for my outside walls so just omitted it at the advice of contractor. Happy I did. Sink backsplash maybe add tile.

If you can wire in a wall heater consider it. It’s nice luxury to have warm bathroom.

All the hardware and fixtures were sourced on Craig’s or eBay as used or closeout.

All natural light btw. Bathroom skylights are the bomb.

[fastfred]

Nice bathroom photos
Like the dbl tp holder but the reach around to get paper to wipe your ass looks painful should a been on your right by your knees

And yes kevo to the continued wainscot tile. 32 to 36 inches high especially behind the shitter for easy cleaning

Tubs are over rated kids only bath once a week

And fuck the tub who cares about resale unless your dumping the house in a year or two tubs are old people killers and always look up the ada stuff and put blocking in the shower wall for grab bars

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Blocking everywhere. Overkill now but really nice when you need it a few years down the road. And take rough in pics before you close it all up.

[4matic]

Nice bathroom photos

Like the dbl tp holder but the reach around to get paper to wipe your ass looks painful should a been on your right by your knees

Thanks. That’s a detail I missed because of space constraint by a few inches. It’s fine. It’s far enough away that it’s a comfortable reach.

[muted]

On a commercial building I need to move the front door and then remove the tiny front garden (near the front door) in order to put in a parking spot, all to code. I hope to spend 15-20k on labor/material, based on what we have found peeking and poking in the walls, but that number is not including getting an architect bill to draw it all out, as a reference. The contractor I like uses an architect who is a minimum of $5k. Ouch. I get that her time is valuable, she is worth it, yadda yadda. I've never hired an architect though, so any advice on if it's possible to find a decent architect to do a basic job like mine for less than $5k? And by decent I mean simply competent, not the next Frank Gehry. And where the hell do I find a cheaper one without cold-calling a bunch of high-end architects and waste their time? I'm in SLC.

[irul&ublo]

Not sure why you need an architect, unless he/she is making sure that the design is ADA compliant

[::: :::]

On a commercial building I need to move the front door and then remove the tiny front garden (near the front door) in order to put in a parking spot, all to code. I hope to spend 15-20k on labor/material, based on what we have found peeking and poking in the walls, but that number is not including getting an architect bill to draw it all out, as a reference. The contractor I like uses an architect who is a minimum of $5k. Ouch. I get that her time is valuable, she is worth it, yadda yadda. I've never hired an architect though, so any advice on if it's possible to find a decent architect to do a basic job like mine for less than $5k? And by decent I mean simply competent, not the next Frank Gehry. And where the hell do I find a cheaper one without cold-calling a bunch of high-end architects and waste their time? I'm in SLC.

you don't - there's no easy button
just call a bunch of architects that do primarily small commercial and tenant improvements & ask their hourly rates
pick the cheapest one

don't tell them you don't understand or value their services...at least until you've got the permit in hand

[old goat]

How do you get in and out?

Hoyer lift.

On a serious note--for old people you need either a shower big enough to sit in, preferably without a curb, or a tub--there's a chair that fits half in and half out of the tub that you sit on and slide across into and out of the tub.
Friends of ours--husband has parkinson's, always bad but especially so when your 6'6. They had a handyman install a grab bar. The guy used screw in plastic sheetrock anchors and my friend pulled the thing out of the wall. There appear to be no studs, it's a false wall--a large piece of sheetrock with the only structure being at the ends and top and bottom. Maybe a plumber can stick a scope in there and figure out if there's any other wood behind that sheetrock.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Bath I built 10 years ago. Georges wife picked it from a K&B magazine. Took over a bedroom and a closet from another bedroom and moved a wall 7" to add to the existing bath to fit it in. Surface Whore installed the handmade tiles ordered from the magazine contact list.

52" soaking tub installed before framing final walls.



Right wall moved 7" over to fit the vanity



Steam Shower



Travertine topped soaking tub finished



Original 5x7' bath houses a dry sauna, bench and robe hooks.



I have house sat several times with my gal and with some cold ipa's and music a good amount of time can be spent in this space.

[muted]

you don't - there's no easy button
just call a bunch of architects that do primarily small commercial and tenant improvements & ask their hourly rates
pick the cheapest one

don't tell them you don't understand or value their services...at least until you've got the permit in hand

Thanks. And I do understand and value their services. I’ve learnt a lot from your posts in here. But just because I can only afford McDonalds this project doesn’t mean I don’t understand or value a good meal at a nice place.

[::: :::]

That was supposed to be a joke, but it apparently came off as butthurt, so I’m sorry for that

[zion zig zag]

On a commercial building I need to move the front door and then remove the tiny front garden (near the front door) in order to put in a parking spot, all to code. I hope to spend 15-20k on labor/material, based on what we have found peeking and poking in the walls, but that number is not including getting an architect bill to draw it all out, as a reference. The contractor I like uses an architect who is a minimum of $5k. Ouch. I get that her time is valuable, she is worth it, yadda yadda. I've never hired an architect though, so any advice on if it's possible to find a decent architect to do a basic job like mine for less than $5k? And by decent I mean simply competent, not the next Frank Gehry. And where the hell do I find a cheaper one without cold-calling a bunch of high-end architects and waste their time? I'm in SLC.

Irul is right. You shouldn't need an architect for this, at least in Utah. The contractor should be able to draw this up and have an engineer stamp it.

Depending on zoning, planning may take issue with the exterior change. Contact your local planning/building dept., but this shouldn't be that complicated.

[4matic]

The contractor should be able to draw this up and have an engineer stamp it.

Basically the same the same thing as an architect stamp.