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sivyaleah

Terrified to Consider Cost of A Bathroom Reno

Laurie
12 years ago

A little background...

I purchased a 1915 Craftsman style home last May. It needed a HUGE amount of updating and I've already gone completely over budget. I am bleeding financially at this point.

I have a little bit of additional money coming in within the next couple of months; about $50,000 total. However, with the money I need to close out the TCO on the house which includes some big ticket items; 5 new doors, landscaping work which was deemed necessary by the DOB, irrigation system, repair to my kitchen ceiling and walls from leaking room over the winter (that after the kitchen was newly done!), still need a backsplash, have to clean out the attic, certain parts of the house need to be painted (per DOB), etc. etc.

All of that alone, is going to cost upwards of another $20,000. And there are still other things in the house which are cosmetic to do too - painting of walls for instance which haven't been done yet.

So, keeping this in mind is my bathroom situation.

When I took possession of the house, the bathroom didn't look too bad. However, due to a) a kitchen disaster which impacted the wall in the bathroom above it (plumbing pipe had to be replaced and the wall opened because of it) b) (original) tiles are falling off the plaster walls daily (possibly due to a combination of old age and the force of the banging that was going on underneath the room during construction of the kitchen).

Anyway - I'm trying to figure out if there is an inexpensive way to renovate the room without having to totally gut it, which I fear is what needs to happen.

The walls are plaster for one thing. As the tiles are falling off, it isn't like a regular wall underneath them. I can't just pull them off easily; I think if we take them off it's going to affect the entire wall above where they end and rip that part apart (it goes about 1/3 the way up the wall - the ceilings are incredibly high in the bathroom, probably 12').

The bathtub is awful and can't be reused for sure. Plus underneath needs to be supported better than it is. When we were having the kitchen done we discovered the tub was barely being supported at all (thankfully discovered!) and my contractor did do what he could to fix that from underneath). I'd like to move the position of it too; right now the plumbing is coming up from in the middle of the room; there is an odd boxlike thing built near it hiding the pipes which serves no purpose that I can tell although it has doors to get inside it. It's just plain ugly and taking up valuable space (about 2' worth).

Floor tiles (mosaic) are also falling apart, coming up and look disgusting. Wall sconces (original) have seen better days. Radiator position is so close to the toilet - well, I won't even go there :p Sink area is the pits completely - old, dingy sink and vanity is just sad sad sad. Light fixture above isn't even wired inside the wall - you have to plug it into an outlet down over the sink area into the side wall! Did I mention that it's flourescent?

Good points? Few. We did re-do the shower stall (which is separate from the tub, and is near the toilet in a small alcove) when we moved in because it was completely not working. Newly tiled, small but ok. New Toto toilet was put in too. 2 nice sized windows. There is a huge closet but I would love to turn that into something more modern/usable. Maybe something with drawers, have a laundry bin in the bottom of it. Plus we really need someplace to put the litter box for the kitty which is better than right by the door (there isn't anywhere else in the house to put it - it's a tiny 4 square).

The bathroom is quite large actually and it could be reconfigured I'm sure to make better use of the space. Could take out one of the alcove walls to open it up (one has to stay, it's the shower wall and since I already spent nearly $2000 to fix/retile that shower I'm not about to touch it).

Anyway - I know I'm rambling here. I think I have a picture of two somewhere of this lilac and black mess; or I'll take some if anyone is interested.

Thanks for any feedback you can offer. I don't even know if I can manage to start work on this or not, I just want some advice I guess. I just keep thinking maybe I should at the very least have it gutted and live with it like that for a while; it surely would be better than the condition it is currently in :(

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