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jillybean103

Your Top Tips for a Bath Remodel

jillybean103
17 days ago

Things we’ve all learned in remodeling bathrooms. What are your tips?

  • Glass enclosures and doors….treat with RainX (water repellent).
  • Glass enlarges the entire feel of the bathroom and showcases gorgeous tile.
  • If you can, eliminate glass everything including walls and doors and just tile everything in (as shown in the snail pic). No shower curtain in a walkin shower (Looks like a locker room). Not a fan of shower curtains in a primary bathroom.
  • Niche. Make it big enough and not visible if possible. (tuck into a knee wall or the wall that isn’t seen). Shampoo bottles and rasors blow the aesthetic.
  • Shower seat. Not sold on a seat. Built one in a custom shower and never once used it, except to put my foot up. Build in a foot ledge or tile in a foot cutout.
  • Foot faucet under the controls to save $ moving plumbing (to avoid getting sprayed with cold water when turning it on).
  • Tile grout. Have installer have as close to 0 space between tiles.
  • Tub. If you have another tub in the house, it’s not as critical to have one in the master, unless you know your target buyer loves taking a bath. If you have the space for a standalone tub, great. But only after you have a great shower, double sinks, plenty of storage space. Plenty of houses have tubs. Not as many have great walkin showers. Aging population generally prefers no tub. Rough in or consider where someone could put a tub. We pulled both tubs in a condo and replaced with walkin showers. Knew our target market. Sold in one day.
  • Tub to shower conversion. Center the drain. Or, leave it where it was with the tub, if $ is a factor. Works fine.
  • Retail shower doors \- especially in a tub to shower conversion. If you buy retail a door/enclosure to cover a standard tub size opening that adjusts smaller, there will still be glass overlap when the door is closed making it nearly impossible to clean inside the two glass panels at the overlap.
  • Tile……shower floors, walls, and bathroom floors in the same tile is very elegant with the right tile (think white marble look). At most, choose 2 tiles, unless you really know what you’re doing. If you go with different tiles for bathroom floor, shower wall, shower floor, and niche, it can look like a mess. Remember you have a countertop to coordinate, too.
  • Mesh backed tile (like a 12” square mesh mounted backing) with nonlinear mosaics (like a pebble tile) will show the mesh grid outline. Yes, even if they claim it’s like a puzzle and interlocks and won’t show. It shows. Look at the displays at the big box stores. Once you see it you can’t unsee it. Had to have the tile installer remove all the pebbles and hand place. Fortunately he only asked for a couple of beers. :\-)
  • Toilets. Choose comfort height, elognated or comfort height, compact elongated. Contemporary shaped toilets up the appearance.
  • Water closet. If you have the room, enclose the toilet in a private space with a wall/door.
  • Techy gadgets. Careful on the super techy stuff (controls etc) especially in the shower. Think replacement. I’ve been in some kind of tech biz all my life and most people are not early adopters when it comes to tech in the house. They avoid it and object to it for reliability and replacement reasons.
  • Fixtures. Use quality brand fixtures and valves for years of maintenance free enjoyment. Easier and more cost effective to do quality now, than rip out the tile to fix a crappy fixture.
  • Countertops. I like to choose them first as I think it’s easier to find tile to coordinate.
  • Sinks. Use undermount and skip the vessels. Consider smaller sinks for tighter spaces. Love the look of square/rectangle.
  • Two sinks in a master. “Must” have. (Unless you can’t)
  • Mirrors. I don’t care what anyone says. A custom mirror with cut\-in sconces looks higher end than a framed one that’s flanked by sconces. Custom full size mirror also enlarges the space. Though there are super cute ones.

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