Is it Time to Remodel that Bathroom?
Sometimes people don’t think about it, but you spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Usually, when people are thinking about renovations in their home they are thinking more about the kitchen, the bedroom or the basement.
At Bedrock, however, we know that having a great bathroom can really affect the quality of living space. It can also affect the sale price of your home and the speed at which your home sells once it is on the market.
Home Bath renovations in Calgary are also not as expensive as you might think. It really does depend on the type of project and the finishes, but you can check out our pricing article to see what current ballpark numbers are.
Do You Need any Assistance?
Bedrock Construction is a full service residential and commercial renovation company, we do it all. If you are planning a bathroom renovation and would like help with any part of the process feel free to connect with us. We love helping people with their renovation projects and would love to connect with you.
Major Items to Consider in your Home Bath Renovation
There are a number of different items that can be considered when planning a bathroom renovation. Whether you are doing a full gut to the studs, or just upgrading the paint you will need to decide on a few different items.
Bathtub/Shower
Obviously one of the bigger items in the bathroom is the tub, shower or shower tub that you have. If you have a half bath you won’t need to worry about this part of the equation, but most bathroom renovations involve the shower or the tub.
There are a number of different ways that you can go with the shower and each of them has pros and cons.
- Shower Only. If you are thinking about changing your setup so that you only have a shower in the bathroom, and no tub here are some things to consider.
- PROS – uses less water, Quick and convenient, mobility issues are easy to manage with shower only bathroom options, smaller footprint if your bathroom square footage is at a minimum. The other big pro is that there are some very high-end premium fixtures you can add to your shower like a rain shower, stream and side jets that can’t happen in a tub/tub shower.
- CONS – Women love tubs and resale could be difficult without one. It also makes rental properties less desirable. Not always practical for children, Leaks can be a pain to fix and showers can be more maintenance cleaning wise.
- Tub or Tub Shower. There are a number of options when it comes to a tub and/or tub shower combination. Often even if there is just a tub adding in a shower is a cost-effective way to expand your bathrooms ability.
- PROS – Having a tub is great for resale and ROI on a renovation. A tub is great for relaxation and for children and pets that need bathing. Bathtubs also come with a variety of looks and feel and also can have jets or deep water areas.
- CONS – It can be more difficult for elderly people, takes up more space, uses more water, usually takes more time to have a bath.
Regardless of which direction you are going, there are a couple of rules of thumb. For resale and investment purposes always have at least one bathtub in your home. Even if you decide to go shower only in one of your main baths make sure there is a bathtub somewhere else in the house. It is a big deal for families and ROI.
If you are going to take the bathtub out and replace it with a shower only type unit you will need to consider that there will most likely be more clear flood square footage now. So your design will need to change and include extra flooring or potentially extra storage in the vanity or cabinets.
Vanity/Sink
The next major item that is often considered during a bathroom renovation is the vanity or the sink. Usually, they are in the same unit, but in some bathrooms there’s is an auxiliary vanity or storage cabinet as well.
I have this on my current list of things to renovate. My current vanity is too small for two people and the countertop is hard to keep clean. In my main bathroom, the sink is actually part of the countertop and it just doesn’t work for us.
We are planning to get a wider vanity that goes closer to the toilet and one that has more efficient storage underneath.
When you are considering a new vanity you need to pay attention to current designs, but it also needs to accomplish two very important things.
- Your vanity has to be easy to clean and keep clean. Just because your new vanity looks nice doesn’t mean that it will stay that way for very long, especially with regular use. Get something that will take a regular beating but will clean up nice and isn’t too difficult to clean.
- Your vanity has to have adequate storage. Something to keep in mind is where the sink and the plumbing will live. This could make or break the storage inside the vanity underneath the sink. Make sure you are aware of how the drawers and cabinets will work and if you have enough storage.
Toilets
A toilet really is a toilet but there are a couple of things that you want to consider when you are thinking about replacing the toilet.
- Do you want a water-saving toilet? You can get them now with two buttons on the top one for smaller water flow and one for larger. This saves water and may affect your utility bill. Something to consider.
- How high off the ground do you want the toilet to be? I didn’t really consider this till I was at my sister inlaws place and her toilet is really close to the ground and it is hard to sit on. So consider this and maybe try a few out.
Flooring and tile
In a bathroom you are going to need to consider the flooring and if there will be any tile work around the vanity or around the shower/tub. These kinds of things can really add to the overall look and feel of a bathroom. You will want to make sure that your colour scheme and textures are congruent throughout the bathroom.
My recommendation is to go neutral on the permanent things and funkier on the temporary things. So when it comes to painting colour, floor colour and vanity colour you will want to get things that are fairly neutral and easy. Then you can accent it with colour in artwork, towels or shower curtains. These things can easily be swapped out when new styles come in.
