NFT: I need to redo a bathroom. Anybody proud of theirs?

[Buehler445]

I have a bathroom that is in dire need of an upgrade. There isn't a ton that can be done with the space, but Christ almighty it's a pain in the ****ing ass to find anything on bathrooms. Kitchens? Massive amount of design ideas, products, features, whatever. Bathrooms? A couple shitty pinterest posts. If anybody is a non-pinterest user and tries to get anything OUT of pinterest (pictures and whatnot), Seppuku suddenly seems reasonable.

I digress.

Anybody have any features or designs in their bathroom they're proud of?

Essentially mine consists of:
A shower (replaced shortly before I moved in I'm not going to mess with)
72" double sink cabinet vanity
A full length huge ass built in vanity above the sink with bypass mirror doors.
Shit flooring
A closet with bypass doors.
Toilet I probably won't replace.
1 outlet ()

The wall next to the shower is just sheetrock with crappy trim that is starting to show some effects from moisture.

I need to get some more electricity in there and probably different lighting. I'm guessing the electricity will require the big wall vanity to come out. If it doesn't I need to do something with the bypass mirrors regardless.

Some dicknose along the way painted all the wood in the house (trim, doors, whatever). Which I wouldn't hate so much if they would have chosen to SAND THE POLYURITHANE OFF FIRST. The ****s. They did not, so it all looks like dog balls.

I need some ideas, if anyone has any.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Currently house shopping, looking mostly at new construction or full remodels. These space eating, freestanding bathtubs seem super popular, at least with one particular builder. They're an absolute deal killer for me though. Give me that space for nearly anything else but a tub.

True, during the boom, every builder was putting the damn things in and they're a pain in the ass to install. When I switched back to service, most people use them to store towels in or don't use them at all. Lots of people have them taken out all together. I have a Jacuzzi tub in my master that's been used 4 times in 2 years. Our bath was just remodeled right before we bought, so we're leaving for now

[MOhillbilly]

We started ours mid winter. Had to tear the subfloor and laundry shoot out. Moved the toilet and sink. Of course the wife wanted some custom vanity so that was a pain but her brothers are plumbing wizards and made it easy.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Boise_Chief

I'm remodeling 3 bathrooms this month. Tile shower surrounds new marble floors, upgrade the shower doors new vanities new lighting etc. If you weren't so far away I would come do yours.

The thing to do is google image search for tile showers. Find what you like and then pay a guy. The electrical is easy when you have everything torn out.

There isn't dick around here for contractors. Come on down!

I might make a suggestion on yours though. If you're going to tile any shower surrounds, take a look at Onyx. Its a epoxy type material they roll out to look like granite. You just glue it to the walls and it looks great and is easy as hell to clean (especially compared to grouted tile).

My kids bathroom (which anybody that visits will use) was originally a tiled surround then some **** PAINTED (badly mind you) the tile with some....shit. It was awful. Put in an acrylic tub and onyx surround and it looks really nice for not a ton of money.

Who the **** paints tile?

Originally Posted by FlaChief58

So your not actually "redoing" your bathroom since that would entail gutting the whole thing and starting over from scratch.

My suggestion would be to hire an electrician and have him run the power. After that, if you're handy, you should be able to to handle wall repair, flooring and paint.

You're correct. Not a full renovation, but closer than I'd like. Plus there will undoubtedly be a mountain of costs I don't see coming so there's that.

I'm hiring that stuff done. My deal is I work a ****load of hours. More than I want. And they return pretty well. So the margin on home improvement projects is pretty slim. Especially since I'm not particularly good at that kind of stuff. Plus my knees are shot, so I'm not going to spend days on my knees laying tile.

Originally Posted by mac459

Im going to be putting rollouts in my cabinets under my vanity, so I don’t have to lay down to grab shit out of it. Also put up some wainscoting in the kids bathroom and put in wood floors, that helped a lot. I can text you some pictures of that if you want to see them.

Send them.

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

This is what I plan on doing this year in my master. Convert my shower stall to a towel closet and take my tub out and put in a nice tile shower.

I might also recommend onyx to you. See above.

Originally Posted by notorious

We remodeled ours at our old house, then sold it.

It resembled a high-end hotel bathroom. Huge Onyx shower, double vanity, slate-like tile, etc.

I wasn't a fan of the huge shower believe it or not. It seemed like their was a lot of wasted space, and it cost a fortune. The glass needs constant cleaning.

When we redid the farm house I put in a large 6'x36 bath tub with Onyx surround in the main bath. More than large enough, and a lot more usable. We can give our toddler baths, etc.

Let me know when you need the floor. I get the rigid-core waterproof plank at cost.

Can you text me a picture of your renovated bathroom.

I'll be in touch on the floor. Do you have a website on that flooring?

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I've redone four bathrooms over the years, and my rules of thumb are;

1. You can never have too much lighting. A brightly lit bathroom is a happy bathroom.
2. The most important single item is the shower faucet. In our daily-driver bathroom, we got some awesome faucet where you can adjust the pressure/water flow without changing the temperature, and it's worth every penny.
3. If your shower is separate from the tub, don't go cheap on the shower base. The cheap plastic stuff won't last, so tile it and build it well.
4. Does anyone use a bathtub any more? I'll watch those home shows and fancy bathrooms always have a standalone soaking tub, and I wonder who uses them. Maybe my wife and I are outliers, but we'd much rather have a larger shower space and no tub.

Good post.

I'm not messing with the shower. Someone before me put in an onyx stand up shower with a rainfall head and a seat. It's staying.

[Rain Man]

As a minor anecdote, when we redid our shower in our daily-driver bathroom, I told the contractor that I wanted five or six recessed cubbyholes in the shower, and I wanted them to be completely random. Make them all different sizes, put them in random locations from waist-height to face-height, and I don't want any of them to line up with each other.

It was a high-risk design move, but it worked out great. They range from maybe 4x6 inches (perfect for holding my razor and razor blades) to 9x12 inches (perfect for holding shampoo for my wife). Being all different sizes, we found a good use for all of them where each perfectly holds something.

The outcome may depend on the contractor and randomness, though.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Currently house shopping, looking mostly at new construction or full remodels. These space eating, freestanding bathtubs seem super popular, at least with one particular builder. They're an absolute deal killer for me though. Give me that space for nearly anything else but a tub.

I think they're popular everywhere, but mostly as a sales tool for builders. Every house on HGTV seems to have them, and I really question the value compared to the real estate they take up. Maybe some people use them a lot, and they're often nice architectural features, but I bet most of them sit unused 362 days per year.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Currently house shopping, looking mostly at new construction or full remodels. These space eating, freestanding bathtubs seem super popular, at least with one particular builder. They're an absolute deal killer for me though. Give me that space for nearly anything else but a tub.

I'm going to presume that's in conjunction with a stand up shower or something?

Yeah, that'd be a deal killer for me.

On the tub line, I had tub showers for a long time. Have one for the kids.
They're fine whatever. But as I've gotten older, I would hate to be using one every day. There are a remarkable amount of injuries of people slipping stepping out of the tub. Last thing I need to do is brain myself on a towel rack when there is another option. The standup shower thing is where to go.

My wife's dad fell in one 5 or so years back, landed on his ribcage (which is lucky as hell) and was pretty stoved up for a good long time.

Fat boy doesn't need that in his life.

[Bill Brasky]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

This is my bathroom. I added a towel to the back of the toilet, I feel that really spices it up. Maybe that's something you'll want to consider as it's a cheaper alternative.

Looks like you've got some IBS issues.

https://media.giphy.com/media/qUDrfc1q5BM4w/giphy.gif

[displacedinMN]

Lowes has a thing where you can design you own tub/shower set up. It may be worth a look if you have limited space or can reconfig a little bit.

[DaneMcCloud]

I've had all 5 bathrooms remodeled since purchasing my home in 2003 and two of them I've had torn out and remodeled twice. In the past month, the shower valve in my recording studio burst and sent about 60 gallons of water into the garage below. I had my contractor tear out part of the tile and shower around the valve to replace it, only to have the replacement malfunction, so it had to be replaced, again.

Shortly thereafter, about a gallon or so of water per day leaked into my garage but I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to have him out to take a look. He was out today, tore out the ceiling, only to find a dual floor for some unknown reason, tore that out and found that the drain pipe was sloped upward, not downward. He replaced that entire section but water was still leaking when the shower was turned on, so he tore out a section of the wall in my studio, only to find part of a copper joint still leaking. That was repaired but now, I have a 4' x 6' gaping hole in my wall and an 8' x 8' hole in my garage ceiling, neither of which should be closed for a couple of weeks while the joists and framing dries out.

So, all of that said:

1. Tear down to the studs, if possible. Be sure to check your copper, thoroughly. Replace anything that looks janky now.

2. Before putting up cement backer board (Please! Do not use hardibacker. It's cheaper but far less efficient), make sure your walls are furred up and square. It's probably not a big deal in Kansas but in LA, especially on a hillside, it's a major, major deal and the difference between a shower door fitting or not fitting.

3. Old School guys like to Hot Mop the shower pan and besides the smell, I'm good with that. I had one shower done with the Oatey Gray Shower Pan Liner and yep, you guessed it, it leaked and the contractor had to tear out and redo the entire shower.

4. Don't skimp on the glass. Most places will give you at least a 25% discount off the shower doors and walls. I'd definitely recommend the thicker glass: Don't skimp and go 1/4". It feels like a toy. Go 3/8's and if you can afford it, 1/2". It's a lot heavier but they'll use heavy duty hinges, which will make it feel much lighter than the actual weight of the glass.

5. I like natural tile, so three of my bathrooms feature 4x4 Travertine walls with Chair Rail and "Feature Strips" of either glass or mosaic Travertine. They look very "Roman" or "Spanish" but I really dig that look. I also prefer 1x1 Travertine mosiac tile for the floor because not only does it give the shower some "vibe" and color, the very slight variations in height make it easy for my toes to grip and feel comfortable.

6. Don't to crazy with a high end shower panel with jets and all that nonsense, especially if you have hard water (our water is the worst!). It just causes problems with the jets and replacing the valve means tearing out the tile.

7. Find a common name brand shower valve that looks good to you and go with it. My wife wanted all this "high end" stuff when we first remodeled and whoops, all the Grohe products failed within 10 years, whether it was kitchen, master bath or unfortunately, my studio shower bath. I replaced it with Moen, which are engineered in such a way that if the cartridge goes bad (the hot/cold knob), it takes about 10 minutes to replace for anyone that's ever held a screwdriver. No advanced engineering degree required.

8. As for your shower floor, go with whatever your wife likes but we prefer natural tile or at least tile with some texture and grip. Marble scares the bejeezus out of me because I just know that I'll slip, crack my head open on the shower dam and die in a really stupid way, so anything slippery and shiny is out.

9. Don't be afraid of cool glass mosaics, travertine mosaics, etc. It looks like it would be difficult to install but they're on mesh so in some cases, it's even easier than cutting ceramic or travertine.

I hope this helps and good luck!

[Buehler445]

Great stuff. Thanks Dane.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

Lowes has a thing where you can design you own tub/shower set up. It may be worth a look if you have limited space or can reconfig a little bit.

I tried that but there isn't much you can customize.

[HonestChieffan]

We redid master bath and new kitchen and decks, removal of popcorn ceilings and repaint plus a bunch of windows. Looks great. I wrote checks more than annual income.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

We redid master bath and new kitchen and decks, removal of popcorn ceilings and repaint plus a bunch of windows. Looks great. I wrote checks more than annual income.

What did you do to the Master Bath?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Great stuff. Thanks Dane.

One more thing: Don't skimp on ceiling fans and make sure they're properly vented so that the exhaust is vented outside. You'd be surprised but I know of people out here whose bathroom fans were vented to the ceiling joists: No true exhaust.

I replaced the old fans in my house with Panasonic Whisper Fans and while they aren't truly "silent", they're a million times quieter than the average fan, which is nice (at least for me). Since the room doesn't have a window, I'd recommend two fans: One over the toilet and one over the shower.

I have a pair of these in my Master. They're extremely efficient and easy to clean.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Panasoni...-203762030-_-N

Also, don't forget to purchase Glass Light covers for your recessed lighting. It'll help to prevent moisture from getting into the fixtures.

This is an example, although I found them for a fraction of the cost at USA Lighting.com

https://www.amazon.com/4055WH-Recess...654149&sr=8-21

And whatever you do, add more lighting than you'd ever think you'll need. We put in 12 six inch can lights and a vanity light that spans the entire two sink fixture and we still ending up adding a Solar Tube for even more light.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

One more thing: Don't skimp on ceiling fans and make sure they're properly vented so that the exhaust is vented outside. You'd be surprised but I know of people out here whose bathroom fans were vented to the ceiling joists: No true exhaust.

I replaced the old fans in my house with Panasonic Whisper Fans and while they aren't truly "silent", they're a million times quieter than the average fan, which is nice (at least for me). Since the room doesn't have a window, I'd recommend two fans: One over the toilet and one over the shower.

I have a pair of these in my Master. They're extremely efficient and easy to clean.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Panasoni...-203762030-_-N

Also, don't forget to purchase Glass Light covers for your recessed lighting. It'll help to prevent moisture from getting into the fixtures.

This is an example, although I found them for a fraction of the cost at USA Lighting.com

https://www.amazon.com/4055WH-Recess...654149&sr=8-21

And whatever you do, add more lighting than you'd ever think you'll need. We put in 12 six inch can lights and a vanity light that spans the entire two sink fixture and we still ending up adding a Solar Tube for even more light.

Ugh.

Don't get me started on venting ****ing fans. Whatever ****lehead installed the exhaust fan currently in the bathroom just put the fan in the ceiling and went ahead and put the insulation overtop of the exhaust. What the **** does that do? Jesus ****ing Christ.

I didn't even realize it until I thought my roof was leaking. The ****ing rafters are pretty tight for my gigantor ass. I have to go a fair ways on my knees, which are junk. But I freaked the **** out and got up there. Top of the insulation is bone ass dry. So I go looking. Start trying to find walls and shit. Where the **** is the exhaust fan in the bathroom....Kitchen....Exterior wall....WTF? It's got to be right here. Call Wife - turn on fan. Here it the **** is. Right here under this god ****ing insulation. It exhausted the steam right into the insulation where it ran in to the other room.

The amount of profanity I laid down in that attic was....we'll call it substantial.