Remodeling a Bathroom

Not sure of the basic steps involved with bathroom remodeling? Follow this overview of what's involved with bathroom remodeling.

• Finances first. Remodeling a bathroom is second to kitchens in terms of cost.
• DIY or hire a pro? With the electrical and plumbing, it may be a good idea to hire a professional remodeler (but this is your call).
• Bathroom flooring needs serious consideration; moisture is the big problem in bathrooms.

Is the cost the only thing holding you back? Get a rough idea for how much your bathroom remodel might cost.

• At least $16,000 for a decent bathroom remodel.
• Locality matters: urban or suburban?
• It's possible to scale down the cost of remodeling a bathroom.

Now that we've roughed out the price of bathroom remodeling, it's time to find out ways to mitigate those costs.

• Sweat equity saves on contractor costs.
• Even when using a contractor, you can purchase some of your own materials.
• Learn to question the contractor about costs.

If you're hiring a bathroom remodeling contractor, you won't have to worry about bathroom building code. But if you're DIY'ing the project--even the slightest--you'll need to have a basic awareness of bathroom code.

• Bathroom building code is all about safety.
• Bathroom code even dictates things such as the distance between toilet, sink, and shower.
• Bathroom code is differs from state to state.

Moisture and traffic can really wear on bathroom floors, so you'll most likely need to deal with flooring issues.

• Ceramic tile is great; carpet and laminate flooring the worst.
• Wood isn't a great bathroom flooring material, but you can work with it.
• Despite its aesthetic flaws, sheet vinyl flooring ranks #1 for bathroom flooring, at least in terms of practicality.

Sometimes, your bathtub or shower aren't bad enough to warrant a complete reintall or even a liner or refinishing job. For this, you'll just need to do a spot repair.

• Spot-repairing your tub or shower only extends the time before you need to replace.
• Your spot repair will never blend in with the original surface.
• Still, spot repair is the absolutely cheapest way to deal with tub/shower flaws.

Bathtub and shower refinishing has become a huge industry lately. With this technique, professional refinishers sand down and paint your tub or shower back to an (almost) new surface.

• A great mid-range price option--cheaper than new, more expensive than spot repair.
• Tub and shower refinishing is basically a paint job, though a very professionally done paint job.
• It's nearly impossible for a homeowner to DIY tub/shower refinishing. The pros have all the right tools needed to make refinishing work.