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Giving an estimate for how much
bathroom remodeling costs is one of those things you
will find very hard to get any contractor to do.
Like the kitchen, the bathroom is one of those rooms
where there is simply too much going on, and too much
that could be wrong to give a ball-park estimate.
Only after visiting and inspecting the room for
themselves will they offer even the most tentative
quote.
Bathroom remodeling takes time,
planning and expertise to do properly. The
objective is to upgrade, improve or just change the
appearance of the room, while being able to enjoy the
best fixtures and fittings you can afford.
Some enthusiastic
DIY’ers think that rebuilding the bathroom is a piece of
cake. Just change the furniture, re-plumb some
pipes and faucets and away you go. The truth is
far from that, which is why it’s always better to employ
a contractor if you don’t have considerable DIY skills.
The project needs to be planned meticulously to ensure
everything will fit the room, the plumbing and the
environment. You need to ensure the new fixtures
will fit the space and the type of plumbing you have, or
at least have an idea how to rearrange things so they
can fit. Pipes may need rerouting, electrics
moving and even air vents or central air may need a
little attention.
So before you even think about
ripping out the bathroom, you need to plan everything
first. Establish the basic layout of the bathroom,
including pipe and cable runs. If you want to move
things around, ensure the pipe work can be re-laid to
suit, and that the furniture or fitting can be placed
where you want it. The task is simpler if the
layout is staying the same as it can be a case of
swapping the stuff around. You still need to note
the layout through in case there are variances in fit.
It may seem like a waste of time for a seemingly simple
job, but knowing exactly where the pipes and wires are
can give you a lot more confidence when working and
planning the remodel.
Proper planning will involve
sketching out your room and careful measurement.
Graph paper is ideal for this task but any sketch can
help add understanding to the space. Measure every
wall, pipe, window and fitting. Have an image in
your mind of the look you want to achieve and sketch
that down too. Even just having it on paper can
allow you to modify the idea to suit the reality.
After all, paper is cheaper than buying furniture that
won’t work in the room for one reason or another.
If it looks like there may be a
lot of plumbing involved, don’t risk doing it yourself
unless you’re sure you can pull it off. It’s often
more expensive to have a professional fix what you did
wrong than have them do it all in the first place.
Most trades are reluctant to take on botches DIY jobs
because they never quite know what they’re letting
themselves in for.
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