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Courtesy Winder Weekend
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Courtesy Winder Weekend
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Courtesy Winder Weekend
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Courtesy Winder Weekend
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Courtesy Winder Weekend
Many real estate agents say that the kitchen and master bath are the two most important rooms in a house. This rings true whether you’re trying to sell or just want to improve the home you live in.
If you fantasize about your master bath becoming an at-home oasis of luxurious amenities and soothing natural materials, it may be time to seriously consider a remodel. Or if you want to refresh other bathrooms in your house with cosmetic improvements, like an updated shower, tile floor or fresh paint, you’ve got some important decisions to make. Chief among them is whether to hire a professional or do it yourself.
Chris Winder, owner of Winder Remodeling in Akron, has been revamping kitchens and baths in The 330 for 15 years. He walks us through what to expect in small and big bathroom remodeling projects, then gives homeowners some tips for when they want to go it alone.
Do Your Homework
We’ve all heard the nightmare of contractors who take your deposit then disappear or who leave behind shoddy work and are never seen again. To steer clear of those pitfalls, Winder suggests getting referrals from friends who’ve employed a contractor in the past with good results. Don’t be shy about asking for references.
“I’m often recommended by a friend of a new client,” Winder says. “But if you have no connection or knowledge about a particular contractor, certainly talking with past clients to find out what experience they had is crucial.”
Allowing an unknown contractor to give you an estimate can be a no-risk way of auditioning them, too. “Usually after one visit at the site and a detailed, thorough conversation with the homeowner, I’m able to produce an estimate within a week to two weeks,” Winder says. This estimate should be detailed, including every type of product and material that will be used, all the costs, each step of the process and a timeline for the entire project.
Armed with that estimate, homeowners can avail themselves of the internet to learn all they want to about the proposed materials and how the contractor’s work has fared in the past. In fact, Winder considers this the homeowner’s due diligence. “It’s pretty easy, with an online presence, to get to the bottom of a guy’s reputation,” he says.
As for employing a plumber, designer or architect, it may not be necessary, as long as all the plumbing will stay in its existing locations. If your plan involves moving the sink, shower or toilet, however, you’ve got to factor in additional expenses for extra labor. “That’s where tremendous cost quickly escalates — in that major plumbing relocation,” Winder says.
A Modest Proposal
Even if you’re leaving all the major components where they are, ripping everything out to the studs for a total cosmetic redo is still a substantial remodel. Winder estimates about four to five weeks on average for this type of job, though he knows that often surprises homeowners who watch “Fixer Upper” and expect it to magically be done quicker.
The shower is generally the main financial investment of the master bath, whether you want it enlarged or simply updated.
“The waterproofing details in a shower are crucial, and that’s where a lot of cost is,” Winder says.
Most homeowners choose porcelain tile for the aesthetics in their updated bath, but that doesn’t mean you can skimp on the unseen waterproofing. “Yes, tile is impervious to water, but most grout isn’t,” he says.
Special base units and wall panels made from a tile-ready foam are a necessity before beginning to lay in the tile. There are many brands, and each contractor tends to have his own favorite. Winder prefers a German-made product called Wedi. “We’ve used this material for probably six years now on dozens of jobs, and not a single call back,” he says. While he realizes there are other, less expensive products available, he cautions against going for the cheapest option in this most important component.
“A lot of corners are cut in that process,” he says. “Oftentimes [it’s] just a lack of understanding of how water can pass through tile, get behind less expensive underlayment and into the wall cavity where rot takes place. That’s an advantage to hiring a professional based on their experience and knowledge of these details.”
As for the updates you are making, Winder says one of the latest trends is to go with a frameless shower door whether you’re enlarging the shower or not. “[It] contributes to a space feeling much larger and contains water better than many other shower doors or curtains,” he says. Many people are eliminating the tub altogether in favor of a bigger shower, though real estate agents suggest doing this only if there’s another tub elsewhere in the home.
The quartz countertop trend continues, as does the subway tile craze, though that one has evolved a bit. Many homeowners select glass subway tiles rather than ceramic to contribute to an airier feel.
Winder also sees the trend toward larger floor tiles of 12 by 24 inches carrying over from the past few years. “It contributes to a smaller space looking bigger when you have a larger tile and less grout joints,” he says.
A Major Change
If you want to do more than just freshen the aesthetics of your bath, be prepared for a longer time investment for a major remodel that includes moving plumbing. Winder suggests five to six weeks as a general time frame, but there are a ton of variables involved in changing the footprint of a bathroom, including the home’s age. Winder works on a lot of area homes that were built in the 1990s, and he says they’re a lot simpler than, say, a home from the 1920s, which might involve plaster walls instead of drywall or other details.
It also matters which floor of the house the bathroom is on: “It’s certainly easier to access plumbing on a first floor with an accessible basement underneath versus having to open up the ceiling of the first floor to access the underside of the second floor,” Winder says. Those considerations add to both the time frame and the cost of the job.
“Anytime you are changing the footprint, there’s structural considerations that have to be done right,” he says. You or the contractor must determine if a wall is load-bearing before removing or modifying it, then transfer that weight to another area by using proper framing.
Structural changes to a floor plan also require permits from the county, and a professional can be especially helpful for this. “They want a drawing of the existing space and a drawing of what the proposed space is to look like,” Winder says. You may have better luck getting your permits approved if they’re drawn by someone with architectural knowledge and an understanding of what the county is looking for. If there are any issues with the remodel conflicting with building codes, the permit will not be issued until those problems are resolved. So this can be another safeguard for a homeowner to be sure the contractor is doing the job correctly.
In general, Winder says you’re almost guaranteed a better result in less time with a professional than if you did the work yourself. “Most of these jobs have unforeseen things show up that a contractor is equipped to quickly resolve and work around,” he says.
