Renovating your bathroom is an expensive and ambitious project. In a scenario where you have just one bathroom in the house, it will temporarily cause a massive quality of life problem. Even with more than one bathroom, it will be an inconvenience. So, this is something that you want to be done as quickly as possible but you also want it done right. Namely, making a mistake here is something that might come back to haunt you for months and years to come. In order to avoid this mistake, here are the top seven mistakes you want to avoid when renovating a bathroom.
1. Picking the wrong materials
Choosing the wrong materials is one of the simplest ways for you to go over the budget or make maintenance incredibly difficult in the future. Remember that, when it comes to the bathroom, some people go with natural stone, others go with marble, while the majority pick ceramic tiles and vinyl. Make no mistake, a major bathroom renovation is one of the most expensive home improvement projects and you need to be extra careful when making decisions here. Also remember that this is the most humid room in the house, which is why you want to get moisture-resistant materials.
2. Unnecessarily changing the location of fixtures
Changing fixtures and changing their position are not one and the same thing. You see, one of the biggest potential problems that you’ll face is the necessity to do some additional plumbing work, just because you want to move your toilet a couple of inches. Fortunately, this is something that you can easily avoid. Remember, changing the layout of the bathroom is the last resort and there’s always an alternative. For instance, instead of installing a bidet, you can go with a bidet seat. Sure, it’s not the same but it will save you a fortune.
3. Ignoring proper spacing
When it comes to renovating your bathroom, you have a chance to replace some of the old fixtures with new ones. Now, different fixtures will take a different amount of space and you shouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to free up some room in your bathroom. By default, the bathroom is the smallest room in the house, which is why it’s easy to cram it up. Not being careful enough and picking just one oversized fixture can cause a massive problem for the overall organization of the area. Hanging elements or in-wall elements are just two options for making this right. Also, keep in mind that even compact bathroom accessories take space. Always take that into account.
4. Overestimating your DIY abilities
The next thing you need to keep in mind is that the services of professionals are so expensive for a reason. No, doing things yourself will not always save you money. A botched tile job will completely destroy the aesthetics of your bathroom. You also need to consider the fact that some tasks might be completely impossible to handle on your own. Then, there’s the likelihood that you’ll mess something up and have to call a professional in the end, either way. Finally, the time that it will take you to do all of this might end up being inefficiently spent. Always take your own hourly wage into account when planning a DIY project.
5. Not enough light
Providing enough light for a bathroom is a unique challenge. First of all, going for a large window is difficult because you still want the room to have enough privacy. Therefore, while you may want more natural light, it might be best to stick to artificial fixtures. Now, adding a mirror is one of the ways to enhance the intensity of natural light (no matter how scarce it may be) in the room. While every bathroom has a mirror, you might want to consider getting a larger mirror or repositioning it a bit so that it gains an extra reflective property. Some wall paint options are known to be reflective, as well. Finding a commercial painter and entrusting them with this task is the safest way to handle this situation.
6. Neglecting storage space
Ignoring storage space or postponing this decision until the very end is a decision that the majority of homeowners get to regret. People take a strange approach to this remodeling project. First, they focus on the fixtures, and then, once they see how much space/money they have left, they improvise in order to insert a storage feature or two. This is a bad move, seeing as how the bathroom is one of the most functional areas of the house. There are so many items, appliances, and personal hygiene items that you want to have at arm’s reach.
7. Overlooking the bathroom fan and outlets
The question of ventilation in the bathroom is incredibly important, especially since, as we’ve already mentioned, the bathroom window will either be small or hardly accessible. This is why, while doing the remodeling, make sure to service your bathroom fan. In the previous section, we’ve mentioned a state of tunnel-vision where you focus on fixtures and appliances first and storage second. A similar thing happens with outlets, seeing as how the majority of people are so obsessed with the plumbing that they completely forget about the power grid.
8. Going over budget
Lastly, it’s so easy to go over the budget. In fact, this is one of the biggest dangers even before inflation. Bathroom fixtures are usually made from high-quality materials, which means that their cost of production usually doesn’t allow them to have too low of a market price. Moreover, these fixtures usually have a long warranty (just think about it, when was the last time you replaced your faucet?). So, if you are to execute this efficiently, you need to put everything on paper, leave some room for a miscalculation and only start when you’re 100% sure that you can afford it.
In conclusion
Bathroom renovation is among home improvement tips and tricks that you should approach with some care and delicacy. It is not something you have to deal with on a daily basis. It’s a project that will cost quite a bit and temporarily cause you inconvenience but it will bring along permanent convenience. Depending on whether you’ve done these things right, you’ll get to reap the benefits or rue the day you decided to start with the renovation. The choice is yours.
