Bathroom Remodeling

What the work covers

• Layout and clearances — fixture spacing, door swings, shower size, and keeping the toilet out of the sight line from the door.
• Plumbing strategy, established early: pier-and-beam gives a crawl space and comparatively straightforward rerouting; a slab means cutting concrete.
• Waterproofing — cement or foam board, a continuous membrane, a correctly sloped pan, and flexible movement joints at every change of plane.
• Ventilation sized to the room, ducted outside, on a timer or humidity sensor.
• Tile and stone, with slip resistance on the floor and the grout decision made against a wet sample board.
• Vanity, storage and mirrors — custom where the room’s width is not a stock size, which in older homes is most of the time.
• Lighting from both sides of the mirror, plus ambient light and a low-level night light.
• Blocking in the walls for grab bars, towel bars and wall-hung fixtures, while the walls are open and it costs almost nothing.

The part you will never see

Waterproofing is the easiest thing to cut, because once the tile is on nobody can tell. It is also the most common reason a bathroom needs redoing early. Ask to see the membrane before tile goes over it, and photograph every open wall before it is closed — in five years you will know exactly where the studs, blocking and pipes are.

Tile setting and waterproofing include curing periods that cannot be compressed. A bathroom that appears to be standing still for a few days usually is not.

What to expect