| By Greg Vanden Berge
9/30/2008 If you are to ask me how many
bathrooms I remodeled during my 30 years in the construction business I
would have to guess somewhere between 50 and a thousand. Well maybe
somewhere between 50 and a hundred but I like the word a thousand it
makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about. In other words I have
some experience remodeling bathrooms whether people are living in the
home or not, here's some of the stuff to think about when remodeling
your bathrooms.
The number one problem when remodeling a one bathroom home while someone
is going to be living there is the toilet. If the people are going to be
home while you are working in the bathroom it might be a good idea to
rent an outhouse or portable toilet during the remodel. This is sound
advice from someone who has removed a toilet only to find out the
homeowners didn't realize that they were going to be inconvenienced for
a few days. When remodeling a bathroom lets think about the toilet. To
solve this problem at the end of the day I try to put the toilet back on
if possible.
The second major problem I seem to run into while remodeling bathrooms
is the mess that is created during the demolition process. Try to lay
out some tarps and make a pathway to the outside of the home or where
ever the bathroom demolition waste will be stored. I have been around
contractors that choose not to protect the carpeting, flooring or
exterior walkways. The damage done in some of these instances has been
unnecessary and could have been avoided with a little common sense.
These tarps are relatively inexpensive when your other choice would be
replacing water damaged hardwood flooring or carpeting.
The third problem is working in a confined area with no ventilation or
even a small window with no breeze or worse yet a breeze blowing into
the bathroom spreading the dust from the demolition and construction all
over the house. If the bathroom has a ventilation fan in the ceiling,
try not to use this to prevent possible ducting or fan problems. If you
can install a fan in the window or outside of the window to blow the
dust away from the inside of the bathroom. Keep the bathroom well
ventilated while working in such a small confined area. If the bathroom
window faces the entryway of the house or a neighbor's house you might
have to think of another way for ventilating the bathroom during
construction.
Using a little common sense goes a long way during any home remodeling
projects. Try to protect whatever possible whenever you can. Bathroom
remodeling problems can be avoided to provide most homeowners with a
painless remodeling project.
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