BAthroom Remodel Budget Tip?

[starann]

Does anyone have any BUDGET tips for a bathroom remodel?

DH and I went ot Home Depot to look at medicine cabinets and ended up decidng to not get it, but remodel our bathroom instead. We didn't want to get the cabinet since we need a new vanity and want them to match. If we are getting a new vanity we need a new sink and floor, and if we are getting a new floor we need a new toilet (rather than doing 1 thing at a time and wasting money or having to fix some thing later). And since we are getting a new sink and toilet, our tube will need to be sprayed to match (it is yellow, like mustard).


So any tips?

 

[shortbun]

We found some great deals at a place called Bargain Outlet. I chose things from there first-a door, a vanity, a mirror, flooring. Then we bought the rest at either lowes or Home Depot-whichever was cheaper or worked. I paid a friend $50 an hour to shop for us. She saved us $2000 in 3 hours. Well worth the $150 I paid her. She's a designer/stager and just knows where to get what. That was for the upgrades to our old house-which is being sold. When we upgrade here, she'll be doing the same thing for me. If you have loads of time and not much money, you could probably spend some time doing lots of research and saving money at overstock stores like Bargain Outlet. I have a little money and almost no time. I trust her totally. Are you close to Ohio or New York? Bargain Outlet is in both states.

 

[4mickey2]

i know of a few people that had their tubs painted and few years later they did chip. just telling you. i would never paint a tub.

if you have a menards, home depot, etc check out their displays this summer and watch for them to clearance them out in fall. they want to bring in new displays for spring and you can get really good deals in the fall.

keep an eye out for faucets too. if they are clearanced out and have a lifetime guarantee you will be fine. we took one back that was lifetime guaranteed and it was old and got the cost toward a new one.

not sure what else you want to know. we re-modeled two baths in the other house and we are working on the two in this one.

 

[shelly3girls]

We are in the process of remodeling our hall bath which is the third bathroom in this house that we have done. We have done tons of research and learned many things along the way.

1. Do not buy your faucets at HD or Lowes, order them from a plumbing supply store. Even though the models are the same the internal pieces are not the same quality.

2. If your vanity is a standard size you can get a good vanity for a decent price. We purchased Thomasville from HD and it was much better quality than the instock boxed pieces but not much more in cost. You can also purchase granite countertops in the standard sizes that come with the sink installed. DD's granite did not cost much more than just the sink alone b/c we found it on clearance at homedepot.com

3. Tile floors are easy to install. DH did ours and it looks great!

4. We did not get a medicine cabinet, instead we have a vanity with drawers. Mirrors are cheaper than cabinets!

 

[Purseval]

Look in the building materials section of Craigslist, with the construction industry suffering so badly there are tons of deals available. We recently did crown moulding in several rooms, the cost of the moulding plus labor for installation (competent carpenters, plumbers, tilers, etc., are also begging for work) was less than just the moulding at Home Depot.

 

[Evi]

don't feel bad about painting your tub honestly it may last it may not. We are in the process of remodeling and will be having the tub painted. Its a chance I have to take its that or having it covered. I've contacted a few contractors and have been told in no uncertain terms that if I want to replace the tub I will loose a lot of subway tile. Sadly since the tiles are older they have a beautiful crackle under the surface and are a light cream color I have tried to match them but have been unable to get a perfect match and do not want to loose all this beautiful tile. So I will take my chances and have it resurfaced if it doesn't work I will have a liner placed over it until I can find away to change it without damaging the tilework.

I would look around for hardware and vanity, medicine cabinets. I was able to remodel out bathroom upstairs for very little I purchased my medicine cabinet on sale as well as my fixtures. You can find great pieces on sale just maybe not alll at the same time and maybe it means working things out little by little like maybe you can change your tub and lay your tile floor and then continue using your current cabinet and vanity until you find one you love and then swap it out. Just a thought.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

We redid our bathroom last summer, stripped it down to the studs and subfloor, my cousin is a plumber and he told me he would NEVER paint a tub, within 2 years it will look like crap. Things will always cost more than what you budget, our initial cost was about $11K and by time we paid everything it was $13K. Was the little things that added up, plumber talked us into replacing the old copper vent pipe, once we ripped down the drywall decided to do a little eletrical work, was a ton of little things we never thought of that added up quickly (drywall screws, adhesive, etc)..

 

[4mickey2]

We are in the process of remodeling our hall bath which is the third bathroom in this house that we have done. We have done tons of research and learned many things along the way.

1. Do not buy your faucets at HD or Lowes, order them from a plumbing supply store. Even though the models are the same the internal pieces are not the same quality.

you can buy faucets at any of the local stores. the are of the same quality and are backed just as well if not better than a plumbing supply store. your crazy to not shop around.

 

[Duet]

you can buy faucets at any of the local stores. the are of the same quality and are backed just as well if not better than a plumbing supply store. your crazy to not shop around.

My husband is a master plumber and we own a plumbing shop...

Yes, you can buy faucets at any of the local "box" stores, but no they are not the same quality. The faucets that they make for the box stores have cheaper internal parts (plastic drain fittings, etc.) and do not come with all the parts needed for installation (brass supply nuts, etc.). Most faucets come with a lifetime warranty, which is the same regardless if you buy it at a box store or a plumbing shop. The difference is...if you do have a problem we handle the warranty, contact the company for you and take care of the repair.

Yes, you should always shop around because sometimes we can beat the price of the box stores, and we can most always beat the quality!

Choose wisely and good luck with your project!

 

[monorailsilver]

Unless you know the sub floor underneath has had no leaks on it from the toilet, tub or sink, I don't think you can go cheap.

We are in the process of a bathroom remodel. My dh is doing it. I figured it wouldn't take him that long. He started December 26th & it is now Feb 1st & we aren't done (OK he isn't done). But he works M-F & I work on Sunday so it is more of a time issue.

He stripped it down to the studs as well. He removed a few studs that were around that same ugly 1970's mustard yellow tub that the OP has since they were wet/moldy.

He is in the process of removing the sub floor & has half of it up but he is putting blocks of wood between each beam (?) on the floor (or it would be the ceiling if I was looking up from below) to give it more support.

He has most of the plumbing done as the bathroom is one of the last spots he didn't switch out the pipes.

What I am saying is if you are going to put all this money into a bathroom, make sure the floor/joists are not moldy before you put in a nice new floor.

As for cheap, we looked at the Home Depot/Lowes cabinets but we didn't get them. We wanted a 42inch & they'd be a special order there so we went to a local store & got one from there. The guy upgraded us to cherry at the price of maple & gave us 1/2 off the medicine cabinet since it was a return (that is why he upgraded us to cherry). And it is a sturdy cabinet unlike the ones we could of got at HD/Lowes-our 2nd bathroom has a Home Depot cabinet which is fine for that but since this is our main bathroom & would get alot of use we needed something that would last.

We found another place that we got our tub from. They told us to pick the one we wanted on line & they would get it & it would be 10% cheaper. The same with our window. We picked out the window & they gave us 10% off the list price.

Good Luck!

 

[starann]

Unless you know the sub floor underneath has had no leaks on it from the toilet, tub or sink, I don't think you can go cheap.

We are in the process of a bathroom remodel. My dh is doing it. I figured it wouldn't take him that long. He started December 26th & it is now Feb 1st & we aren't done (OK he isn't done). But he works M-F & I work on Sunday so it is more of a time issue.

He stripped it down to the studs as well. He removed a few studs that were around that same ugly 1970's mustard yellow tub that the OP has since they were wet/moldy.

He is in the process of removing the sub floor & has half of it up but he is putting blocks of wood between each beam (?) on the floor (or it would be the ceiling if I was looking up from below) to give it more support.

He has most of the plumbing done as the bathroom is one of the last spots he didn't switch out the pipes.

What I am saying is if you are going to put all this money into a bathroom, make sure the floor/joists are not moldy before you put in a nice new floor.

As for cheap, we looked at the Home Depot/Lowes cabinets but we didn't get them. We wanted a 42inch & they'd be a special order there so we went to a local store & got one from there. The guy upgraded us to cherry at the price of maple & gave us 1/2 off the medicine cabinet since it was a return (that is why he upgraded us to cherry). And it is a sturdy cabinet unlike the ones we could of got at HD/Lowes-our 2nd bathroom has a Home Depot cabinet which is fine for that but since this is our main bathroom & would get alot of use we needed something that would last.

We found another place that we got our tub from. They told us to pick the one we wanted on line & they would get it & it would be 10% cheaper. The same with our window. We picked out the window & they gave us 10% off the list price.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the tip. The more I read the more it looks like this will be a project we will have to put off. Our house is 110 years old, the bathroom, jusrging by the yellow fixtures, is prob from the 70-80's, which makes what ever in on the floor base OLD, and we would prob find some mold. Looks like this will be an expensive remodel, so we will have to save up (after our Disney trip of course!). The work doesn't NEED to be done, but it will eventually!

 

[bettymae1121]

Don't move things. As in, keep the sink, toilet and tub/shower in the same spot. If you move stuff around, you may have to hire a plumber. You may also have to get permits from your town and be inspected for compliance. If you are just replacing/updating and not moving anything, you usually won't need permits or a plumber.

Check big box stores for clearance, dent 'n' scratch, returns, etc. frequently for deals. And don't be too picky! If the side of a dented/scratched vanity is going to be up against a wall where people can't see it, then you pick up a piece in otherwise perfect condition for a song! Bathrooms tend not be be very large, so you may find a box of tile in the back corner of a store marked down because a few pieces are broken/missing but what's left is more than enough for what you need.

Read instructions. Read them again. Go to bed, get some sleep, get up and read them one more time. Now install that thing-a-ma-gig!

To the best of your ability, don't just price materials but tools that you will need to buy/rent that you don't currently own. Check the price on rental tools, sometimes it's cheaper to buy them if you need them for more than a day, especially if you're pretty sure you'll need them for future projects. Tool purchase/rentals can put a dent in your budget if you don't factore them in.

Put at least 10% cushion in your budget for overages. 15% or even 20% would be even better!

 

[fuji]

I just remodeled my one and only small full bath, all new everything I bought everything but the tub (the contractor picked the tub up) and we just broke $6,000 for everything including labor, plumber and electrical, we also had the base board heat converted to toe kick heat under the vanity, new ceramic tiles.

 

[czycropper]

We re-did our powder room last May. We stripped it down and got everything new - it measures 10 x 8. My DH did everything and it only costs us about $1,700 - this included brand new vanity (we bought it at Home Expo when it was going out of business), new tile (local tile company), mirror, faucet & toilet (all from Lowe's).

Now, we're re-modeling our bathroom and this time decided to have someone do it since it's a much bigger & complicated space - we have a shower stall and now my DH wants to put tile half-way up the wall. We have budgeted $15,000 including the quartz countertop, tile, new toilet, mirrors & one wall with glass tile half the way up.

I would never paint over the tub - that was done at a shore house we go to every year and it's peeling off and looks awful-it took about 3 years and then it started peeling. That bath is only used a few months out of the year and not much even then since the house has a beautiful outdoor shower which we all use instead.

 

[budbeerlady]

We redid our small bathroom, Dh did most of it.

We found most of the items at the Habitat restore in town. The $ of the goods is dontated to Habitat for Humanity. Businesses/ home owners/ etc donate to them and they sell it. http://www.lakeshorehabitat.org/restore.html

We picked up our flooring, faucet, trim, drawer pulls, door knobs, 90% of the project there. It was all new and everything but the trim was sealed in a package still. Very nice door knobs were $3 for the lever handle type. My boss saw mine at the office and ran out to buy a few for his new house.

So think outside the box to find what you are looking for!