Bathroom remodels??? RE-Bath?

[staci]

Hi everybody!

We moved into a new (to us - built in 1967) house this past summer. The bathroom could use some work. It has the original floors and also original bathtub/tile surround.

It drives me NUTS to look at it because its just....old. The floor is in good condition, but the tile and grout have seen better days, and the actual faucet and knobs are just really dull and old.

We are way too poor to hire someone to do an entire tear out/remodel, however both dh and I are pretty handy when it comes to home improvements. I am confident that we could rip out the tub and tile ourselves, hire a plumber to check on the old plumbing (before we put in a new tub), and then install a new one ourselves. But dh has some issues with motivation so I know this could take awhile.

I have seen ads for something called Re-Bath? Where they make an acrylic tub surround to fit over the old one, which is suppose to be much cheaper than a complete tear out/remodel. Apparently it just takes a few hours to install? Does anyone have any experience with this?

My main concerns are that this is just a cosmetic fix, and if the old plumbing is still used, whether that is a problem in the future? I would hate to put in a new surround OVER the old stuff, and then have a problem with the old stuff KWIM? But maybe I worry too much?

So, what are your opinions on this? What have you done with your bathrooms? We did an awesome remodel ourselves at the old house, but the tub was fine so it was more cosmetic things; wainscoating, vinyl, new sink and toilet, light fixtures etc.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Feralpeg]

I've no experience with Re-Bath, but I did remodel a bathroom by myself once. It was a huge chore. One of the problems with old plumbing is finding new parts to fit the old pipes. Also, tearing out the tub proved a very difficult task. It was cast-iron and very hard to get out. Once I started ripping it out, I found that the sheetrock under the tile was moldy. I ended up replacing the sheetrock around the tub. The shower was low, so I raised it. That meant building a new wall at the end of the tub. The wall where the shower-head resided was between the tub and the toilet.

If you can use the Re-Bath and only have to tear out small parts of the sheetrock for plumbing purposes, I'd say go for it. If not, be prepared for some pretty extensive work.

Good luck!

 

[RUDisney]

We had a rebath type company come into our house to glaze our master bath and the kids' bathtub. They did both in a day and would have done it over a couple days if we didn't have a third shower that we could use. It was a TON cheaper than the acrylic liner that rebath sells. We've had no problems, except initially with some tiny air bubbles that burst in the paint. The company came right back out and repaired them at no charge.

If you hire a company like that, you can have them glaze not only the tub, but the tile around it to make it look new. They can show you pictures of these jobs.

The only thing I'll warn you about is that the paint STINKS. We had this done in January 2004 and had to leave the bathroom doors closed with their windows open for the better part of the night or we wouldn't have been able to sleep in the master bedroom. Once it airs out enough in the drying process, there is no long term odor.

Good luck with your project. My advice to you would be to retile the floor and to have someone reglaze the tub.

 

[melanie18]

OMG! Perfect timing for this thread. We have hideous tile (thank you previous owners) in our bathroom. It's our only full bath so we want to get it done quickly and, cheaply as possible.

We had Bathfitter come out this week. They quoted us $3900 for a 1-piece acrylic white tub surround (it looks like tile) and they custom fit an acrylic mold that goes right over the existing tub. We also have an octagonal window in the shower (what was the builder thinking ) that they would trim out. They also replace all fixtures incl. the shower rod. Any leaks will be fixed also. And it's all done in 1 day (supposedly).

I was a little taken aback at the price at first, now I'm thinking it's not so bad. Has anyone else used a Bathfitter type contractor? I'm curious what other have to say.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

We are currently working on a 4-bathroom remodel in our house. Our house is a very nice custom-built sizeable 12-year old in a great neighborhood...but I think the original owners ran out of money and put in linoleum, small bathtubs, and standard cabinetry.

Our jobs are budgeted somewhat like this:

Master Bath:
Travertine Tile--$550 (for floor and shower)
Undertile radiant heat--$500
Paint--$40
Bathtub--$1800 (this is a designer soaker tub, and I feel it's way overpriced...still looking around for a decent option)
Fixtures and Knobs: $300-$350

Our other bathrooms will keep their tubs but get cabinetry facelifts as well as paint and sliding bathtub/shower door removals. I plan to use ceramic tile and will get the job done for about $2.50 per square foot.

Anytime you replace a faucet, plan on spending $150 and a few hours. You can do it. Tiling is one of the easiest upgrades you can make and is half the price if you do it yourself. A new bathtub can run you anywhere from $250 to $4000 or more. But we're just about finished with bathroom #1 and are very pleased with how it has turned out.

Good luck on your upgrades, and remember...when you go to sell your house, your kitchen and bathrooms can make a huge difference in the price you're able to get for your house.

 

[staci]

Hi everyone and thanks for the replies!!

melanie -3900 would seem like a lot to me too, but I havent priced it yet in our area. If it is that much I think I will be sending dh in to rip out some tile. But I suppose the window cutout does probably make it harder too; we have a window that I wouldnt mind covering up, but I dont want to have to re-side the house at the same time as the bathroom.

feralpig - i have a feeling we will have the same mold problem in some areas behind the tile. It just seems like there are cracks that have been there for awhile, and so it is likely there. We have already talked that if we do tear out the tile, we will tear out the sheetrock too, as the outer wall is always very cold and appears to have very little insulation. We thought we would rip that one out and get a roll of insulation, and then re-sheetrock. Dh sheetrocks at work all the time so I know he could handle that part.

Rafiki, thanks for all the prices, it sounds like your bathroom will be awesome! I bet the tile is amazing!! I know dh can handle the new faucet, he has done that. But at our old house we had some problems with pipes that were erroding away behind the wall, and started leaking. Had to have a plumber come and change them. I am NOT sure that he would be able (or that I would trust him) to start changing the big pipes. But idk I might be worrying about nothing, our old house was 25 years older than this one. Thats why i figured that i would want a plumber to come and look everything over BEFORE we put a whole new tub surround in.

rudisney - does the reglazing hide cracks in the actual tile? We have some tile that is spit in two right down the middle. Thats the only reason I think that reglazing might not work for us.

 

[kdibattista]

Just another option to throw out there. DH and I moved into our house last year and it looked like the bathrooms had not been updated in well over 20 years. We were going to retile but it was sooooo much money and neither of us are very handy . I was surprised to find out that you could actually "refinish" the tiles and bathtubs. We got a recommendation from the local paint store and had him come out.

It's a pretty intense process (and not very pleasing to the nose ). They used some sort of acid to get the paint off, sanded it down and repainted with a special paint (btw... you can pick any color from the store and they will custom make it with the necessary components). It did take a few days to complete the process but it turned out fabulous. No more pink and gray tiles in my bathroom and yellow and teal in DH's. We paid $2,100 for 2 full bathrooms and that also included this process on the tubs. It comes with a 5 year guarentee. We could not be happier... it looks amazing and everyone always compliments them.

 

[RUDisney]

Staci, it wouldn't surprise me if they could repair the tiles in some way before reglazing them. The pictures of before and after that they will show you, I'm sure, will show much worse than anything that you have in your house. It's worth the free estimate to find out.

 

[missypie]

I am the only owner of my 1986 house. We've re-wallpapered the walls of the bathrooms, but that's really all we've done. 2006 is the Year of Updating the Bathrooms.

I thought I'd do the powder room first, since it is tiny and we could pay cash for those improvements. I naively thought I could pick everything out in one trip to Home Depot...wrong!!! I have been to Home Depot three times, Lowes twice and Home Depot Expo twice and so far I have just (1) ordered the vanity, (2) purchased the mirror, and (3) found the faucet I like but it is out of stock. I found the light fixture I want on the Internet, have decided to reuse the toilet and vanity top/sink. I still need to choose wallpaper. HOURS of time spent, and this is only the powder room!

I have a lot of inspiration for the small full bath, but I need to talk DH into upgrading rather than just cosmetic stuff.

I think I will need professional help for the master bathroom.

 

[RUDisney]

Missypie, if you're having problems selecting things in those 3 stores, let me suggest Home Decorator's Catalog to you. It has things for every room of your house, but I really like a lot of the bathroom stuff. You can check them out at http://www.homedecorators.com/index.php?ggkey=home+decorators+catalog&aid=ga.branded

I wish that I had looked there before we bought the vanity that we did for the basement's bathroom. It is one of those that is made to look like furniture. The have the same one and others that I think are nicer in this catalog for pretty much the same price.

They are good with returns, too. I once had to return a bunch of wall plates because they changed vendors from the original ones that I had ordered from them. The first ones looked rich and lovely. The second batch I bought looked cheap and cheesy. That was the only time I bought something from here that wasn't perfect.

I was first told about this catalog by a friend of mine who is an interior designer and architect.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Here is a link to our secondary bath remodel. I didn't think to take any "before" pictures before we started ripping off the old tile, but trust me, it was butt-ugly.

We did all the work ourselves, except for the travertine. We'd been told it's harder to install than regular tile, because of its irregular thickness.

We gutted the bathroom down to the studs around the tub and replaced everything else from the walls out, including the vanity and the fixtures.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/smbno...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/smbnobles/my_photos

In case you're interested, here is the link to our kitchen remodel. We did all of the work ourselves on this one too, except for the granite and one wall of cabinets.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/smbno...://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/smbnobles/my_photos

It was a LOT of hard work, but we got both remodels done in a relatively short time. The kitchen in about six weeks and the bathroom in less than a month.

Here is a website where I found lots of great ideas: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums

 

[staci]

am i there yet

those rooms look awesome! nice job!

 

[RUDisney]

Nice work on both rooms!

We did our kitchen over in 2004, or as we call it, the year of cheap home equity rates. We didn't do it ourselves and it took just short of 3 months for it to be totally done. That was mostly due to the Zodiaq countertops and the backsplash that couldn't be measured until after the counters were installed.

If DH and I tried to do it ourselves, though, one of us would be dead, and I have a feeling it would be him. We don't do construction projects well together.

 

[disneychick05]

Am I there yet:

The rooms are beautiful...very nice job! Can I hire you???

 

[disneychick05]

I posted this on another thread but we used Bathfitter and really got ripped off, $4,000 for just a bath tub. Re-bath is probably similar. You are better ripping the tub out yourself and having a plumber or someone you know come help you w/ the rest. The whole project should be no more than $1,500. We were first time homeowners and didn't know what things should cost...we learned our lesson. So because of what happened with us, I will NEVER recommend BathFitter or any of those companies to anyone.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

am i there yet

those rooms look awesome! nice job!

Thanks! It was a lot of hard work, but it was so worth it!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Nice work on both rooms!

We did our kitchen over in 2004, or as we call it, the year of cheap home equity rates. We didn't do it ourselves and it took just short of 3 months for it to be totally done. That was mostly due to the Zodiaq countertops and the backsplash that couldn't be measured until after the counters were installed.

If DH and I tried to do it ourselves, though, one of us would be dead, and I have a feeling it would be him. We don't do construction projects well together.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention that part. We'd only been married two years and it was rough on the the old marital vows. Something about sickness and health...

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Am I there yet:

The rooms are beautiful...very nice job! Can I hire you???

You know, as much as I love spending my money, I REALLY love spending other people's money! You can hire me!