Despite the usually small size of the room, bathroom renovation is a rather complex and extremely responsible business. And even when you’re on vacation. You would want a place in your home where you can have alone time. Worry no more as you can never go wrong with these apartments for rent in Memphis, TN!. The largest number of communications take place in this room. Plumbing and electricity, the selection of finishing materials, which should be resistant to moisture and maximally protected from the formation of fungus, deserve considerable attention. Since the bathroom is a place of relaxation, the aesthetic appearance of the room cannot be ignored.
In general, renovating a bathroom from scratch is not cheap. However, you can save a lot of money if you can do some of the work yourself. Well, we will talk about the peculiarities of carrying out repair work in the bathroom, the nuances of choosing building materials and the main stages of repair.
Where to start renovating the bathroom
First of all, you need to decide on the scope of work. There are only two options:
- cosmetic repair;
- overhaul;
Cosmetic repairs involve only the renewal of coatings: masking cracks and painting the surfaces of walls and ceilings, cleaning and repairing tiles, restoring the bathtub and partially replacing furniture and accessories. Owners of a house or apartment often manage to do such a budget repair on their own, without the help of craftsmen. All that is needed is to buy building materials and prepare tools.
If we are talking about major repairs, you should be prepared for significant costs. After all, the set of measures will include the installation or replacement of communications — plumbing and electrical wiring, leveling and decoration of the ceiling and walls, and installation of the floor. You will probably have to spend money on new furniture, a sink, a bathtub or a shower cabin if you have a combined bathroom – also on a toilet. Of course, it is impossible to cope with such a volume of work alone.
How to decide what needs to be replaced
If you bought a house in a new building without decoration or with a rough decoration, you cannot do without major repairs. In addition, you will most likely need the help of a designer and the creation of a design project. When deciding on the scale of work, you need to take into account:
✓ the need for replanning;
✓ condition of the building (new or old);
✓ the age of the previous bathroom renovation;
✓ level of wear and tear of communications elements.
It is also worth deciding which jobs you can do yourself, and which ones you will need to hire bathroom remodeling contractors for.
Please note: if the apartment is to be replaced with sanitary communications, it is mandatory to cover the riser and drain the water. Even when only the towel dryer requires replacement. The water on the riser should be turned off by the plumber who services the house. After completion of the works, he restores the water supply and monitors the system’s serviceability. Since the replacement of pipes takes several hours, warn the neighbors that there will be no water for a certain time.
Selection of materials for bathroom remodeling
Before choosing materials, you need to take measurements and plan the design of the room. For arranging the ceiling, usually choose:
Conventional painting with moisture-resistant paint is the simplest and cheapest option.
Sheathing with plastic , which does not require leveling of the surface, is a very practical and functional material.
Stretch ceiling made of PVC film , which allows you to implement any design ideas.
Tiles are a classic wall and floor covering option that has not gone out of fashion for decades. There is a special type of tile for the floor – with a non-slip coating, and for the walls, manufacturers offer tiles of a wide variety of colors and textures. Finishing with tiles is the most expensive option, but it is also the most practical. High-quality tiles serve for decades and almost do not lose their original appearance.
A modern economic variant of floor covering is vinyl tiles. By the way, this material is also suitable for walls. Mosaic, decorative plaster, plastic panels can also be used for wall decoration. For surfaces that do not have direct contact with water, ordinary painting is suitable. However, you should still choose water-resistant paint. Glass panels look very nice on the walls of the bathroom, but their installation requires experience and high skill.
How to lay tiles yourself
Since high-quality tiles are not cheap, before buying them to renovate the bathroom, you should accurately calculate the required amount of material. After looking at a certain option in the store, find out the dimensions of the tile, and at home, measure the surface to be decorated. Calculate each element, including the locations of future tile cuts. When buying material, focus on the number of tiles, not square meters. Add 15-20 percent of the material to the amount obtained – this is the amount that experienced craftsmen recommend.
Directly, the process of laying tiles consists of the following stages.
- Shutting off the cold and hot water, remove the bathtub, sink, and toilet (even if you don’t plan to change them).
- Dismantling of the old coating.
- Leveling the surface of the walls or floor. You will need a level, construction plumb line, plaster beacons, equipment for mixing plaster (a ladle and a perforator with a mixer nozzle), a board or a metal profile for the distribution of plaster and a spatula.
- Priming and waterproofing.
- Gluing tiles on the glue. Glue is applied with a notched spatula. Between the elements, you need to leave the same gap, for this, distance crosses are used.
- Rubbing seams.
Tips for renovating small bathrooms
Renovating a small bathroom is not much different from renovating a large room. The only thing is, you can decide to demolish the partition between the bathroom and the toilet. This is not difficult, because usually this wall is not supported.
The main design task when renovating a small bathroom is to visually increase the space and save space as much as possible. It will help to do this:
✓ installation of a sitting bath or shower cabin;
✓ choice of light tiles — milky or beige;
✓ laying tiles diagonally on the floor.
Important: before laying the tile, be sure to apply 2 layers of waterproofing coating to the walls and floor. Waterproofing is also necessary for large bathrooms, but in compact rooms its role is especially important due to the intensive formation of condensate.
