Tips for Renovating Your Bathroom
KRIBASHINI'S (AKA RORY'S) BATHROOM RENO STORY!
Are you thinking about renovating your bathroom, but not sure about what happens when? If you though “yeah I am”, then we’ve got you covered! Today, we’re giving you our tips for renovating your bathroom!
A little more than a year ago we were thinking about renovating our bathroom. After the baby arrived, we were going to have a full house with my parents staying for a few weeks to help out and our family bathroom was in big need of an upgrade!
We had considered the idea of renovating it in the first stage of our renovation marathon back in 2016, but it did not eventuate – not in budget! So, let’s just say there may or may not have been a hole in the wall… somewhere.
With the baby’s due date looming, the need for the bathroom to be redone became huge, urgent – yeah, we needed to get moving.
I knew I wouldn’t have the time or brain power for a reno after he was here, so we decided to get it done quickly. Honestly, I had been putting it off for way too long.
A LITTLE FRIENDLY COMPETITION
With a fun design competition and the help of the BuildHer Style Gurus, we were nearly ready to start. That’s of course when we realised that Rebeka’s Bayview bathroom deadline was swiftly approaching too – enter friendly competition (aka rivalry)!!! Who would build the bathroom the fastest?
Getting a bathroom renovated fast is about understanding what decisions need to made in advance.
What happens and in what order, clear communication, availability of materials and trades. Getting sanitary fixtures and fitting onsite in a timely manner and keeping momentum with the trades.
SO MANY TRADES!!!
A bathroom is one of the most used wet areas in the home and it is very trade and labour intensive. Hence why they are expensive rooms! Depending on the scale of your job, you could need a Demolisher, Carpenter, Plasterer, Plumber, Electrician, Tiler, Water Proofer, Joiner, Stone Mason, Shower Screen Installer, Glazier and a Caulker. That’s a LOT of trades.
Whether you decide to hire the above trades and work directly with them, or hire a builder or even a bathroom specialist, here is a list of what happens and in what order. Let’s get to the tips for renovating your bathroom!
LET'S GET TO THE WHAT AND WHEN
- Demolition or stripping out the space.
- Repairing any structural work or water damage to the timber. This can also include dropping the floor joists to allow for level tiles or build in bathroom hob walls.
- Plumber rough in. This is where the plumber will install all the pipes and services in the correct location.
- Electrical rough in. This is where the electrician will run wire to your power points and lights. We like the electrician to work after the plumber as it is easier for them to run wires around pipes than move pipes around wires.
- Carpenter – Might need to come back and fix the floor down at this point.
- The Plasterer will fix plaster and sand the walls and ceiling.
- Paint – We like to paint the ceilings and walls before the tiling, but it can also be done after.
- Waterproofing – Prior to the tiles you will need to waterproof the water-resistant plasterboard, and this might have a curing time.
- Plumber might come back to install a built-in bath at this stage or after the tiling, dependant on the type of bath you have selected. A free-standing bath will be installed after the tiling.
- Tiling and grouting to walls and floors will be completed at this point.
- The vanity and cabinets can be installed at this point.
- Stone for above the vanity can be measured now, depending on if there is an underslung sink or not.
- Electrical and plumbing can now be fitted off. This is your lights, power points, taps, bath and sinks.
- The shower screen and mirrors can then be installed.
- Final clean and caulking can be done.
- Finally, we can style the bathroom.
There are the odd exceptions to the above which are dependent upon what you pick and the design details of your bathroom. For example, if your shower screen is recessed into the wall the track may need to be fixed prior to tiling so that the tiles can conceal it.
OUR NEW "MINIMAG"
Yes, hello brand new minimag – it’s a thing we’re doing for individual rooms and kitchens because we LOVE a downloadable!
AND… we LOVE giving you all of the information too! We have put all of the gorgeous photos, and information about everything we used to build this bathroom into a new “Minimag” – it’s so cute!
Click the link HERE to download your very own copy.
But wait... there's also an amazing competition from tradelink!
PLUS… for a limited time (up to 31 October 2020), you can go into a competition to “Win Your Wishlist” of sanitary fixtures and fittings up to a value of $2,000 from Tradelink – How amazing is that?
Check out Tradelink’s Competition Page HERE on their website to enter and the terms and conditions of the competition.
We hope you found our tips for renovating your bathroom helpful. If you’re wondering who won the competition between Rebeka and I… well would you be surprised to hear that we don’t know! I’ll say me and Rebeka will say her!!!
Xx
Kribashini & Rebeka