What to Expect During a Bathroom Remodel

Wondering what to expect when you renovate your bathroom? Walk with us step by step through the entire process!

When we were preparing to have two of our bathrooms renovated I looked online for account of what to expect and didn’t find much, so here we are!

Getting a quote

Over and over since we purchased and began renovating the Marsh House I have been astonished with how difficult it is to get reliable work done. We have had no-shows for getting quotes and a startling number of contractors come out to look at a project and then never actually follow through with a quote.

large elevated jacuzzi tub

We started quoting out our master bathroom renovation a year ago but none of the contractors gave me a warm and fuzzy so the project was put off again and again. Finally my husband and I decided it was time to get it done along with renovating the hall bathroom so the first thing I did was head to some of our community Facebook groups to search for recommendations (and warnings!)

As I purused old Facebook posts a few names seemed to be mentioned over and over as reliable, trustworthy companies. For a project this big (especially on a 30+ year old house) I wanted someone with a good reputation. We scheduled a meeting with the owner and crossed our fingers.

The contractor was on time for the meeting which is always a good sign. He took measurements and asked us a lot of questions and left an overall good impression. He promised us a written quote within a couple days and was on his way.

Imagine our surprise when later that evening we had a thorough quote in our inbox! This particular company provided the labor and more generic supplies but we were to supply the particular finishes like our tile, faucets, and other fixtures. The quote was very well organized and made it clear exactly how much/how many of each thing we needed to purchase. I was impressed with the specificty.

The price of the project was also very clear and the terms of the contract were well communicated so my husband and I decided to move forward. The company usually had a 6-8 week lead time but they had a cancellation over the holidays and offered to put us on the schedule in 3 weeks time so long as we could source our supplies in time. We signed the contract and were off!

Helpful Tip: Questions to Ask

Ask WHO will be doing the work during the renovation. How many people will be coming in and out of your home? Will it be the same crew the entire time? Will the person quoting the job be onsite? Who will be in charge or who should you speak with if a problem arises? Will they speak English so that you can communicate with them? (Many crews in our area of Georgia are not native to the US and this has been an issue for us in the past.)

Choosing finishes

Because of the timeline we were working on we knew there was no time for special orders, etc. so we headed to our local Floor and Decor and started browsing. I had found some contenders online before shopping in person and we purchased a few samples to take home to see in our space.

tile picks for master bathroom

Before we finalized our design I wanted to consult with a professional so I made an appointment with one of their designers (it is a free one hour session.) With her help we were able to finalize the tile picks and she was very helpful with choosing all the little extras on our contract like the bullnose and specific grout we wanted.

tile selections in neutral colors

Prepping for the project

As the start day approached we checked and double-checked our supplies, made adjustments (including a 2-hour each way trip to Jacksonville, FL to pick up supplies that weren’t in stock locally,) and prepared to be without our bathrooms for 2-3 weeks. (Update: it endedup being 6 weeks without the showers…explained below!)

The main house has the two full bathrooms upstairs and a half bath downstairs. Luckily we had already finished the carriage house apartment shower and sinks so we had that to use while we took both full bathrooms out of commission for the renovations. (Did I mention we started 9 days before Christmas??)

We emptied our bathrooms into boxes and set aside our necessary toiletries to either the half bath downstairs or the apartment bathroom. Randy removed the towel holders and light switchcovers from the bathrooms to save and took down the medicine cabinets he wanted to repurpose. Finally, we pulled plastic drop clothes to cover the furniture in the bedroom to keep dust from the demolition from covering everything.

Helpful Tip: Protect Your Floors

Make sure your contractors will be putting down (and taking up) drop clothes over the areas they will be walking at the start and finish of each workday to prevent damage or staining of your floors.

Demolition

Demo day finally arrived!

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous for demo to begin. We’ve had work crews at the house quite a bit over the past 3 years and having a bunch of people all over the house and property stresses me out.

I was pleasantly surprised when the crew of just two workers arrived for demolition. They were polite and got to work. Shortly after they arrived a small dumpster was delivered to our driveway for the old materials (which stayed for the entire project).

The demo was definitely loud but at the end of the first day they had made a lot of progress on the master bathroom. (We were actually pleasantly surprised because we were able to use the boy’s bathroom that evening.)

It took our crew two days to demo the master bathroom, in large part because of the massive platform the jacuzzi tub was sitting on-it was difficult for them to remove. On the third day the hallway bath was completely done.

demoed bathroom

Prep work

Once everything was cleared out all the prep work for the rebuilding had to happen. Depending on the changes you are making, this could be minimal or it could be weeks of work.

We had to move plumbing and electrical as well as build out a wall that had a pipe hidden under the tub so we could have a smooth surface to tile in the boy’s bathroom. This process took about a week in our case.

The changes day-to-day were not as drastic as either the demo or rebuilding phase but it was all the work that would lay the foundation for the finished product.

Rebuilding

Finally it was time for the fun part! The prep work was done and tile started to go up.

We were lucky that our crew had some great suggestions and input that changed our design a bit. We opted to lay the tile vertically instead of a horizontal subway pattern in the boy’s bathroom which turned out really nicely.

shower enclosure partially tiles with beige vertical tile

We had also originally planned on a corner bench in the master shower but once we saw how big it would be our plumber/tiler suggested a second, lower nook instead. This way I would be able to use it as a foot perch when shaving as well as add more storage and keep the shower feeling as large as possible.

During this process it was fun to see how it progressed each day and started to come together more and more.

shower in process of being tiles with green vertical tile

Helpful Tip: Shower Glass

If you are replacing shower glass and using custom glass, plan on an extra few weeks AFTER the shower tile goes in before you can use the shower. We learned this the hrad way! The glass contractor cannot measure to make the custom glass until all the shower tile is around the opening to the shower and it took our contractor 3 weeks to have it fabricated.

We briefly considered using a pre-made big box store shower door as we did in the carriage house apartment, but ended up opting for the custom glass as the space wasn’t perfectly plumb and not a standard dimension.

bathroom in process of renovating with stand alone tub

Finishing up

Once the tile was in I felt like the job should be pretty much done but there was more work than I realized left. The marble shower floor tile had to be sealed before grouting to prevent the grout from staining the tile. Then the grouting had to be done…and trim work…and painting…and fixtures…and caulking. It really did feel like it went on and on! Putting in the stand alone tub was at the very end and made the space feel like it came together at long last! (Except that darn shower glass!)

All said and done the renovation (again, without shower glass!) took four full weeks, including at least one day of eqch of the 3 of the weekends. This could be because we were doing two bathrooms at the same time and we also did it over the Christmas/New Years holidays, but they even had one person working New Year’s Day and half day on Christmas Eve!

Takeaways

Plan on more time and probably a little more money than you think the project will take. There will be people in and out of your home pretty constantly while the work is being done. The doors in and out will be slamming with people carrying things outside to saw and back in to install (our poor crew had to do a flight of stair every time a cut was needed!)

renovated bathroom with marble tile

There will also be a lot of cleaning that needs to happen. Demo and drywall work make a lot of dust and we were cleaning a lot because we were still using our upstairs bedrooms. (Separate post on cleaning after a renovation coming soon!) The dust is still settling weeks later although it was worst in the day or two after everything wrapped up and the final drywall work was done.

Was it worth it? Absolutely! You can see the pictures for yourself! But I’m definitely glad it is over and happy to have the house settled back to normal.

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