Author Topic: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?  (Read 3695 times)

Home Stretch

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I have zero experience in most of the things I would need to do, which include:
  • Demo work - removing tile from floor, shower area, and removal of separate jacuzzi tub
  • Demo of small (6") stubs of sheetrock wall surrounding shower door (obviously non-load bearing)
  • Laying new tile on all places where it has been removed, including area where old tub was
  • removal and installation of new shower fixtures in same location as old ones
  • Installation of new free-standing/claw-foot style tub and associated plumbing
  • Installation of full glass shower surround (going to outsource this part for sure)
  • Remove/re-install existing toilet (already replaced old toilet, so at least I know how to do this part)

Sink area is in a segregated space from the shower/bath/toilet. I might tackle that later later but it doesn't look as dated and can certainly be done as a separate project. We also have a separate full bath that can be used during this project, so if it drags on for a month, it's not going to cause any problems.

What tools will I need, beyond the basics and the following list?
  • Belt sander (not sure about this one?)
  • Tile cutter
  • Miter saw (can I cut tile with this?)
  • Pipe wrenches

Does anyone have any recommendations for particularly good YouTube videos on this topic? I seem to be finding very different levels of quality and information between similar videos.

Generally, am I going to be in way over my head? What should I expect to spend on this kind of project? All of the local contractors don't seem to want to touch a bathroom renovation for less than $15,000, and I can't wrap my head around how a new tub, some tile, and a custom glass shower surround would come anywhere near that, even paying completely fair prices for labor. I think they just don't want to waste time on small-fish projects.

Sibley

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Personally, I'd pass. I have more DIY experience than you seem to, and while I'm willing to tackle my half bath (eventually), I have no plans to do the full bath myself. The consequences of getting it wrong are potentially pretty bad.

APowers

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Demo work is highly DIY-able. You won't be as fast at it as a pro might be, but you likely won't ruin anything as long as you're reasonably careful. I would say go for it.

Do you know anyone who's done tile work before? Can you get them to "supervise" or advise you while you do the work? If it's just floor tile, I would say that you can likely watch a few hours worth of youtube and do a "great amateur" job; go for it. If it involves tile on the wall....that can be a bit trickier, and you may want to call a tile guy if you don't know anyone who will walk you through it.

Shower fixtures can possibly be DIYed, but... if you are messing around with the actual pipe of the plumbing, I wouldn't be ashamed to call a plumber to do the tub installation + shower fixtures together.

Toilet-- you got this.


RE: contractors. You're probably correct that they don't want to "waste" their time on small projects. But if you ask around, you can probably find someone who knows a handyman that _only_ does these kind of small-fish projects. I know, because that's exactly what I do-- handyman focusing on small-fish projects. I hate getting tied up in a job that takes more than a day or two at most, so these kinds of bits and pieces that the contractors don't want to touch are my bread and butter.

Linea_Norway

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We renovated the main bathroom in our previous house. It was a total renovation, replacing the ceiling, the tiles on the walls and replacing the concrete floors and the old pipes for floor heating. In Norway there is a requirement that a bathroom floor must have a drain and that the whole floor most decent towards the drain at a certain degree of fall.
We found booklets that contain technical requirements for building project. They are sorted per project. So the bathroom booklet contained all these detailes.

Removing the concrete/tiled floor with the copper pipes was not difficult. We hired a drill and it was just drilling shortly and shuffling up the concrete. Laying the new concrete was more difficult. We used fluid concrete, that will level itself, as we needed concrete that would creep around the new pipes for the floor heating. But this fluid stuff is difficult to lay with an angle. Also, you can choose between concrete that dries in 5 weeks or within 30 minutes. As 5 weeks is way too long for DYI projects, se the short drying concrete. But this dries under your hands. The concrete part was quite stressful. DH ended uo dividing the floor into different parts and only put concrete on one part each time. I ran the stairs up and down with buckets of concrete, as the concrete blender (borrowed from the neighbours) was outside.

Tiling went more easily. You need to buy thise plastic crosses that you can put between the files. El cheapo tiles might easily have chips broken off. We used el cheapo white tiles for most of the walls. They were easy to knack with a cheap tile cutter. On the floor we had really nice stone tiles. For these, we had to buy a diamond cutter with water cooling. Not a very big investment.

We put insulated, waterproof wall plates on the walls. This insulates the bathroom towards outside, makes the walls waterproof, including behing the shower. You will need to tape all the connections. On the floor, we put many layers of fluid membrane, a membrane blanket, and more layers of membrane. I think you need at least 7 layers to make it really waterproof.

If you tile, you should put a horizontale and perfectly straight bar lowest on the wall where the first layer of tiles should be. Make sure you don't have room for one tile and a little more. You should start installing the second layer with whole tiles. And at the end install the first layer with cut-off tiles. You should measure your wall and count how many tiles that will fit. Don't forget to count the space between the tiles! Make sure your first and last layer are a bit even. You don't want to end up with your top layer needing only an inch of tile. Also, the sides of the wall should not have very short tiles on one side, but rather half a tile. So doing walls is a lot of calculation. As you start with the second layer, you use the bar on the wall as support. When all the tiles have dried, remove the bar and apply the first layer. Here you will adjust for your floor, if it is not completely straight. You also do that in your last layer on top. Make sure you push the crosses deed enough between the tiles. When doing the finish, with applying grout (is that the right word) between the tiles, make sure you do a good job. You will notice it otherwise. You will need to buy all the tiling tools, the DIY shop can show you.

I think we used in total 5 weeks for the project, during a period of time off from work. A surprising high cost was delivering the tiled walls and the concrete to the communal garbage. Normally they have a low price for a car full of stuff. Now we had a hanger and had to pay for the weight of the henger content. That was really expensive as it is heavy stuff.

The result was really nice. The bathroom looked professional afterwards and was waterproof.

lthenderson

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It can all be done but I would suggest that before each step, you take a little bit of time and watch some Youtube videos of that particular step. Watch more than a couple because you will see different ways to do things, including the occasional wrong way, and the only way to know the correct way is to watch a lot of videos and do some fact checking yourself.

You didn't really mention if you will be doing any drywall work or repair. That requires another set of specialized tools, skill set and quite a bit of time.

Personally of your list, I find plumbing to be the hardest simply because it has a vocabulary of its own in order to get all the right parts and fittings for a job. This is the one I will typically sub out when I'm redoing a bathroom. Nothing beats a professional with a huge kit full of all the fittings needed who can get a job done in a tiny fraction of the time it would have taken me after repeated trips to the hardware store to find the right fitting.

Installing glass doors are pretty easy DIY. There are lots of places online to custom order sizes. The biggest thing I see people forget to do is consider where the glass hardware is going to attach to their newly tiled or sheetrocked walls. Inevitably, they didn't add any blocking and it ends up in a stud bay. Make sure you figure this out and add the proper blocking before you do your walls so that you have something solid to mount to. This included planning for any rails, etc.

For tiling, I would recommend either renting a tile saw or buying a low end table top version. I bought one for a little over a $100 many years ago and it is still going strong for my occasional tile job. But there are several tools you will need that aren't on your list for applying the thinset (don't apply mastic in a bathroom), getting slopes right, cutting holes in tiles to go over plumbing fittings, around toilet bases, etc. The biggest fail I see in tiling is that people love to start along an edge somewhere that is rarely straight resulting in a crooked first row that will cause problems for the rest of the job. I like to screw a level straightedge directly to the wall and then start in the middle of that and work up and to the sides. Then pull the straightedge off, fill the holes, and work your way down and to the sides.

Unless it is a fairly new house, I rarely redo a bathroom where there hasn't been some sort of water damage to the subfloor that might need to be patched up. It wasn't quite clear from your description but if you are changing the plumbing to put in a clawfoot tub, you may have to do some subfloor work. I mention that because you need to have a skilsaw or tablesaw to repair that.

Home Stretch

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Thanks all for the replies.

Just in the 4 responses so far, it already seems like there are a lot of weird, nitpicky details that I could/would get hung up on... It's kind of turning me off to the idea of complete DIY.

I think I'm going to just keep searching until I find someone willing to do it for a non-astronomical price. In that vein, do you guys have any idea what a reasonable price would be? It will involve some sub-floor work, about 50sqft of floor tile, a tiled 3x4' shower, a new free-standing tub (not set on clawfoot - maybe something like this? https://www.amazon.com/WOODBRIDGE-BTA-1515-Freestanding-Contemporary-B-0010/dp/B07754SVFW).

Here are my assumptions of how much I think is "fair" (feel free to call me an idiot here):

Demo work: $500
Tub: $1,500 installed
Shower tile and fixtures/plumbing: $2,000
Shower custom glass wall/door: $800
Remaining floor modifications and tile: $1,500
Some drywall replacement where stub walls will be removed and to remove lightswitch that controls jacuzzi: $500

Total: $6,800

I'd be fine if someone could do it anywhere between $5,000 and $8,000, but maybe I'm just out of touch with reality?
« Last Edit: May 22, 2019, 11:58:23 AM by Home Stretch »

Sibley

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Multiple quotes.

SwordGuy

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Volunteer for some habitat for humanity home projects.  You can get some experience that way.

APowers

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Thanks all for the replies.

Just in the 4 responses so far, it already seems like there are a lot of weird, nitpicky details that I could/would get hung up on... It's kind of turning me off to the idea of complete DIY.


It will almost always feel more complicated than it is once you get into it. At least it does for me, lol!

Your estimates don't seem too far out of the ballpark, unless you run into something unforseen.

If you don't feel comfortable tackling the tile or the plumbing-- don't. But you can almost certainly do the demo yourself.

Cassie

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Why not demo it yourself and hire the rest done.

lthenderson

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #10 on: May 23, 2019, 06:33:34 AM »
Good luck finding a better price. With unemployment at record lows, the housing business going strong, contractors hate doing little jobs like this. The reason is that it can't be done all at once and requires several different trades, tiler, demo person, plumber, electrician, etc. So essentially it requires a number of people to go from whatever job they are on, to your job for a little bit of work and then onto the next. There is a lot of costs associated with paying these people in-between jobs driving around and just juggling all their schedules. Even if you get one person who can do it all, there will be dead time waiting for thinset to dry, drywall mud to dry, etc and it either takes up time that they want to get paid for or they have to juggle a couple small jobs to get a good return.

All this is a long way of saying, contractors are going to charge you a price to make it worth the hassle of doing such a small project. It won't be a rational price that makes sense to you in terms of materials and a labor rate.

Like others, I learned by watching others (in person and online), taking risks and making mistakes along the way in my own DIY projects. But eventually you learn enough to be able to tackle just about any home project with some confidence and end up with an adequate job. (You learn to disguise your mistakes well!)
« Last Edit: May 23, 2019, 06:36:38 AM by lthenderson »

Jon Bon

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2019, 06:43:04 AM »
Phone a friend.

Find someone that has some experience in this. Someone with decent DIY chops could easily guide you through this. This is the type of thing I tend to do with my friends after they tell me what their contractor bid is. It enrages me so much I pretty much make them DIY!

No I dont think you doing this cold with zero experience makes sense. It will be an inconsistent job that will probably bother you every time you look at it. As they say in the saying that I just made up "When you renovate your first bathroom make sure it isn't yours"

Good luck out there.


J Boogie

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2019, 08:48:51 AM »
What's your house worth?

Could be a very bad idea if you botch it and end up having to have it re-done.

There are contractors out there who work backwards from your budget. They'll ask what your budget is and figure out a way to re do a bathroom based on that.

It'll probably mean you have to settle in one way or another but it's better than buying high end materials and botching the remodel.

Home Stretch

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2019, 09:12:58 AM »
@lthenderson - Very good points. Doesn't make the price more palatable for me, but I get it. Maybe I can find the unicorn jack-of-all-trades who only does bathrooms and can do everything from tile to plumbing to electrical.... Yeah, we'll see.

@J Boogie - the house is worth enough not to want to screw up the master bathroom (~$350k). We probably will sell it 5-10 years down the line and we've already updated the kitchen. I definitely follow the traditional advice that the kitchen and bathrooms are the two things that every potential buyer will focus on when they are considering purchasing a home, so I do want it done the right way. Due to what lthenderson was saying, I don't think the cost floor is dictated by materials, but more likely by sub-contractor time and management.

strongmag

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2019, 01:31:52 PM »
Another way you can approach it that would extend the time but may decrease the cost into your ballpark is to act as your own general contractor - many people have noted that it's the juggling of times and schedules that can jack up prices for a small job. If everyone in your household is on board, and since you've said you have another full bath, you could think about this route. It's more time to find tradespeople, get multiple quotes for each job, schedule out all the individual jobs, and all the eventual timing setbacks, but it would be cheaper.

In my high cost of living area, we demo'd ourselves ($ for dumpster and rented a demo hammer to make the tile part go faster), hired a plumber for tub install and all other plumbing tasks, leveled the subfloor ourselves, did the drywall and cement board ourselves, did the tile ourselves with the help of a friend (this could fairly easily be subbed out, it took us forever to do a good job on the shower walls and what felt like no time at all to make the floor look great), a relative did the electrical (seems to be missing from your job) and all the other odds and ends (paint, medicine cabinet, lights, baseboard, other trim, etc.). It's the odds and ends and things you didn't think of that can be really annoying to a project and hiring a general contractor means someone else who has done this all before takes care of those.

lthenderson

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2019, 02:14:02 PM »
When I remodeled our master bath, I think it took me close to six months. Mostly because I didn't know what I was doing and spent time before each step doing research and ordering the right parts. I left the sink and toilet hooked up as i demo'd everything around them except the tile they sat on and the drywall behind them. Then I focused much of my time retooling the shower area and doing a elaborate (for me anyway) tile job that took a long time. Only when I was ready to do the drywall did I pop out the sink and toilet for a week or so as I did the drywall and then tile. But we had two other bathrooms with showers to use in the meantime so it wasn't too bad.

BudgetSlasher

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2019, 02:45:33 PM »

What tools will I need, beyond the basics and the following list?
  • Belt sander (not sure about this one?)
  • Tile cutter
  • Miter saw (can I cut tile with this?)
  • Pipe wrenches

This might not be a complete list, but let me try and think of what I have needed (or plan to need when I re-do my master bath) for the various steps.

Demo:

You are probably going to want at least a mini-sledge hammer for knocking things loose.
A reciprocating saw with a bimetal blade for cutting things loose
A flooring scraper for removing stubborn bits of flooring
For removing tile I would go with a tool that operates a chisel (I use an SDS+ hammer drill with a chisel bit)

Tile:

In addition to the tile say you are going to need . . .

the trowels with the correct size notches for the tile you select
at least a bubble level (I love a laser level)
backer board cutter (generally when I tear up tile I have to replace at least some backer board, usually all)
drill/driver for screwing down backer board.
Also whatever tools are required for whichever system you choose to use to water proof your new shower area (there are so many different systems its hard to say what tools you will need).

Shower fixtures/tub plumbing:

The exact tools will depend what materials you will use for drain and supply lines, but
for plastic drain lines you will likely just need a saw (I use a hack saw) to cut
for supply lines you could you will need a way to the pipe and a way to join the pipe; joining the pipe could be everything from pvc glue to a propane torch to a crimping tool, depending on pvc vs copper vs pex.

That probably isn't everything, but it will give you a jumping off point.

Personally I would try and do a few projects around the house first to develop some of the required skills on their own before attacking a complete bathroom.

doggyfizzle

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2019, 03:15:20 PM »
How old is your house?  I ask because if it is pre-1980s you may run into lead paint on the walls during demo, and you'll want to make sure you've got a portable HEPA filter running and you're wearing a protective mask while pulling off the drywall.  Also, depending on the age, plumbing can be a PITA (replacing old galvanized pipes/fittings etc).  Some people swear by copper, but having re-plumbed one of my bathrooms with copper and just did my kitchen with PEX, I would never again mess with copper and having to sweat joints in tight spaces.

I DIYd most of one of my bathrooms myself.  I did all the demo, including breaking apart the original cast-iron tub into three pieces with a sledge hammer.  Unless the tile is 12" or greater, a nice hand sledge and cold chisel set will be sufficient for much of the demo work.  I'd recommend using slip fittings rather than glued fittings for the p-trap and drain lines, and make sure you include a clean out.

I paid a professional to to the tile work once I had the tub installed and plumbing finished.  It was well worth it; I asked around and found someone who was truly incredible at tile work, and finished in about 2 days.  I will definitely use this person again when I redo our second bath.

Recommended Tools:

HEPA Air Filter
Hand Sledge/Sledge Hammer
Cold Chisel Set
Pex Kit (if you go shark bit twist fittings or use the hand crimp tool for the barb fittings)
Ferrel puller for removing quarter turns at your sink/toiler water lines.
Pipe wrenches (Rigid)
Nice water pump pliers (Channellocks)
Plenty of extra black drain pipe and ABS cement

jtraggie99

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2019, 10:41:45 AM »
For anyone interested in doing tile work, I would start here:

https://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php

John Bridge is extremely knowledgeable and has written some very good books.  And there are a lot of experts on that forum that can help you along the way.  I have done some tile work myself, and there is definitely an artistic quality to it.  I have only done floor tile though.  Of course, I also had the advantage of working with a tile guy back in high school and college, over 25 years ago.  I learned a lot from watching him (this was before the waterproof membranes that are common now, but many of the same principles still apply). 

As others have suggested, even if all you can do is the demo work, you will be saving money there. 


twe

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2019, 06:49:36 PM »
Do your estimated prices include the costs of all materials? Or are you willing to pay someone all the prices you estimate to install and the cost of goods is separate? If so, you're in the ball park for labor costs. Otherwise, I think you should add a 1 on the front of your total cost estimate to account for labor and material cost.

We just redid our master bath (down to the studs) and paid $1500 for tile installation labor and $1100 for shower glass and mirror product and installation. Shower glass only would have been ~800. We did everything except tile and the glass ourselves. You couldn't pay me enough to do the tile-the work took a professional about 30 hours. It would have taken me about 300 hours. As a point of reference, our all in cost was $17,200. That cost has in addition to what you mention a new vanity, light fixtures, and heated floor (but add the heated floor in the bathroom and shower-totally worth it!) but not a tub.

Of course, prices will differ depending on where you live and who you source. I recommend not going with the "professional total bathroom makeover" companies. Their quotes were outrageous for the quality of materials they planned to use. Independent contractors were much better, although you are doing more work to source each tradesman.

sillysassy

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #21 on: June 10, 2019, 12:25:05 AM »
just be careful. waterproofing is not as simple as it looks and a bad workmanship will return to bite you later, giving you a headache.

Home Stretch

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #22 on: June 10, 2019, 01:50:40 PM »
Update on this one: I managed to find a local guy via Nextdoor who is a jack-of-all-trades and works for a large construction company (highrise buildings and such).

He does side jobs to bring in extra income and does most of the labor himself, but contracts out certain pieces when he needs to. Kind of the perfect mix of a contractor and not having the costs grow out of control. I think he can do it for half what I was quoted by the full-service renovation companies.

APowers

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #23 on: June 10, 2019, 07:28:31 PM »
Update on this one: I managed to find a local guy via Nextdoor who is a jack-of-all-trades and works for a large construction company (highrise buildings and such).

He does side jobs to bring in extra income and does most of the labor himself, but contracts out certain pieces when he needs to. Kind of the perfect mix of a contractor and not having the costs grow out of control. I think he can do it for half what I was quoted by the full-service renovation companies.

Yay!

Greystache

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #24 on: June 11, 2019, 07:08:54 AM »
Regarding the demolition work, how old is your house? Mine was built in 1947 and the shower was not cement board, it was concrete with chicken wire embedded in it. It was built like a bomb shelter. What should have been a one hour demo took most of a day. The floor was similar. It was an inch of concrete between the tile and the subfloor (but no chicken wire). Also, be prepared for other surprises like rotted subfloors and wiring or plumbing that does not meet modern codes and needs to be upgraded. Good luck, it can be done. I did my bathroom about 8 years ago. I demolished it down to the studs and rebuilt it in 7 days ( I was still working at the time and didn't want to burn all my PTO on working on my house). The only thing I contracted out was the rough plumbing and that was because I need to replace the old galvanized pipe with copper. Fortunately, there are crews that specialize in repiping and they were able to do it quickly for a reasonable price.

Papa bear

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #25 on: June 11, 2019, 07:36:01 AM »
Update on this one: I managed to find a local guy via Nextdoor who is a jack-of-all-trades and works for a large construction company (highrise buildings and such).

He does side jobs to bring in extra income and does most of the labor himself, but contracts out certain pieces when he needs to. Kind of the perfect mix of a contractor and not having the costs grow out of control. I think he can do it for half what I was quoted by the full-service renovation companies.

Ask if you can work alongside him, hold a flashlight, run and get his tools, be his gopher, etc.   ask questions during and figure out how to do this so you are set for next time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Home Stretch

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #26 on: June 11, 2019, 09:38:05 AM »
Fortunately my house is not that old - 1987. Everything is regular old drywall, although I assume (and hope) that there is proper greenboard in the shower area. I think the subfloor under the bath might have had some water intrusion, and if it needs to be replaced, no big deal. Piping is PVC throughout, so I think the plumbing should be easy too.

I am considering doing the demo work myself to save money, but I'm going to discuss it with my contractor to see if it would really affect the overall cost that much. If he would only knock off a few hundred, I will probably just let him do it, so that anything that goes wrong during demo is his problem, not mine.

ericbonabike

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #27 on: July 17, 2019, 09:06:15 AM »
We are in the middle of a bathroom renovation.

Our out of pocket expenses were:
13k to bathroom renovater which included: 
Moving sewer lines in concrete slab.  Moving water lines.
Building walk in shower with bench (and tiling).
Tiling remainder of bathroom.
Install Vanity and toilet.

Tile & Grout:  1500

Custom Vanity:  ~2000

electrical supplies:  (lights, exhaust fans, switches, wire, etc) $400.

We opted to:
Demo the small shower stall, the ungodly huge whirlpool corner tub.  The vanity.  A nonweightbearing wall.  Removed laminate.  We also purchased all tile and grout ourselves.  Contractor had quoted us a price of $1300 for the demo.

Us buying the tile (~1.25 a square) probably saved another $1k. I'm sure there would have a been passthrough and I'm sure that the contractor would not have bought as cheap of a tile as us.

We have a relative to who donated electrical services (installed can lights, moved some wiring around). This knocked $1500 off bill too, but we'll probably give him $500 as a thank you.

If I had a bit more time, I would have just asked the contractor to build a shower, move the sewer around, and move the plumbing around, and let me do the tiling on the main bathroom floor.     If we didn't have the electrician connection, we probably would have outsourced that as well.  Tiling the floor would have been pretty straightforward with the right equipment.   

EngagedToFIRE

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Re: Considering re-doing my own bathroom... How bad of an idea is this?
« Reply #28 on: July 17, 2019, 07:10:38 PM »
I remodeled an entire apartment myself.  Floors, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. etc.  I had ZERO experience.  Watched some YouTube videos and used common sense.  It came out excellent.  For tiling, I actually went to Home Depot and they had a 30 minute tiling demonstration.  Cool, looks easy (it is).  Don't be afraid to sub the specialty stuff like plumbing and electrical, but otherwise, it's pretty darn easy, actually.  As long as you are handy and have some common sense.  I also had a buddy a few doors down do the same thing and his project didn't come out great.  It's really quite easy, but you need to take your time, especially with tiles, and get them super level.  My buddy didn't have patience and rushed through everything and it looked like it.

I would totally do it again if I were so inclined.  Seriously, it's WAY easier than people think.  Even the drywall/mudding isn't that hard.  Take your time.  Most people screw it up by rushing.  When you do the mud, lay it on nice, then SAND SAND SAND.  For tiles, again, just take your time.  But even with taking your time, it's kind of funny how quickly it ends up getting done.  I think each bathroom took me just a week or two.