Renovating is a great way to add value to your home, add more livable space and modernise your home. Renovations are starting to boom in Perth and why wouldn't they? With the economic uncertainties the State has experienced in recent times, people have a tendency to minimise spending and stay in their current homes and not think about moving or building a new home; which can be a very large capital outlay. However, homes need to be renovated and refurbished as time and use causes wear and tear. Combine that with the urge to make larger living spaces, make better use of existing space, modernise the home and change the layout of the home to suit your lifestyle, and you have a recipe for a renovation!
In this series of blogs, we will discuss the types of renovation projects and what you can expect from a cost and schedule point of view as well as our tips for what to look out for.
Part 1 - Bathroom renovations
Bathroom renovations are quick and easy as well as being a great way to add value and functionality to your home. We complete many bathroom renovations for our clients and we're always amazed by the transformations. A straightforward bathroom renovation should take no longer than 2.5-3 weeks. More complex bathrooms, particularly where walls are modified or removed, will take slightly longer. The majority of bathroom renovations start from about $10,000, although very small bathrooms can cost less than this depending on the specification. Bathroom costs can begin to blow out with structural modifications, full-height wall tiles, stone benchtops and the relocation of plumbing fittings and fixtures.
Standard bathroom renovation follow a similar sequence of activities:
Stripout - This is the messy, dirty and dusty side to bathroom renovations which involves removing the existing vanity unit, shower screen, plumbing fittings & fixtures, and stripping the tiles off the floor and walls. Stripping the tiles is not necessarily the easiest process and we always like to use a professional stripout contractor to do this work as the walls and floor need to left in a condition ready for the tilers to do their work. Generally the plumber will come the day before to disconnect and isolate the plumbing fittings so the stripout contractor can do their work.
Tube-out - The plumber comes in to 'tube-out'. This involves running piping to the new locations for your bathroom and installing mixer valves in the wall for your new wall mixers. If there is any need to modify the locations of wastes in the floor, the plumber will also complete these modifications at this time.
Electrical - If you are making any changes to your lights, fans or powerpoints, the electrician will attend to these changes at a similar time to the plumber and before tiling commences.
Tiling - This is the longest and most important part of any bathroom renovation. It's important to get a good, correction...excellent tiler, for your bathroom renovation. The tiler will screed the floor first to ensure that the floor is level enough to lay floor tiles as well as ensuring the required falls or grades to floor wastes are achieved. The tilers may also have to screed some of the walls to make them flush for wall tiles. After screeding is completed and the screeding has dried, the bathroom will be waterproofed. This is an extremely important step that ensures you don't end up with moisture or leakage issues when you begin to use your bathroom. There are many waterproofing products in the market and it is very important that the guidelines for application are adhered to. Once waterproofing has been applied, the tiler will tile the floor followed by the walls. After this, the tiles are ready for grouting following by the application of silicone to the corners of shower recesses, floors and vanities.
Cabinetry - Your vanity unit will generally be installed after the screeding has been completed by the tiler
Plumbing fitoff - Once tiling is complete, the plumber will come back to fit the plumbing fittings & fixtures and test them.
Bathroom accessories - You may have towel rails, toilet roll holders, shower shelves and the like that you may need to have fitted as part of your bathroom renovation. These generally get fitted once the tiling has been completed
Glazing - Once the wall tiles are installed the glazier will be able to measure the shower screen as well as any mirrors. Shower screens and mirrors can generally be fitted within a few business days from the time they are measured. The glazing is generally the last item for a bathroom renovation. Once this is complete, a final clean and polish of the bathroom is all you need and you're ready to use it!
Are you keen to renovate your bathroom? Have a chat with us today at Broadwater Builds and we can provide you with a proposal for your renovation. Our proposals are highly detailed showing you exactly what we've allowed for. Have a browse through our website to view just some of the products available for your renovation together with links to our supplier websites.
Louis Gonzalez is a registered builder and certified project manager, and a director of Broadwater Builds, a Perth based building company specialising in new homes, renovations, extensions, unit developments and subdivisions.
Broadwater Builds provides free and friendly advice on all aspects of the building process. Have a chat with us today about your next building project.
