Old Dog New Tricks

A lot of people are wary about Arizona bathroom remodeling, thinking that the home improvement project will entail a lot of their time and money. While this may be true for those who want to replace just about every furnishing in their bathroom, this isn’t necessarily the case for most.

The most important thing that you need to do in order to stay within your budget is planning. You need to come up with ideas on what renovations you actually want to do. Does your bathroom just need a lick of paint? Do you need to replace the bathtub? Is your sink cracked? You will need to determine what you actually want done on your bathroom instead of jumping into it and ending up wasting a lot of money on unnecessary materials.

Next, you will need to set a budget. If you currently have financial difficulties and you want to remodel your bathroom primarily for aesthetic reasons, maybe you can put off the renovations at a later date. However, if you have enough money in order to pay for some work to be done, then do so, but plan your budget accordingly. You’ll not only need to purchase materials like granite and marble, you might also need to pay specialists, like plumbers and electricians, to do the work for you, especially if you’re planning for an extensive remodeling. Add an extra 10 to 15% to the initial costing in case eventualities may occur that might necessitate making extra expenses.

Lastly, think of the design that you want for your bathroom. Make sure that the remodeling will not clash with the decor of the rest of your house. You can browse through magazines or go to websites to get an idea on the different bathroom styles.

Bathroom renovations don’t have to be expensive! Just a few tweaks and modifications can do wonders in improving the appearance of one of the most important rooms of the house. As long as you do it the right way, you can actually get the bathroom of your dreams without going above your set budget.

Hang a picture here, one there and yet another one over there. Makes the room look great, until you decide to change the location of the pictures and you are left with small holes in the wall caused from nails and hangers. Or maybe the hole is slightly larger than a nail hole and needs to be repaired without having to replace drywall and re-painting. Can it be done? Sure, just use these tips for DIY drywall repair.

Small Hole Repair

Toothpaste is your go-to DIY repair product for small nail holes in both smooth and rough textured walls. Use white toothpaste (not gel) and dab in into the hole until it’s full. Smooth with fingertip to blend in with a smooth wall or leave as-is to blend in with a rough texture. Allow toothpaste to dry then cover with a dab of wall paint to make the DIY drywall repair invisible.

Large Hole Repair

Someone get mad and punch a hole in the wall? Clear away any drywall debris from the hole and cover hole with drywall tape, white or tan duct (duck) tape. Apply a thin coat of drywall putty over tape and smooth it down with a putty knife, being sure to cover tape completely but not thickly. If wall is textured, place putty knife blade flat against the wall putty and lift up all across the puttied area to create little peaks. Allow drywall putty to dry, lightly sand with fine grain sand paper to achieve the texture needed to blend in with the rest of the wall, then paint.

Even Larger Hole

We won’t speculate on how that large hole was made in the drywall, but we will give you tips for fixing the hole in the wall. Take a box knife and cut away the broken pieces and remove debris. Cut in straight lines and aim to make a simple shaped hole like a square or rectangle. Measure cleaned-up hole then measure, mark and cut a new piece of drywall 1/8 inch smaller all around. Fit the new piece of drywall into the hole. It should fit snuggly and can be tapped gently into place. Whittle down to size any errant corners or sides with the box knife. Apply drywall or duct tape around all sides, then apply a thin layer of drywall putty over the tape. Smooth out and let dry, then paint to match the rest of the wall. If the wall is textured, apply wall putty over the entire new piece of drywall and create texture with a putty knife as described under ‘large hole repair’. Let putty then apply a coat of wall paint.

Prepare to Remodel Your Bathroom

If you plan to remodel your bathroom, you need to make a solid plan based on your current and future needs. For instance, you need to plan for the aging process. Your bathroom is one of the most used rooms in the house, and as such, it needs to provide ease of access and use to you.

Do It Yourself? 
As handy as you might be, there are some areas that should be taken care of by a professional. For instance, if you aren’t a plumber, it’s better to hire one to do the remodeling job than to hire one to repair your remodeling job. Most professional plumbers offer a guarantee on their work, something that can be invaluable to a homeowner.

Other jobs that you might want to hire a professional for would be tile installation and electrical work. Remember that you aren’t going to want to remodel the bathroom again for many years, so you might as well hire a professional to make sure it gets done right the first time.

Steps to Plan For 
Before you actually buy anything or hire anyone to do the job, make sure you have a solid plan overall. Some of the things you need to look at changing would be your walls, flooring, sink, tub, light fixtures and cabinets. This is a job you want to do all at once. Don’t go buy a tile that strikes your fancy only to change your mind when you buy a sink or tub of a different style or color.

Before you take anything out of your bathroom, make sure to turn the water off. If you don’t have shutoff valves to your sink, toilet and tub, you’ll need to shut the main water line off, and then put shutoff valves on the items that are missing them. Otherwise you’re going to have to have the water off to the entire house for the duration of the remodeling job. You should always have individual shutoff valves installed on any item that involves running water anyhow.

Once the water is shut off, you’re going to need to remove the toilet, sink and tub. If you aren’t replacing these items with new ones, only remove the toilet so you can have access to the floor tiles if you’re putting new tiles in.

Shut the power in the bathroom off by shutting off the breaker that leads to the bathroom. You don’t want to simply switch the light off because there will still be power going to the switch itself. Shutting the breaker off prevents power from going to the bathroom at all. If you’re changing the wall panels or the light fixtures, you’ll need to remove the switch plate covers and light fixtures.

If you are replacing wall panels, you’ll need to remove the old ones first. You’ll also need to remove the floor covering if you’re planning on putting in new tile or linoleum. Once you’ve removed all that you need to, clean the area completely. Remodeling in the middle of a mess is a sure way to ruin the job and increase the level of frustration.

When you start putting the new items in the bathroom, start with the floor. Everything else in the bathroom depends on the floor. Make sure to repair any soft spots and level the floor before you do anything else. Once the floor is complete, complete the repair or replacement of the wall material. Once the walls and floor are done, you can begin installation of the other items in the bathroom.

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