Bathroom Remodel: When To DIY And When To Call A Pro

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Have a great guest post today from Cooper Klein @ Smooth Decorator with some excellent bathroom remodel tops. He’s an entrepreneur with a degree in Marketing. He’s interested in real estate and home decor. In order to spend more time with his family, Cooper decided to take a break, and he’s currently working from home as a blogger for SmoothDecorator.com and several other sites. You can find him on Twitter. Let us know what you think of Cooper’s take in the comments. Enjoy!

A bathroom remodel is an extensive project that involves skilled trades like plumbing, electrical and tile work. On top of that, it’s a dense work environment where every square foot counts and every element needs to fit perfectly. Then, there are nasty surprises, such as damaged subfloor or joists due to a leaky shower. This is why many homeowners decide to call professionals. However, there is also a limiting factor – money.

If the money is taken out of the equation, no homeowner would think of DIY remodelling. Still, the cost of designer fixtures and quality stonework may prompt us to cut the expenses by doing some of the work ourselves, and call the cavalry only when our skill isn’t enough.

The price

Let’s face it, by remodelling your own bathroom you can save 50% and sometimes even more. But what is the real price of luxury? The luxury here isn’t referring to creating a spa-like, Carrara-marble tiled bathroom Xanadu. The luxury here means that someone else will do your bathroom remodel while you do something nice and clean. If you do it yourself, you are still paying for the materials, but cutting the labour costs. With contractor-grade materials, most DIY enthusiasts opt for surface-remodelling.

The time issue

By hiring professionals to do your work, you can save time measured in weeks, even months. You wouldn’t believe how expedient these pros can be. In the morning there is no shower, but when you come back from work, the shower stall is right there, with all the plumbing attached. If you’re accustomed to polar ice caps melting speed of DIY remodelling, the above scenario is like watching Back to the Future. So, if you have only one bathroom at your disposal, you may want to hire professionals.

Floor work

For an experienced DIYer, installing bathroom flooring is relatively simple. With certain types of flooring, such as luxury vinyl plank, it gets even easier and you earn no points by having pros do it. With the limited space in most bathrooms, laying any type of flooring can be done within a few hours. If your bathroom aesthetics suits luxury vinyl plank, which is becoming more popular every year, your flooring can be done by the evening.

Walls

Professional drywall installers will almost always produce flawless bathroom walls. On the other hand, even an experienced homeowner-decorator often ends up with anomalies that a professional must repair or mask. Installing a moisture-repellent green board in the bathroom is much like hanging a regular drywall in other parts of the home. It’s actually mudding and sanding which separates a DIYer from a contractor. If you are looking for a smooth finish, hire a pro – if you are fine with flaws, save money and do it yourself.

Sink, shower and tub

If there are supply lines running straight to your sink location, and a drain pipe runs out, sink installation is easy. On the other hand, if the work requires pipe relining, you should seriously consider calling a plumber. With showers and tubs, many homeowners from Australia decide to hire out the task, even if they are doing the rest of the bathroom themselves. This is especially true if you’re building your own shower with the pan and tiled walls. With pre-fabricated shower stalls, the project moves back into a DIY arena. Still, even if you do something wrong, and realize there’s more water on the floor than in the tub, you can always rely on an experienced Melbourne plumber to save the day.

Cabinets, counters and vanities

Except for larger bathrooms, where the amount of work often breaks through time limits, you’ll gain nothing if you have professionals install your bathroom cabinets and counters. Unlike long runs of cabinets found in kitchens, you won’t have a lot of issues installing these yourself. A majority of vanity units come in a prescribed size that makes counter installation even easier.

To sum up, unless your bathroom is large, you can do most of the smaller projects yourself. For extensive bathroom remodels, many homeowners rightly hire electricians and plumbers to do the tricky stuff, but do the rest themselves.

26 responses to “Bathroom Remodel: When To DIY And When To Call A Pro”

  1. Leon Avatar

    Awesome ideas! 100% in agreement when it comes to the sink, shower, and piping it is always advisable to call in the plumber. Otherwise, you might have one big mess in your hands.

    cheers & keep it up.

  2. Maverik Avatar

    Thanks for sharing the wonderful ideas you have defined all the aspects in detail. I am in love with your post and the other posts are also very helpful.

  3. Jessica Avatar

    Great tips! I’d rather spend a few extra dollars hiring a pro rather than spending tons on repairs just because you tried DIYing something that is supposed to be done by a pro. 🙂

  4. Joy Avatar

    I love the idea of paying for the luxury of more time!!! That’s such a clever way to look at it. Plus, if you don’t know what you’re doing you may end up paying a professional to fix the mistakes you made trying to do your own plumbing and electric.

  5. Tracy Husemann Avatar

    I am in major need of a bathroom remodel job. I have been meaning to repair some of the things myself, but you make a good point about how costly it can be and how long it can take. It would be more worth it to hire a professional to do it well so that it will last a long time without having to worry about repairs from things being remodeled poorly by me. Thank you for the helpful advice!

  6. Joe Carrow Avatar

    Great post along with amazing ideas. Completely in commitment when it comes to typically the sink, shower area, and transferring it is always highly recommended to speak to the professional. Otherwise, you have got one major mess in the hands. Thanks for this post !!

  7. Monica Tempson Avatar

    Here is the very informative article for bathroom renovating.
    That renovation looks great! I wager you folks had a ton of stuff to pull to the landfill. My better half needs to begin on a renovation soon and I think we’re going to need to dispose of all the messiness in our home before we can actually begin tearing a divider out.

  8. Bristol Builders Network Avatar

    Some excellent tips. These really help keep finances under control

  9. Rhianna Hawk Avatar

    I’m not sure if our remodel project would require any pipe relining; we haven’t decided on a new sink and tub yet, so we don’t know how they’ll line up with the old piping. However, I don’t think my husband and I are quite ready to tackle installing a sink on our own, anyhow. We’re intending to have our bathroom renovated sometime before winter, and while we’d like to DIY what we can, we also don’t have a lot of experience and will probably be hiring a professional to do most of the work.

  10. steve Avatar

    hello
    really cool tips you have shared here just amazing
    keep up the good work i would love to come here again
    thanks

  11. John Henry Avatar

    WOW, This is an amazing tip. Your post very helpful for the bathroom remodeling. Your share image is looking so beautiful. I like this bathroom model. I make the same bathroom model. Thank you for share a beautiful bathroom model.

  12. Melissa Caron Avatar

    Even though renovating, fliping houses and everything that has to do with building and construction in general are constantly changing, improving, and we need to stay up to date with everything.

  13. Fiberscope Net Avatar

    Wow very nice info

    I always think it´s a better idea to call a pro. I mean, to avoid any future problems. It´s also good for the warranty that many companies offer

  14. Suhana Morgan Avatar

    Hello Dave,
    A Natural solution to bathroom renovation. Such an informative post you share that give me perfect ideas.

  15. Nathan Avatar

    The plumbing in my home is outdated, so my family and I would like to get parts of it repaired or replaced. It helped when we ask a plumber what their labor and material rates of work are, as this will help you know if they fit your budget. Thank you so much for all the great advice on bathroom remodel. Nathan http://laporteplumbers.com/

  16. Renovaten Avatar

    This turned out so nice! I love the modern look and cannot wait for your tutorials. Our bathroom is on our list to be redone and we want to take out the tub for a walk in shower and we love the concrete look. Great job!!!

  17. Mr Showerhead Avatar

    Hey, thanks for these amazing and great ideas. I have decided to remodel my bathroom and will apply these amazing great ideas. Thanks again for sharing.

  18. Tim Yaotome Avatar

    I find it great when you said that one should hire a bathroom remodeling contractor in order to save weeks and months worth of time to update a bathroom. In addition to that, I believe that one should hire a contractor that has a high BBB rating. Doing this will ensure homeowners that they can relieve themselves in a safe, cozy, clean bathroom.

  19. Jonathan Sager Avatar

    What a stunning post!!
    Your information is very helpful. I was looking for some essential tips about bathroom remodeling because of my bathroom supply line occasionally causes problems. This is very annoying & It is very important to fix it. I’ve benefited from the post.
    Thank you for sharing the great post. keep it up

  20. aannagloria Avatar

    Your blog contains awesome information. we really need this type of post to decorate home and remodeling our houses.

  21. jacob Avatar

    i don’t usually write posts or comments on articles but your blog was so convincing and is written with such diligence i had to praise. great work !

  22. Sara Lugo Avatar

    Gorgeous bathroom. These are nice remodeling ideas. I like the way how you have displayed things in details of your bathroom. Love it and very inspiring. I have read about a blog on bathroom renovation here : bathroom renovations camden haven.

  23. Laurel Larsen Avatar

    I liked how you mentioned that hiring a professional would save a lot of time in a remodel. My husband is thinking about getting our bathroom redone, including installing a glass shower door. Hiring a professional would definitely make things faster and easier!

  24. Pocketracy Avatar

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  25. Englewood Bathroom Remodeling Avatar

    Very well explained! Thanks for sharing!

  26. joshua wienholt Avatar

    Your blog is amazing it gives so much ideas and information.

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