Bathroom renovations

[redbeard (Damien)]

Ditto...
Who does the 'design' of a bathroom renovation? Your wife!

Other members advise sound good too. :-)

[h0ughy (David)]

one thing to note out of all of this Mike - if you haven't got a second bathroom or toilet you will need to hire one, or do what we did, bucket hot water and set up astronomy dunny tent as shower tent.......in our case for 8 weeks. the builder/tiler/bathroom person we had i wouldn't recommend to the titanic repair crew. i went through 2 12v shower heads our cost was around 12k and we redid the crappy shower screen we originally got from the builder who did the reno last year was done in 2010. Agree with the tiles in having a box of spares, in each including decorative tiles.

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks for the all the advice so far everyone.

I crawled under the house today and looked under our 2nd bathroom (our ensuite) and it's just as bad Has had some bad leaks and the particle board is practically falling away there too

So looks like we'll have to fix the main bathroom first and then look to do the second one soon after. Maybe whatever builder we get can do a 2-for-1 special

[iceman (Mike)]

Have 2 quotes back, 1 for ~$17500 and the other for ~$23000.
That's for the main bathroom and the ensuite.

That's not including 2x toilets, 2x basins, 2x mirrors, tiles for both bathrooms, shower heads, fittings etc. So adding another $5k for all of those things.

Expensive!

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Have 2 quotes back, 1 for ~$17500 and the other for ~$23000.
That's for the main bathroom and the ensuite.

That's not including 2x toilets, 2x basins, 2x mirrors, tiles for both bathrooms, shower heads, fittings etc. So adding another $5k for all of those things.

Expensive!

and then you can add 20% for unforseen stuff

[Shano592 (Shane)]

We put the excess tiles in the roof space, on a sheet of mdf across the bearers. Nice and safe, and I won't keep tripping over them.

We made a temporary shower area in our laundry, with cheap drop sheets and a cheap tap shower attachment.

For the tub and toilet, we went to Tradelink in Charmhaven. The guys there were second to none for their service. We picked up a $760 (ex GST) 6-foot tub for $100, because it had a chip in the fibreglass. That chip ended up being notched into the wall, so is completely invisible to us. They were also the only ones who could source a skew-trap toilet, which was handy.

For small stuff like rails etc, we found a group called Renovation D in Bankstown. Good prices, and most importantly, matching styles across all of the rails etc.

Something that is really important, Mike ... whomever you end up going forward with; be sure to sight and note down both their builder's licence, and their builder's insurance details. There is a lot of history in these parts, of dodgy stuff going on, and you want to cover yourself from the get-go. Don't be put off by any bluster. If they are reluctant to produce any paperwork, that's a red-flag.

Also, we paid in stages, not all up-front. It is a lot of money to spend, and you don't want to be left in the lurch if they decide not to come back.

Finally, set a timetable with your renovator, and hold them to it. The guys we chose started a day later than we wanted, but still finished inside their quoted timeframe. Let them know that you expect it done within the times quoted.

Good luck, and remember, the cheapest quote isn't necessarily the best. Choose the one that you are most comfortable with, and who will build to your usage requirements.

[Shano592 (Shane)]

Oh, and we found great tiles at Modern Tiles in Erina. We ended up with big whites for the walls, and Travertine for the floor and feature wall above the bath.

We looked as far as Penrith for tiles, and ended up here.