What should bathroom remodels cost

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Are you sure you want to rest your choices? Existing cabinetry can be refinished as a cost savings, or new cabinets can be chosen from a range of big-box and specialty stores. This opens up a lot of possibilities for customization, allowing buyers to choose and install a countertop they really love that suits their needs instead of being locked into a preselected combination.

This cost will vary significantly depending on how recently your home was built or updated, the style and material you choose, and permit or labor costs in your area. Selecting the material, finish, and style of the faucets will also affect the cost, but beautiful faucets can be found in a wide range of prices.

Older-home plumbing can be complicated, and often the discovery of problems with the plumbing, such as leaky or rotted pipes, can throw a remodel into a renovation and drive up the costs considerably. Remodeling a bathroom floor can be as simple as adding peel-and-stick tiles you may be surprised to see the modern options!

Bathrooms are usually smaller spaces, so this may be a DIY job, but they are also spaces with a lot of odd angles and cuts. Replacing the door on a bathroom is fairly straightforward and will depend on the cost of the door you select. Walls and ceilings, on the other hand, are tough to pin down. A simple, uncomplicated replacement of the walls especially if old tile has been removed and new tile will be installed with green board or other specialty drywall will not only freshen the space and make for easier tile installation, it will also restart the clock on any mold that has started to grow in the existing walls.

That mold, however, is often the harbinger of the unexpected costs that can occur when replacing bathroom walls and ceilings. Small pipe or grout leaks can go undetected for a long time, especially if the wallboard is helpfully absorbing the liquid and growing a bumper crop of mold.

You may find that you need a mold abatement contractor, more plumbing work, and more wall removal than you originally planned. The cost of finishing the walls with paint, wallpaper, or tile will depend on the cost of the finish you select. Tile and wallpaper options will cost more, depending on your selections. Updating light fixtures and replacing a rusty, corroded bathroom fan can brighten the appearance of any bathroom. Light fixtures are available at home stores and online, but lighting stores often offer pricing that beats both big-box stores and internet prices plus, their employees can assist you in determining what you need.

Choosing a new fixture that requires moving the wiring will add to the overall cost, as the electrical supply will need to be moved and wall patching will be necessary. Smaller bathrooms require less material and therefore are usually less costly to remodel—but because they are smaller spaces that require many cuts and trims of materials, sometimes they cost more than you might expect because of cut-off material waste.

Whether or not you choose to work with a contractor will depend on the size of your remodel. For a quick paint job and a new sink and toilet, a handy homeowner can skip the labor costs, but for more involved jobs a contractor, plumber, and electrician may be necessary, and with all the contortions involved in reaching all the corners of a small bathroom, you may just choose to hire a painter to prevent aggravation.

As with any home renovation, the cost of materials and labor will vary based on location. There may not be a way to avoid some of this skewing, but shopping your market wisely and comparison shopping can help you find the most economical way to get the bathroom you want. While material and labor costs make up the majority of remodeling expenses, there are some other aspects of the project to consider when building a reasonable budget.

Some of these items are considered musts, while others will allow you to customize the project and help you decide which elements are worth hunting down a bargain for and which are OK to settle on. Bathroom fixtures and building materials are available in a wide range of costs and qualities. A fresh, modern, durable bathroom can be built with lower-grade materials purchased at any home improvement store; the porcelain and cast iron or fiberglass used to make basic fixtures is the same.

Deciding which materials you prefer you can choose among materials such as natural stone, polished granite, intricately detailed tiles, and more and price shopping across the range of basic home improvement stores, specialty shops, online markets, and custom- or hand-made products will allow you to customize the remodel and manage the costs. There are two sets of costs for electrical and plumbing work: the planned work and emergency or repair work.

There is a lot of plumbing and electrical in any bathroom, and all of it is tucked behind walls in damp areas, so unexpected corrosion or failure can be hidden. Remodels that involve expanding or significantly changing the floor plan of a bathroom are the largest kind of remodel. Before you get to those costs, you may need to consult an architect and a structural engineer: Bathroom floors that will hold up a cast-iron bathtub full of water with a person in it require an extra degree of strength and stability.

It may be less if the homeowner can do some of the work themselves or if the plan can be worked to keep more of the wiring and plumbing in place.

These one-day remodels specialize in installing pre-designed bathtubs and shower surrounds. Extra fees may apply for tearing out the existing countertops. Refinishing a bathroom makes your old sink, tub, shower, and tiles look like new again, takes less time, and comes in a variety of color options.

Also, older homes may need new plumbing pipes or electrical wiring to meet current building codes. The process takes up to six weeks to finish inspections and issue the permit. The following chart shows the average prices in each city for a basic bathroom remodel of 35 SF to a high-end master bathroom of SF.

These remodels are typically completed in one to five days. Contractors may charge more for difficult jobs or when working in smaller spaces. Plumbing costs to renovate a basement bathroom are more expensive than the rest of the home. An average half-bath or powder room is 18 to 30 square feet , and it has just enough space for one sink and a toilet. Remodeling a bathroom increases your home's resale value and helps it sell faster.

A complete bathroom remodel takes 15 to 25 days or 3 to 4 weeks on average. Smaller bathroom renovations or refurbishings take 1 to 2 weeks to update.

The time it takes depends on the size, design, level of fixtures, and amount of plumbing work. Keeping your overall costs down generates a higher return on investment and still increases your home's value. Make your bathroom renovation more affordable with these money-saving tips:. Sharing remodeling pictures, ideas, colors, and other examples with your contractor ahead of time makes the process smoother and ensures you get the bathroom of your dreams.

Before hiring a contractor , it's essential to plan accordingly, ask questions, and get multiple quotes. Get free estimates.