Yes indeed, we’ve done it again. After three weeks of mess and many hours of lost sleep on my part, we have completed yet another bathroom renovation for a client. Well, almost, that is. There are still a few last “touch ups” that should be complete by the time you read this article — at least they darn well better be!

I’ll bet you’re wondering how it went this time. Well, as always, there was the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

The bad news

Everything was fine when I left the first day. Tear out seemed to be going well. Here’s the ugly part. Later that day I got a text message with a picture of something black.

“That’s not a black floor is it?” I asked myself. Oh yes indeed it was — an entire floor of black, wet, mouldy plywood. Apparently the toilet had been leaking for what we think was 20 years, based on the age of the bathroom.

And then there was the leaking plumbing under the sink, and the last straw, the sewer cleanout that had been tiled over in the middle of the bathroom floor (so not allowed by the current building code).

Bathrooms in basements seem to be all the same. I was reminded of the nightmare that was my basement bathroom two years ago — many of you will remember that one.

There is a funny side to all the discoveries. Along with a leaking toilet and sink, the contractor found three empty liquor bottles hidden in the wall behind the vanity. I figure now we know why everything was leaking. I don’t think that whisky and plumbing go together very well! I mean seriously, can you imagine?

The good news

The good part of the story is that in just under three weeks, the bathroom was gutted and rebuilt. The tub has been changed out for a fabulous walk-in shower with gorgeous glass doors (took an entire day to install — not easy, but so worth it) and the outdated decor has been replaced by a modern white bathroom. The floating vanity wasn’t very popular with my contractor, but I’ll tell you, by the time they were done that vanity isn’t ever going to fall off the wall. Nice work guys!

And all of the clear acrylic organizers are in the vanity drawer with separate containers for each category, like that’s any surprise. The Amanda’s would be proud of me.

As with every project, there are always lessons learned. I have worked with several different contractors on these various bathroom projects and the key lesson learned from this project is that contractors (yes, you know who you are) should leave the specialty work to the specialists.

Just like we have a plumber and an electrician, the Italian tile guy will be installing the tile and the painting will be done by professional painters who make sure the walls are perfectly smooth and are always in and out in a jiffy.

A big thank you to everyone who worked on this project. And an even bigger thank you to my client for allowing me to be part of the process.

*Response*

Thank you for  your question.  Brace yourselves, bathrooms are not an inexpensive venture especially when you find problems you didn't expect.  We used top of the line glass doors and fixtures from Riobel, fairly inexpensive tile in the shower and more expensive tile on the floor.   All of the items I purchased for the project came to about $5000. The big chunk of the budget was labour at $11,000 (contractor, subs, my fees) and then add HST to all of that.  The last bathroom I did for a client came to about  $15,000 +HST (about $9000 was labour) so that seems to be where a fairly small bathroom falls if you want a really nice finished product.  I hope that answers your question.