Let's talk Bathrooms!!

Our bathroom is in desperate need of re-doing. We've put it off long enough.

We re-did our little 1/2 bath ourselves. That was fun but a lot of work. This time, we're asking our cousin (contractor) to do the bathroom for us or else we'd never get it done in a timely fashion.

Anyway....so I've got sooo many questions in my mind about how to approach this.

Anyone have info about frameless tub doors?
We have a tub / shower combination with a shower curtain. I'd like to go with a glass doors. I've just recently seen the 'frameless' style - which I think is really neat. However...I have questions.

How much space is there between the glass & tub? Does the water drip off the door and onto the tub ledge and then onto the floor? Or is there something on the glass (like a squeegee) to prevent the water from getting out of the tub enclosure?

In terms of tile flooring.....currently, the bathroom has vinyl flooring. When it gets dirty, it's covered with (mostly) over spray from hairspray & other types fo airborn things. The vinyl flooring is easy to clean. With tile flooring - wouldn't this 'overspray' get in the grout and be hard to clean? Is there another type of tile that the grout lines aren't so deep? Any thoughts?

I'm clueless and we suddenly got the urge to get this done knowing our cousin is slow right now...we just don't know when he'll be available again.

What's the best type of tile to use for the tub area? Right now it's the boring old 3x3" bone colored tiles with white grout.

How about a tub? Currently, just a standard old porcelan tub. Would you recommend a whirlpool type tub or are they too much hassle to take care of?

Sorry for the questions... Thanks for your time!!

 

i love remodeling. i do it all in the spur of the moment with just a though of what i want in my head. usualy turns out good, but next time im going to hire Mike Holmes!!!!!! Mike rules. make it right Mike!!!

 

I say go with travertine tile. I looks very nice. Especially when you use a brown grout. You seal the grout so it shouldn't get dirty.

And for a tub, I say some sort of jacuzzi tub. Let me look for pictures.

 

Ahhh...that's the new show isn't it? Haven't seen it yet. Sounds pretty good - but then again, do you really wanna know what the contractors do/don't do? I'll have to get that in the DVR.

 

How's the maintenance on a jacuzzi tub? Is it really worth it?

 

Travertine:




Tubs:

 

My parents just installed one about 5 months ago. Its been great so far. My stepdad is a General Contractor and I work with him. We are still remodeling the bathroom and finishing it up. I will post after pictures when we are done if you can remind me.

I will snap a picture tomorrow for you and show you the frame we built for it. They went with travertine floors and marble on the walls and tub.

 

JD you are the man! I agree with everything you said... the only thing that I may add is I've done mine w/o a grout line. More of a pia but I think it just looks better longer. - Self leveling concrete works nicely too.

 

You are the man to talk to! You have seen more houses than anyone!

No grout line is great too. That's what I installed in my parents bathroom. I'll get some pictures.

I will be remodeling my tiny bathroom in a few months so I will do a thread about it.

 

Holy Crap , you guys are posting up some fancy stuff!! I like it!
Just not sure I can go that route. I have no idea how much this little project is gonna cost !! Ok, we can afford it, but I like to keep things within reason.

I was poking around the internet looking at pictures for some ideas....
This is cool...tiles on the wall


I definately want one of these in the appropriate color - or recessed one. NEAT!!


I'm already over whelmed by the amount of stuff available, different materials, pros/cons...Yikes!!

 

And for you offroading / rock crawling types....

 

I don't know what your house is like Jan, but you might want to look in to heating the floor. At my old house, the tile got so cold, it really sucked to get out of the shower. There are heating mats that lay under the tile, they seem to work quite well.

 

The threshold of the shower/tub should be slightly pitched so that the water drains back towards the tub/shower area. Water is going to follow the path of least resistance and gravity will take it downwards obviously.

Depending on your price range of your home putting travertine might be overpriced for your neighborhood. There are many porcelain tiles out there that look very similar to travertine (can only tell if you look really close), don't require sealing the tile, and are a fraction of the cost. Personally I would put in porcelain over travertine especially in a bathroom which is subject to soap scum build up.

Don't overspend on materials based on your neighborhood, you will never get that money back.

the size of the tile really depends on the size of the bathroom. small tiles will look too busy in a large bathroom Also the bigger the tile, the less labor involved in laying it so the cost will be less.

As someone said before you will need to seal your grout to prevent staining. and probably wanna seal it once a year just to be safe. Sealer is inexpensive and is not very labor intensive to apply.

 

I was a tile setter and granite installer for 5yrs and travertine is nice. I agree that the seamless tile is the way to go if you are worried about grout lines getting dirty. But if you use a good sealer once a yr it woudlnt be a problem. I will find the pics of one of the google guys house we did here in MT. but what ever you do stay away from the glass tile. post pics when done

 

Yep, I agree. when I tile my bathroom I plan on putting down heated mats. Plus you don't have to put it everywhere, like behind the toilet for example. you can put it in places where you will be walking. They aren't that expensive now that they have become more mainstream.

 

I read that about tile floors and the fact they can be slippery too.

The bathroom is on the 2nd floor so atleast there's some heat underneath the floor (versus a basement or slab).

I really doubt we'd go with heating mats, simply due to cost. I have bath mats on the floor now. Would a bath mat work? Or are they really that cold?

 

Being that it is up stairs it just depends on how cold your floor gets. yea a bath mat will work for keeping your feet warm

 

aw man, i thought this was gonna be poop talk

 

I remodeled my bathroom 2 years ago and installed 12x12 porcelain tile on the shower walls. This tile never shows any sign of being soap scummed or mildewed. I couldn't be happier with it because it's low maintenance. Buy all of your fixtures from ebay or Amazon and save a ton of cash.

 

I sell homes for a living and IMO you want to be careful how 'creative' you become. You typically spend more money on stuff that appeals to a smaller part of the population. If you want to be that creative just know you are making you home less sellable. Think of classic suit - not over the top and always in style.