4 Things to Think About When Remodeling a Bathroom
Having your bathroom remodeled can increase the value of your Bethany Beach, Delaware, home and make you and your family more comfortable. You should certainly hire a professional for remodeling to prevent dangerous, expensive problems with your plumbing or electricity. Doing the work yourself also takes a lot more time. When you’re remodeling your bathroom, you should think about your budget, choosing a new design, lowering your utility bills, and ventilation.
Making a Budget
Before you choose the changes for your bathroom, you should decide how large your budget will be. Reserve some money for the cost of labor and unexpected expenses like plumbing problems, mold, or water damage. You might have to wait for materials like tile and granite in popular colors and designs, so you should place orders early. For most people, storing supplies for a week or two is easier than waiting for a delivery with a partly finished bathroom.
Choosing a New Design
Think about the way you want your bathroom to look and who’ll be using it. Many master baths have two sinks and a small dividing wall or door between the toilet and the rest of the bathroom. Showers are more popular than bathtubs, and shower doors with frosted glass hide water spots.
Choose a shower that’s wheelchair accessible, and add a small bench to make your bathroom more comfortable for elderly or disabled guests and more appealing to future buyers. Tile shelving or a recessed niche in the corner of your shower on the wall next to the bathtub will give extra storage space.
You can also add new grab bars that match your towel racks and other fixtures. Make a smaller bathroom seem more spacious by hanging a large mirror or installing a skylight above the bathtub or shower. Give the bathroom a modern look and create the illusion of more space with a vessel sink, which sits above the counter. For the best results, make sure your bathroom’s new design matches well with the rest of your home.
Saving Energy and Water
Replace your old shower head and toilet with low-flow models to save energy on water and water heating. You can also install a faucet with an aerator to reduce the water flow in your bathroom sink. Newer showers still provide comfortable water pressure, and toilets flush easily without wasting water. However, luxurious-looking showers often have more than one shower head or massaging body sprayers that come from the walls. Even with low-flow features, these fixtures typically use more water than a standard shower head.
You may need to upgrade your water heater to handle the increased need for water, and a remodel is a great time to switch to a more efficient water heater. A tankless water heater works only on demand, so you won’t waste energy heating extra water. It’s also smaller, so you’ll have more space for storage or a larger bathroom. Even if you don’t plan to replace your water heater, you can make it more efficient with extra insulation and regular maintenance.
Ventilation
Without proper ventilation, your bathroom will feel hot and stuffy. If the moisture from using your shower or bathtub doesn’t have anywhere to go, it will encourage unsightly mold growth in your shower and on ceilings, walls, and insulation. Mold could damage your new bathroom, produce an unpleasant smell, or aggravate allergies and asthma.
Install an exhaust fan to get rid of extra moisture, increase your indoor air quality, and make your bathroom more comfortable. The improved airflow also keeps wood from swelling or rotting. You can choose a blade fan, also called an impeller fan, or a blower or centrifugal fan. Blower fans are usually quieter and use less energy. Exhaust fans that measure your bathroom’s humidity are available, and they can turn on automatically when there’s too much moisture in the air.
Custom Mechanical can help you transform your bathroom into a relaxing retreat and convenient place to get ready in the morning. Call us at 877-696-0808 for a beautiful bathroom or any of your other heating, cooling, plumbing, carpentry, or electrical needs.
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