I’m renovating my fiancee’s bathroom while she’s away, and it’s inspired me to share some tips. I’ve done a couple bathroom renos with my parents and as an employee at our former property management firm. Hopefully these things will make your renovations a little easier and help you add value to your properties. You can follow my work on my flickr photo stream of the renovations. I love doing stuff like this.
- Get a bucket for all the junk. It’ll make your life a lot easier, and you’ll save bags. It’s still a good idea to use bags, but a good old fashioned 5-gallon pail (for ~$5 at Rona) will make hauling away the old tiles a much easier job.
- Buy something like a 9 in 1 tool to help get the old tiles off. I’ve used pretty much everything under the sun, and this is still my favorite. Place the edge against the top of the tile and use a hammer to tap the blade behind the tile. Two taps and bend outwards slightly, which should slowly crack the tile. Repeat, and focus on pointy bits of tile as you go.
- Remove junk like shower curtain rods, towel hangers, drain-clips and the taps well in advance. And truly, just toss it, or give it to a second hand store. You’re not going to use it again, and your tenants are not going to be happy if you recycle it on them. Or worse yet, someone else’s hardware on their tub.
- It’s going to get warm. A fan is a great idea, but you’ll save yourself a lot of sweat by simply unscrewing a couple of lightbulbs.
- Take some pictures so you’ve got something to show for your work. Renovating isn’t always easy, but stuff like the dozen or so pictures are great for showing how far you can go in just an hour or two.
- Measure, measure, and re-measure. I’m sure I could tell you every possible measurement of Megan’s condo. Which edge of the tub is 1/4″ low….the exact dimensions of the ‘creative’ old vanity….and the dimensions of the new (standard) 48×21″ we ordered.
Hopefully that makes things easier for you guys. Here’s a quick before and after picture from tonight…what you get in an hour and a half (which included a lot of prep like removing hardware, and doing some laundry).
