So you have decided that your current bathroom just isn’t doing the trick anymore and you want to save some money? There are lots of ways to make this happen and if you are good with your hands doing it yourself can save you money but you can also drive yourself crazy. I recently made our 4 bed / 1.5 bath home into a much more desirable 3 bed / 2 bath home by converting a small 10′ x 10′ room into the master bathroom. The master bedroom had a small toilet and sink (sometimes called a ½ bath) in a room the size of a small closet. By removing the non load-bearing walls we were able to increase the size of the master bedroom while moving the plumbing next door to the small room, creating a full bath.
Over the next few weeks I will be telling you a little about the process and you can follow along with the pictures.
The small 12×15 bedroom that is about to become a bath! next door is the master bedroom with a 1/2 bath the size of a closet.
Moving the drain from one side of the room to the other was one of the biggest chores… we had to break thru the foundation and dig down 4 feet… with the local code enforcement folks guiding our every move. We also removed a lot of the walls so we could run new water lines using the new Flex-hose.
All in all it was a interesting endeavor but when all was said and done our DIY cost was only about 3,000-5,000 less than if we would have had a contractor do it. I now think contractors earn every dime and unless you reeeeeeeally enjoy that sort of work, don’t do it. While I don’t know this as a fact, my having a small heart attack might have been caused by the stress of this project. Never again. The upside is that we now have a custom bath that is both perfect for our needs and truly one of a kind! More to come… and please let me know if you have any questions.
Next time = ‘Drains, Lines and Measurements… Oh My!’
Tom @ NSP Keller Williams Realty
www.NextStopParadise.com
Filed under: Do It Yourself, New Construction, Real Estate Tagged: Do It Yourself
