Bathroom remodeling budget help

[mdmost 44063]

No, I'm not doing it myself. Our 1955 old ass house needs both bathrooms remodeled/replaced. They share a wall space with the plumbing all feeding the large drain pipe that has previously been replaced. It was an old terracotta pipe that was probably original to the house.

It's a 1955 house single family home so the bathrooms are not very big. The kids bath is 11X5. Our bath is 8X5. Both have shower tubs that will be replaced. Wife wants to keep a shower tub set up in both even though I'm trying to just get a stand up shower in one of the two, preferably ours. She never takes baths. We only ever used the kids tub when they were younger. She thinks keep both for the next people who move in down the line.

I know everything's more expensive now. What is the typical estimate for replacing things per square feet? We don't have a lot of room so we won't be getting lots of new cabinetry except maybe the kids bath which has built ins. We may go with more floating shelves in ours given the limited space. We don't need super high dollar upgrades. New sinks, new toilets, new shower/baths, new flooring, new pipes as the house still has old copper pipes that have seen the end of their lifespan, and definitely have to replace the drywall and possibly worry about what's underneath. Again, it an old ass house that's probably leaking in different areas. When they replaced the drain pipe, they did not see anything troubling as far as black mold but I'm holding out for the possibility of it when they rip out our shower bath. I think the kids one is fine as it sits on the outer facing wall. 

We have 30K set aside right now. I know that's probably not enough especially if there's something underneath. 

Bonus question for anyone in Dallas. Any good recommendations on design and to do the job?

[Gil Bang 26244]

fuck man, shit is expensive these days.

So, we have a downstairs game room...it's basically a walk-out basement.  About 25x25.  Pool table, pinball machine, big TV, etc.   We NEVER use it.  

We've decided to convert it to a studio, furnish it, and do the vacation rental/travelling nurse thing.   It's got a private driveway and entrance.  There's a spiral staircase down to that floor, and the landing is next to my office.  Then another door into this new studio.  I'm installing a solid-core door there, weatherstripping the hell out of it for soundproofing, and putting on a double-key deadbolt instead of a knob. 

We are 7 miles from the beach, 10 from legoland, and there are two big hospitals nearby, so it should work. 

Because I have super skills, I'm doing 100% of the labor (I'm drywalled and taped now, sanding and texturing this week). Putting in a kitchenette; sink, fridge, microwave/convection combo, hot plate, and 6 feet of base cabinets, with shelving above (inspired by the Harry Bosch house).  Also a 3/4 bath with a 60x30 shower, 48" vanity, and back-to-wall toilet.  Also, I've roughed-in all the electrical, and have purchased the fixtures.

I've got the shower installed, the toilet on-site and roughed-in, and the vanity I got on a special order return, was $900, I got it for $450.  

I'm into it 9 grand so far, and that's materials only.  My only remaining "big" expense is the connection to my sewer lateral. Fucking 3" ABS is 50 bucks for a 10 foot stick, and tees, wyes, and couplings are stupid expensive. 

Like I said, I've done 100% of the work so far, but when it comes time to trench for that sewer connection, I'm hiring a couple of day laborers from the home depot parking lot. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Gil Bang

[TKthunder2 5059]

A 3/4 bathroom add on cost us $40k not including any finishes (tile, vanity, sink, toilet, faucet, shower head, window, lights, fan, glass, towel bars, toilet paper holder).  That did include a sump pump, roofing, door, new foundation, electrical, plumbing and all the labor.

[ChickenSandwich 9960]

recently did guest and master bath guts. Labor was $7500 and $9k plus materials  and finishing fixtures (about $8k but this number varies wildly by personal choices)

 

* I did not move any plumbing 

Edited June 13, 2022 by ChickenSandwich

[horn4life 3838]

First off if you are spaced starved it's stupid not to make the master a shower and the secondary bath a tub bath for bathing the kiddos.  I do not believe that we every, every bathed a child in our master bath.  And yes right now everything is fucking expensive.  For me the hardest part is the decision making as far the fixtures go.  As sometimes what you think you want, ends up maybe not being what you wish you bought.

If it were me I might try to get some cost breakdowns for demo and then reconstruction.  I will also say that when things are expensive (especially labor) less experienced contractors are often the ones most available.  In other words you really need to make sure your contractor knows WTF they are doing.  Lots of HGTV on shit contracctors taking the cash.

If you have pier and beam moving plumbing is usually pretty damn simple.  For example: if you convert a tub to a shower you will need to have a 2 inch drain pipe with P trap, and add a vent to the drain.  Your existing Tub's vent is the overflow drain, which I did not know until I tore into it and did some research..  I got a quote of like $1200 to tear into the slab and do the ventwork and P-trap.  It's basically a lot of slab cracking in my case.

I always like to try and get the demo price broken out. As damn near anyone can tear shit apart if they are physically able.  My thinking is that whatever money I can save with can be pushed into better materials that add more value.  Good Luck!

 

+++Visually a shower enclosure in the master will look like a "real" remodel.  And will give you the illusion of more space because of the more open vertical height.  MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!!  Pick large tiles, not smaller tiles.  Larger tiles like 24 x 24 or 24 x 18 will make the space seem much larger than a smaller 12 x 12 or 18 x 18.  Big tiles on shower enclosure also give the illusion of more space.  

Edited June 13, 2022 by horn4life

[mdmost 44063]

We're a pier and beam so your info on moving pipes is helpful. I'd like to move the toilets over just a bit which is fine because I'd imagine they need pipes to be replaced fully. And yeah man, I prefer a shower in the master but the wife is headstrong. Now, she may start actually using the bathtub if our bathroom didn't suck. We're looking at some zero line tubs that could give us a little more space. We're also going to scale down on the toilet size.

We've been watching some videos of NYC apartments and condo rentals where they show some renovated bathrooms. It's given us some good ideas on what we can try as far as maximizing space when you have very little. The kids bath has more space to work with. If you looked at our house from a top down perspective, the master is fairly square and is in the top left corner. The kids bath runs next to it heading in a rectangular fashion towards the main hallway from the top to lower right corner. So it creates an inverse L. In between our bedroom and the kids bathroom is a coat closet that's pretty necessary. It actually pushes the wall out in the kid's bath for about 3 feet. Next to our bedroom and bordering the master bath is a closet with the HVAC and water heater.

There's a house down the street that I saw pictures of when it was for sale and they have the exact layout we have but they took out the HVAC and water heater closet and moved both to the attic. I think they went with an instant tankless. Not sure on the HVAC, maybe they moved it over to coat closet. It allowed them to take the bathtub out and add a shower section and a tub. It was an incredible idea that increased the space enough to give them a real master bath. I know they were flippers so I'm not sure how much all that would cost and they got the place pretty cheap before. Honestly, we're in this house till at least 2028 when the younger kid graduates. But I really don't want to take on a home improvement loan right now.

[gsoda3 3362]

your entire master bathroom is 8x5?? 

 

we did a master bath remodel (austin) during the pandemic, first three quotes ranged from 32 to 52 thousand.  and we had already bought all the material.  ended up going with an unlicensed guy and total cost of the entire project was right around 35.  

[mdmost 44063]

14 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

your entire master bathroom is 8x5?? 

 

we did a master bath remodel (austin) during the pandemic, first three quotes ranged from 32 to 52 thousand.  and we had already bought all the material.  ended up going with an unlicensed guy and total cost of the entire project was right around 35.  

Post war single family house in East Dallas so yeah. Our house is a little bigger than most on the street which top out at 1300 square feet. Ours is 3/2 that's around 1800 sq ft with a bonus non-ducted laundry room on the outdoor exterior to the backyard and a garage conversion to a living room. A lot of houses in the neighborhood have one bath with a tub and the smaller one with a shower only. I'd imagine ours was converted to a tub shower combo in the 1990s. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by mdmost