Kitchen Remodeling

June 16, 2008

Bathroom ventilation fans

Filed under: bathroom, bathroom remodeling — scottdh @ 4:03 am

A ventilation fan is one of the best additions to a bathroom when you are remodeling. Without one, the room takes tool long before it’s comfortably usable again. And if that’s not motivation enough, constant moisture exposure from a hot shower can eventually cause damage to a well used bathroom.

But not all bathroom ventilation fans are the same. There’s nothing worse than trying to save a little cash and getting a unit that is noisy or incapable of getting the job done. Make sure you get it right the first time. Be sure to see Bathroom-Remodeling-Pictures.com piece on Bathroom ventilation fans before making your purchase. You won’t regret it.

January 26, 2008

When a large bathroom vanity cabinet is too large…

Filed under: bathroom remodeling — Tags: , — scottdh @ 6:01 am

Contractors make mistakes - for some readers, that’s painfully obvious. Many contractors take no pride in their work, lots are totally devoid of basic ethics, and some are downright crooks. Then there’s the other type of kitchen and bath remodeling contractor that actually goes out of his way to admit a mistake and things right.

When a remodeling contractor makes a mistake, does he cover it up until he’s gone, or blame it on someone else, or redefine a problem into a feature. Or does he fix the problem even if it eats into his profits. I think you’d agree - you and I pay up when we make a costly mistake, wouldn’t it be nice if your kitchen and bath remodeling contractor thought the same way?

There’s an update to Bathroom-Remodeling-Pictures about how a contractor with pride handles a problem - a mistake that he made. And for his honesty and good will, he’s earned a nice referral. Listen up you contractors out there! We’re fighting back and we aint takin your crap no more.

Home owners - you should read this story at bathroom-remodeling-pictures. It talks about a bad mistake made by the contractor and the astonishing turn of events that took place.

January 14, 2008

Overcoming the tile soap dish dilemma

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, tile — Tags: , — scottdh @ 4:31 am

Simple as it seems, the corner soap dish caused a great deal of grief. It’s a naive assumption that presumes there are plenty of options available to suite your tile color and texture selection. This can prove to be an expensive assumption.

Other custom options are available, but can get quite expensive either because of the actual labor required, or the effect of the labor on the contractors schedule - perhaps even a combination of both.

Contractors work in mysterious ways. Yours might be more specialized in bathrooms and not caught off-guard by this detail. Such a contractor will no doubt include this issue in his quote before the schedule is set - that saves you money. But on the other hand, this contractor will most likely be the most expensive bid due to his specialty in the area.

When you start planning a bathroom remodel, the shower stall details will need hashing out. You can’t go wrong visiting www.bathroom-remodeling-pictures.com for your soap shelf detail needs.

January 13, 2008

Tile grout selection

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, tile — Tags: , — scottdh @ 7:34 am

Grout color selection is a little more important that just matching the color or decor of your remodeling project. Although color matching is the most obvious part of the grout selection process, there are other important factors to consider before choosing the grout colors for your bathroom or kitchen tile project.

Some of the reasons to select one grout over the other are because of clean-ability. Some grouts will hide dirt more than others, but dirt hiding is not the same as clean-ability. Also, some additives make a grout more robust than others, and these additives can be a standard feature of some grouts, while not in others.

Click for full details on selecting tile grout for your kitchen or bath remodeling project.

December 21, 2007

Bathroom tile installation

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, shower, tile — scottdh @ 5:04 am

There’s been a lot of work leading up to bathroom tile installation, and that day is finally arrived at bathroom-remodeling-pictures.com. The bathroom floor tile will be done, along with the shower tile, and it looks like it will take a few days to complete.

Having gotten through all the water barrier preparation - things like tar paper, hot mop tar, and floating mortar bad, the tile will be installed beginning from the flooring and working up. Spaces will be used to maintain an equal distance between tiles, and then grout will be applied as the final step. See how it all works and these great pictures of the processes and progress at Bathroom Tile.

December 16, 2007

Bathroom floor tile

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, shower — scottdh @ 7:06 am

There’s no doubt the shower stall should be floated with mortar instead of using concrete backer board. Some contractors will use backer board instead of floating but you would only allow this if you are readying your home for a sale, and don’t mind screwing over your buyer. Karma will hopefully take care of the latter, but we’re talking about the bathroom floor here, not the shower stall floor.

When it comes to the bathroom floor, some contractors will still insist on floating mortar, while others believe that using cement backer board for this area is acceptable. This decision is where external factors come into play - your better judgment, trust in what your preferred contractor says, and show stopper of all - the cement backer board guide available at bathroom-remodeling-pictures.com

December 15, 2007

Floating the shower stall

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, shower — scottdh @ 5:37 am

The final moisture block before the shower tile can be installed is the floating of the mortar. There are less expensive preperations that you can opt for, but there are compramises envolved in doing this. When you need to make this decision you need to consider these pros and cons and what the big picture means to you and your budget.

Floating mortar or cement backer board, you will need to decide which way you’re going to go, and what is right for your situation. Since floating mortar is more labor intensive that installing backerboard you’ll need to make a decision. While it may seem obvious to go with the less expensive option, be forward that there are some major drawbacks when it comes the using backerboard. Get the full scoop on floating mortar vs cement backer board at kitchen & bath remodeling pictures - shower stall

November 23, 2007

Preparing a shower stall for tile - tar hot moping

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, shower — Tags: , — scottdh @ 6:32 am

A large bathroom remodeling project probably includes a new shower stall. Once the old shower space is demolished and the new one framed in with plywood at 2×4s the next step is to get the shower pan hot mopped as one of the may barriers against water intrusion.

But one big surprise can be the amount of smoke in the house, and if you have indoor pets, infants or other family members that can’t just go outside for an hour or two, then you need to be prepared since your contractor probably wont warn you. Here’s a good article on preparing for a shower pan hot mop job with indoor pets or other less mobile people.

November 22, 2007

Shower plumbing fixtures

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, shower — Tags: , , — scottdh @ 11:08 pm

High quality plumbing fixtures must be used in any good bathroom remodeling project. They are expensive, but they cannot be replaced once the remodeling project is complete with tile, or whatever you plan to use in your shower stall. The only way to replace any shower valves and fixtures is to tear out the tile to expose the wall behind in order to do the work

That would be a terrible waste of money to redo all that work for quality plumbing fixtures that should have been used in the first place. Trying to save money on plumbing fixtures is a farse - it will only cost you more money in the end than having shower plumbing fixtures installed in the first place. Further confirmation of this can be seen at TheRemodeledBathroom.

November 18, 2007

The value of glass shower door sealant coating products

Filed under: bathroom remodeling, shower door — scottdh @ 3:43 am

If you’re considering a clear shower door as part of your bathroom remodeling project then you no doubt know already that squeegeeing off the water after each use is required to maintain the clearness and beauty of your new shower door. This can be a real drag, especially when you’ve overslept and are late for work.

You might have heard of coating systems and decided wither they’re too expensive, offer little in the way of benefit, and can easily be damaged with chemical cleaners, rendering it ineffective. Well, there are some options, and not all coating systems are created equal. See this homeowners experience and what he did for a clear shower glass glass sealing.

Older Posts »

Blog at WordPress.com.