Bathroom Renovations in Older Buildings

A few things to consider for remodeling older bathrooms.

It comes as no surprise that bathrooms are one of the more important and difficult areas when it comes to renovating older buildings. There are lots of issues which need to be addressed. I'll briefly touch on some of them here.

The bathroom shown here is in an older building where the intent was to maintain a more traditional style. Some people may want a more contemporary vibe but this style fits in very well with the rest of the spaces in this project.

A brand-new plan took space from an adjacent room to allow for the addition of a new curved apron front bathtub and new in-room storage. The curved apron front bathtubs add extra maneuvering space - they're great! Existing millwork was already painted so off-white paint at trim and black paint at window sashes were specified. The look is still traditional, but the black windows skew it a bit to more current. It's a good look for the room.

Color, a wood vanity, along with new lighting, flooring and drywall resulted in the look you see here.

Replacing plaster, drywall or flooring allows for adding sound insulation and checking for hidden mold. I usually specify sound insulation at both the floor and walls. Older bathrooms often have floor joists that have been notched or cut incorrectly so exposing the structure allows for running new plumbing pipes and fixing framing issues. Of course, there's no sense in adding new tile floors over compromised framing because cracks will eventually show up.

Older plumbing can be corroded, improperly vented if at all, or the wrong size or material. Again, these issues should be fixed before new finishes or fixtures are added or replaced. Much of the remodeling cost goes to the plumbing work, especially if locations are changed, but that's your foundation so the expenditure is necessary. You'll be happy when things work properly.

Building codes have requirements for clearances at plumbing fixtures like toilets, sinks etc. If a room can't expand, a reworked plan can do wonders for everyday functionality and still meet codes.

Additional bathroom photos in different styles are shown in some of our other projects. If you are thinking about renovating or building new give us a call. Great bathrooms set you up for the day. It's something that will continue to pay dividends for years.