c/bathroom-remodeling

Tour of a 12-room mansion where every single bathroom had no door

Went to an estate sale last Saturday in a big old place near Tacoma. 12 rooms, 4 bathrooms on the tour list. Every one of them, I mean every single one, had the door removed and leaning against the hallway wall. Not even a shower curtain on the tubs. The realtor said the owner took them off for 'feng shui' about 20 years ago and just got used to it. Imagine trying to sell that. Has anyone else walked into a remodel where the previous owner made some wild choice that you just had to undo before touching anything else?

Shower valve rough-in depth set me back 3 weekends

I thought I had this planned out, but the rough-in valve ended up sticking out too far from the finished wall. After the tile went up, the trim plate wouldnt even sit flush, let alone screw on. Took me a whole weekend to realize the mistake, then another two weekends to chip out tile, adjust the copper, and redo the waterproofing in that corner. Total was around 18 hours of work for something that should have taken 2. My guy at the supply house kept saying, measure twice, but I measured once and paid for it. Anyone else get burned by forgetting to account for the tile thickness and thinset buildup? What do you use to double check that depth before locking everything in?

Tile count came to 847, I had to order 40 more

Measured the bathroom twice but still short. The 10% overage rule saved me from a full reorder. Anyone else ever miscalculate that bad on a small space?

The tile guy's tape measure trick still bugs me 3 years later

Back in 2021 I had this old guy named Jerry come out to give me a quote on redoing a small shower stall in my place near Pittsburgh. He walked in, didn't even look at the water damage, just pulled out this beat up Stanley tape and started measuring the grout lines. He told me, "Honey, you don't measure the tile, you measure the gaps," and then he spent like 10 minutes explaining how all my crooked walls were throwing everything off by a quarter inch. I thought he was just being dramatic until he showed me how the floor sloped toward the drain, which I never noticed in 8 years of living there. He quoted me $4,200 and said most people miss the real problem, which is the subfloor, not the tile. I ended up going with a cheaper guy and guess what, the shower still leaks. Has anyone else had a contractor point out something obvious that you totally missed, and did you regret not listening to them?

Tile guy laughed at my tiny bathroom and then saved my floor

Tbh I hired this older tile guy for a 5x7 powder room redo in my Milwaukee place. He walked in, saw the layout, and just went 'you really thought you could do this yourself, huh' while chuckling. He then spent 20 minutes explaining how my subfloor had a dip near the toilet flange that would've cracked everything by spring. He fixed it for an extra $180 and now my floor is flatter than my last relationship. Has anyone else had a contractor save them from their own DIY overconfidence?

Hit 40 fixture swaps this month and finally stopped guessing

I've been redoing bathrooms part time for 2 years and this month I replaced my 40th faucet or shower valve. That milestone made me realize I never check the supply line length before I buy, which caused 7 of those 40 to need a second trip. Does anyone else track their repeat trips and use that number to plan their next remodel?

Stop sealing grout before it's fully cured, I learned that the hard way

I redid my bathroom floor three months ago and used a premium grout sealer two days after grouting like the can said. Big mistake. The sealer trapped moisture and the grout turned patchy and soft, and now it's crumbling in the corners. My tile guy came back to fix a loose tile and took one look, said 'you sealed way too early.' He explained that most cement-based grouts need a full 7 days to cure, even if it feels dry. I checked the grout bag and it also said wait 7 days, but I was impatient because we needed the shower back. So now I'm paying $450 to have the grout ground out and redone, plus the hassle. Has anyone else ruined their grout this way, or is it just me rushing things?

Found old cast iron pipes under my 1957 slab, had to replumb the whole line

We started pulling up the vinyl tile in the hallway bathroom last Tuesday and found a 2 foot section of cast iron that was basically rust flakes held together by paint. Plumber quoted $1,100 to chip out the slab and replace just the bad part. My neighbor down in Phoenix had the same issue last year and said do it all while it's open. Ended up running new PVC from the stack to the tub drain, about 14 feet total. Cost me $2,300 but now I don't have to worry about the other joints failing in 6 months. Has anyone else dealt with hidden pipe surprises under an older house? What did you decide to replace while you had the floor open?

Tile guy in Tucson told me to ditch the big format, now I get it

I was about to order 24x48 porcelain slabs for my master bath, then my installer, Rick from Tucson, flat out said to go with 12x24 instead. He pointed at my 5 foot vanity wall and showed me how the large ones would waste almost a full row of cuts just to fit around the plumbing. Plus he said leveling the floor would take an extra two days because of the slight hump near the door. I switched to the smaller format last Monday and the whole job is going smoother, less waste and he finished the niche in half the time. Has anyone else downsized tile based on their installer's advice, and did it cost you less in labor too?

Walk-in shower vs tub combo, my knees made the call after 9 years

We went with a tub when we redid the hall bath back in 2016, figured resale value and all that. Last spring I slipped getting out after a long soak and landed right on the tile edge, busted my elbow pretty bad. Just finished ripping out that same tub and putting in a curbless walk-in with a linear drain, best decision I've made in this house. The floor is heated too and the water doesn't pool near the door like it did with the old curtain rod setup. Anyone else trade a tub for a shower and regret it or feel the opposite about keeping one for little kids?

Thermostatic valve was a waste of money, until I tried one at a hotel

I spent $340 on a thermostatic mixing valve for my shower redo in Austin, thought it was pure hype. Then I stayed at a hotel downtown where the water never fluctuated when someone flushed, and now mine feels like a bargain. The constant temp is great, but what really sold me was not getting scalded when my roommate runs the washing machine. Anyone else have a fixture they hated until they used it somewhere else?

The floor leveler advice from my tile guy backfired hard

My contractor swore self-leveling compound would fix a 1 inch dip in my 1950s subfloor without ripping anything out, so I paid $140 for the bags and follow his tutorial. Two days later the compound cracked into a spiderweb and the dip is still there, plus now there's a ridge I have to grind down. Anyone else get pushed toward leveler when they should have just replaced the plywood in San Antonio?

Tile popping on slab after 8 months, contractor blames the tub

We redid our master bath in March, spent close to $4,800 on porcelain tile and Schluter membrane over the concrete slab. By last Tuesday, three tiles right near the doorway started lifting, one cracked when I stepped on it. I pulled up the cracked piece and the thinset underneath looks dry and powdery, not stuck to the slab at all. The installer said it was my fault for using a heavy cast iron tub nearby, but that makes no sense to me. Has anyone else seen tile pop on a slab that soon, and did you get the contractor to come back without a fight?

Took 3 quotes and picked the cheapest one, but my grout lines paid for it

We redid our main bathroom in Austin back in March. Got quotes from three contractors. The lowest one was $6,200, the middle was $7,800, and the highest was $9,400. I figured the cheapest guy just had lower overhead, so I went with him. The tile work looked fine from across the room, but up close the grout lines are all over the place. Some are 1/8 inch, some are 3/16, and a couple taper off completely. He also used sanded grout on the shower floor where the label said not to, so now it's pitting after four months. The middle quote guy wanted to do a full waterproofing membrane and the cheap guy said it wasn't needed. Guess who has a soft spot in the corner of the shower pan already. How many of you have had a lower bid turn into a redo project later? I'm getting a second opinion next week and honestly wondering if I just eat the loss and hire the $9,400 company to tear out and start fresh.

That $400 tile saw rental that made me swear off diagonal layouts

I was redoing our powder bath in Omaha last spring and thought a diagonal herringbone floor would look killer. Rented a wet tile saw from Home Depot for the weekend, $400 with the diamond blade. By hour six I was fighting chipped corners and uneven grout lines because I didn't factor in the turn radius for each cut. The worst part was a 4 AM panic recheck of the spacing because one tile sat 1/8 inch off and I couldn't let it go. Ended up ripping out three rows and redoing them with straight 12x24 planks instead, which took half the time. I still love herringbone in photos but now I tell anyone thinking about it to hire a pro or buy a decent saw for your own use, not rent one blindly. Has anyone else had a rental tool turn a simple job into a marathon?

Saw a pro grout the corners and realized I was doing it backwards for years

I redid my guest bath in Austin last spring and spent forever trying to get the grout lines in the inside corners to look tight. I kept pushing the grout in with my finger and then wiping downward, and every single time it left these weird little craters. Then my cousin's buddy, who does tile work for a living, stopped by to grab a tool and watched me for about 30 seconds. He said, “You're wiping against the joint, that's why you're pulling the grout out.” Turns out I had to press the grout in and then wipe parallel to the corner line, not across it. I redid that one section after he left and it took me 10 minutes, no craters, no re-doing it three times. Has anyone else had one of those “oh, duh” moments where a pro pointed out something that basic?

Paid a plumber $350 to fix a shower valve, wish I'd done it myself first

My 1990s bathroom had a single-handle shower that dripped no matter what. I watched a few videos and felt confident, but got nervous about messing with the copper pipes. Called a local plumber in Dayton, he swapped the cartridge in about 40 minutes and charged $350 including the part. Two weeks later the same drip came back, so I pulled the cartridge myself and found a tiny crack he missed. Replacing it myself cost $28 and took 30 minutes, the difference was just taking the time to inspect the old piece closely. Has anyone else had a pro do a quick fix that didn't stick, then found the real issue was simpler than expected?

My 1970s tile job hid a nasty surprise under the floor

Tore out the old pink tile from my guest bath last weekend. Underneath was two layers of linoleum from the 80s and 90s. Took me 5 hours with a scraper and heat gun to get it all up. Anyone else find weird old flooring stacked under their demo?

Stop putting pebble floors in your shower, they're a nightmare to clean

My buddy in Austin remodeled his bathroom 6 months ago with a pebble floor from Home Depot and now he's complaining about mold growing between the stones. I warned him when he picked it out that grout on those things is impossible to keep clean. Has anyone here actually dealt with a pebble shower floor for more than a year and not regretted it?

Shower niche depth: level with the studs or stick out an inch? My contractor and I went back and forth for a week after a visit to a tile showroom in Portland.

Natural stone vs. porcelain tile for a shower floor... I tried both and got a surprise

I put in slate tile in my master shower 6 months back and it's already chipping and staining, but my buddy's porcelain floor looks brand new after 2 years. Did you go with natural stone and regret it, or am I just unlucky with my choice?

TIL: That fancy $600 heated flooring killed my budget and my timeline

Honestly, I thought heated bathroom floors would be a game changer for my master bath reno in Portland. I spent $600 on the mats and thermostat alone, then another $400 on the electrician to wire it all in after my tile guy said he didn't do electrical. Then the pour over the mats took an extra 2 days to cure because of a cold snap. I ended up using my space heater more than the floor after all that. Anybody else regret splurging on a bathroom upgrade that just wasn't worth the hassle?

Caught my plumber installing a $15 valve he marked up to $90

I was working from home in my Phoenix bathroom remodel and saw the receipt for a sharkbite valve on his truck seat that cost $15 at Home Depot. He tried to charge me $90 for it on the invoice, so I called him out right there and he dropped the price to $40 after grumbling for 10 minutes. Anyone else caught contractors padding material costs like this?

Tried a wet saw for the first time and sliced 3 tiles in 10 minutes

I was cutting 12x24 porcelain for my shower niche and the first three cuts all cracked on me. Turns out the blade was dull and I was pushing too fast. Has anyone else had a bad day with tile cutting?

Hot take: heated floors in bathrooms are overrated for most people

I did a full bathroom reno last spring in my house near Seattle, and everyone told me I had to do in-floor heating. So I spent about $1,200 on the system and installation. Honestly? It barely makes a difference. My bathroom is small, like 5x8 feet, and by the time the floor warms up I'm already done with my shower. Plus the thermostat is finicky and I had to tear up tile on one corner to fix a wire issue. Maybe it's worth it in Minnesota or something, but down here in the Pacific Northwest it's just an expensive gimmick. Anyone else find these systems more trouble than they're worth?