Hot take: that weekend I tried to remodel my own bathroom was a total disaster

So last spring I decided to save some cash and redo my tiny bathroom myself. I watched like 20 YouTube videos and thought I had it figured out. But man, that Saturday when I went to tile the floor, I realized I bought way too few tiles and the ones I got were the wrong color. Then on Sunday, I tried to install the new vanity and accidentally drilled right into a pipe behind the wall. Water started spraying everywhere and I had to call my neighbor who's a plumber to come fix it. He charged me $300 just for the emergency visit. Took me two more weeks to finish everything and it still looks kinda janky around the edges. Has anyone else had a bathroom project go way worse than they expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake8d ago

Did your friend at least buy you a beer after that plumbing fiasco? My buddy Tom tried swapping out his toilet by himself and ended up cracking the wax ring, then spent the whole afternoon cleaning up smelly water from his basement floor. He still jokes that his bathroom now has a "custom drainage system" but honestly it just looks like a patch job with extra caulk.

young.ryan8d ago

Wait, $300 for an emergency plumbing visit is totally normal honestly. Plumbers charge anywhere from $150 to $500 just to show up after hours, especially on a weekend. The guy who fixed my kitchen sink leak on a Sunday charged me $275 and he was there for maybe twenty minutes. So $300 is pretty standard, not getting off easy or a bargain really. What gets me is the part where you couldn't find your main water valve in the dark. That's something everyone should locate before any DIY project. Go find yours right now while the water is off and mark it with some bright tape. Trust me, it'll save you a ton of panic and wet socks someday.

angela_morgan8d ago

For $300 you got off easy! I turned my bathroom into an indoor pool and had to pay my neighbor $600 to shut off the main valve because I couldn't find it in the dark.