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Bathroom Remodeling

Bathroom Remodeling

Bathroom remodeling in Watertown: full gut and rebuild, with the waterproofing done properly — which is the whole difference between a shower that lasts five years and one that lasts twenty-five.

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Waterproofing

Bathroom Remodeling In Watertown: Waterproofing First, Then Tile

Bathroom remodeling in Watertown is a gut to the studs, new rough plumbing and a properly ducted fan, a continuous waterproofing membrane flood-tested before tile, then tile and finish — two to four weeks. Every failed tile shower we have torn out failed behind the tile, not at it.

The part you cannot see is the part that matters. Every failed tile shower we have torn out failed for the same reason: the waterproofing behind the tile was wrong or absent. Tile is not waterproof and grout certainly is not. What keeps water out of your floor joists is the membrane behind them.

It adds a day and a modest cost. It is also the single item most likely to be quietly missing from a cheaper quote, which is why a bathroom renovation in Jefferson County should be compared on what is behind the tile, not on the tile.

Sequence

How We Build A Bathroom

Gut to the studs

So we can see the framing and the subfloor. Hidden rot around a toilet flange or a shower pan is common and cheap to fix while it is open.

Rough plumbing and electrical

New supply and drain where the layout changes, plus a properly rated fan ducted outside rather than into the attic — the ventilation page explains what a fan in the attic does to a roof.

Waterproofing

A continuous membrane system in the wet area, sloped pan, sealed corners and penetrations. Flood-tested before a single tile goes on.

Tile and finish

Set on a flat, sound, waterproof substrate. Which is why it is fourth on this list, not first.

Aging In Place

Aging In Place: Walk-In Showers, Grab Bars And Accessibility

Watertown’s housing stock is from 1969 and a good share of the people in it have been there since. A bathroom built for a family in 1969 — a tub with a high step-over, a narrow door, nothing to hold on to — is the room most likely to end someone’s time in the house. Rebuilding it once, properly, for the next twenty years is the single most useful remodel we do.

That means a walk-in shower installation with a low or level threshold and a bench, blocking in the walls for grab bars whether or not they go in today, a comfort-height toilet, a door that a walker fits through, and lighting you can see by. None of it has to look clinical, and all of it is cheaper to do now than to retrofit into finished tile later.

Budget

What Decides The Price Of A Bathroom Remodel

Layout changes

Keeping the toilet, sink and shower where they are is the cheapest bathroom. Moving the drain is the most expensive single decision in the room.

The wet area

A tiled walk-in with a linear drain costs more than a tub-shower with a surround, and the waterproofing is the same either way. We price both if you are undecided.

Fixtures and tile

Carried as allowances, so you see what each choice adds and nothing else moves.

What we find

Rot under the old pan or around the flange. Common, priced per repair, and better found now than under new tile.

Straight Answers

Bathroom Questions

Two to four weeks for a full gut. Tile and waterproofing have cure times that cannot be rushed without ruining the result, and a flood test of the pan takes a day on its own. If it is the only bathroom in the house we tell you exactly which days it is out of use before you sign, and we sequence the work so a working toilet is back as early as possible. The remodeling hub covers living in the house during a remodel.

If it is the only bathroom in the house, keep a tub — it affects resale and it matters to buyers with small children. If it is a second bathroom, a proper walk-in shower is usually the better use of the space, and for anyone planning to stay in the house it is the safer room. A low-threshold walk-in with blocking for grab bars is the version we build most in Wisconsin, and the FAQ covers pricing both ways.

Usually because it is undersized, or because it vents into the attic instead of outside. The second one is also quietly adding a lot of moisture to your roof structure every day — frost on the underside of the sheathing in January is how it shows — and the ventilation page explains what that does to a roof. Every bathroom we build gets a properly sized fan ducted to a roof or wall cap with a damper.

Where plumbing or electrical moves, most towns treat it as an alteration that is permitted and inspected; a like-for-like swap of fixtures usually is not. It varies because SPS 320.09(2)(b) leaves alterations to local ordinance, so we check your municipality and pull what is needed — and SPS 320.04(2) makes the work comply with the state code whether or not anyone inspects it. The permit guide has the towns.

Related

More Remodeling Services

All remodeling

Kitchens, bathrooms and basements, priced from a fixed written scope by the crew that does our roofs.

Remodeling

The questions we get asked

Cost, timing, permits, insurance and warranties, answered plainly on one page.

Roofing FAQ

Kitchen remodeling

The bigger room, the same discipline: structure and mechanicals first, finishes as allowances.

Kitchens

Attic ventilation

Where the bathroom fan should end up, and what happens to the roof when it does not.

Ventilation

Free Estimate

Bathroom Due A Rebuild?

A fixed written scope with the waterproofing in it, and a straight answer on tub versus walk-in for the house you have.

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