Consider Your Options in Bathroom Renovations

If you’re thinking of remodeling a bathroom, you face choices in the type of bathtub or shower you’ll want installed, and the materials you’ll use for the renovation.

Renovating a bathroom may see daunting, but the average return on investment if you eventually sell your home can be 73 cents on every dollar spent. Whether you earn that return or stay in your home and fully enjoy the longterm benefits of your new bathroom depend on the choices you make.

Materials: A Range of Cost and Effort

Your material choices come down to stone tile, acrylic or fiberglass for your tub or shower stall unit. What you decide can affect not only the cost of the project, but the amount of work needed to complete the project.

Some people simply love the look and feel of stone tile. For them, it’s a look of luxury, and if they have the budget for it, it’s the way to go. Luxury, of course, comes with a price. Not only is the stone itself expensive, it requires workers to break off the original tile, take out the tub to replace with a new tub, and strip the walls and part of the floor down to the studs before adding new walls and installing the tile. That work is costly and time consuming.

Tile also requires the homeowner to clean inside the grout lines. Eventually, water is going to seep inside the grout, making the tile susceptible to mildew and cracking over time.

Fiberglass comes in at the low end of the budget. Besides being the least expensive material, fiberglass inserts can be installed in a day, fitting over your existing tile and bathtub as one unit. If cost is your key consideration, Fiberglass may be your best option, especially if you’r looking for a short term solution. But fiberglass also shows its age. It’s prone to cracks from stress, and while it looks great when first installed, the surface of a fiberglass tub and or shower stall will become dull and lose it’s smooth feel.

Acrylic falls between the tile and fiberglass in cost, but offers some of the best features of both. Like fiberglass, acrylic liners are custom manufactured to fit over your old tub and installs quickly. Acrylic is also available in sheets of simulated stone tile that looks the same but is warmer to the touch than stone tile. Unlike either of those materials, however, acrylic is more durable and will hold its look and feel far longer. Acrylic is scratch resistant and it won’t crack under normal use. It’s simple to clean and is mildew resistant. Acrylic liners are the predominant material we sell at Sir Home Improvement because of their overall quality and value.

Tubs or Shower

Whether to install a tub or shower stall in a new bathroom in an addition or new home, or even when renovating an existing bathroom, is mostly a matter of personal choice. With the Baby-Boomer generation coming into their its years, however, showers are becoming a more popular option. It’s simply easier to get in and out of a shower stall when your legs aren’t quite as nimble as they used to be. It’s something to think about if your renovating or building a home for your retirement. A shower stall can make it easier for seniors to live in their own homes.

Yet shower stalls are often the first choice for any age group, and are available in many styles to fit the design of any home.

For therapeutic reasons, the walk-in bathtub is becoming a stronger focus in renovations. With walk-in tubs, a door on the side of the tub swings inward, and seals tight when closed. They normally come with a seat and water jets that can be directed to help with arthritic joins or for increased relaxation to aid against insomnia.

Talk to Us

Not sure what choice to make for your bathroom? Give us a call at Sir Home and we’ll go over the options with you to help you come up with an option that fits you budget, your home design and your lifestyle. Our goal is to provide you with comfort, elegant design and value for your new bathroom.

Consider Your Options in Bathroom Renovations was first seen on SIR Home Improvements