Both of our upstairs showers are leaking into the kitchen below. Some of the tiles are coming loose and one has some moldy drywall. We are planning on having both showers completely redone. The master bath has a shower and the other has a shower/tub unit. We are planning on getting fiberglass or maybe vikrell units instead of retiling the walls. I was wondering if anyone had any opinions as to whether this might affect the value of the house, for good or bad, or if there are any other choices to make that would affect the value.
We also might get rid of the doorway between the sink and the toilet and shower in the master bath. Could this affect the value of the house? The door seems to just get in the way.
The house is a 4-bedroom in a nice suburban area. I think it was appraised at around $400K, assuming we fix it up completely.
If you’re asking if you should get your bathrooms redone, I will say a resounding, “Yes!.” [Cue Hawk Harrelson, awful Sox tv home game broadcaster] The leak alone is enough to spur me to action. If you are asking about the specific details of choosing between different components/materials, well, sorry, can’t help you. I read an article that said that of home improvements, windows were the number one ROI, something like 115%, there might have been one or two others that were at 100% (or slightly above), and most were below. I think the repairs/improvements were done by outside help. If you can do the work yourself, you’ll save a ton of money and probably be over 100% ROI. My parents (well, a lot of it was I) redid their basement, and their house was the highest appraised on the block, well over what we spent (well, mostly me) on the improvements.
I was wondering about the latter. We definitely are going to fix the bathrooms. We have the ceiling below ripped out too, so it looks like hell.
I have also wondered at times what the return on finishing part of the basement would be. I think we have plumbing for half-bath under the stairs, though I image it would be a small one. I think we would want part of it unfinished for storage, laundry and whatnot.
Redoing a kitchen is also a good return, as well as adding a room/sunroom.
It sounds like you have repairs to do, which need to be done before listing your house. I personally like tile better than fiberglass, but that’s just me.
Hmm. I’m not even sure what fiberglass would look like. Colored, I’m sure, smooth surface? Is it a one piece dealie? Those look ok, I’ve only seen them in white. I agree with Ivylass, tile is better. I was looking at some stuff at Restoration Hardware (super over-priced btw), and if you can make your bathroom look like that (go to the store to see the models), then I would be impressed.
One of my banker friends hired out to do his, and he quoted some obscene number to finish his basement. Then again, he has marble, granite, heated floors for the full bathroom, and a home theater (all of which my parents don’t have). Though, he also views things (especially money) in a much bigger sense than I, so I’m not sure where all his costs are coming from. Anyway, he says that he’ll be lucky to get 50% ROI. As nice as his place looks, I say BS. He says that he’ll get more as the house appreciates. Oh, as for contrast, one of my best friends’ brother-in-law spent half of what my banker friend spent and it looks just as nice (just no marble or granite). He hasn’t commented on his ROI.
My parents (well, I) spent upwards of $10k, and the realtor said that she would list the house more than $25k than anything on the block (I’m sure it’s because of the other things that my parents got when the house was built: full brick, biggest yard, oak cabinents, better carpeting, etc.) It’s hard to guage, specifically.
My own research, and my banker friend agrees, that a typical ROI is between 80-100% (closer to 80%). A lot of other factors play into the value of your house and the ROI of an improvement, most notably, if you do the work yourself.
We’re getting ready to redo our 2 bathrooms - both are stuck in the 70s and awful. The master bath has a shower stall - all tiled - and the other bathroom has a blue (!!) tub with white tile.
Personally, I HATE the tile. It’s a pain to keep clean. We’re getting white fiberglass units for both - a 5’ wide shower stall for the master and a tub/surround unit for the guest bath. The floors will be tile (probably) but I just want paint on the walls. I may have to fight my spousal unit over that, because he likes tile. The sinks and commodes will be replaced also.
We’re in this house for the long haul, so I’m doing them to please me, not for resale potential. If we do decide to sell, I seriously doubt that the bathrooms will be the make-or-break items on a sale - this place has too much else to offer. I can honestly say of all the houses I’ve bought (there have been 8 in all) never once was bathroom style a deciding factor.
My point - um, some people like tile, some don’t. Seems to me as long as the improvements are well done, it shouldn’t matter how you do it.
Whatever you do, plan on twice the money and twice the time. When Ivylad and I fixed up our rental property to sell, we tore down the wall paper in the back bedroom and found two fist-sized holes in the drywall. We were making twice daily trips to Home Depot, I kid you not. If you have no wiggle room in your budget, do it piece meal.
I don’t know what kind of money you’d like to spend, but my parents completely re-did their bathroom this summer and it is amazing. The room left to right was:
glass-encased stall shower
toilet
sink
tub
Now it’s:
toilet
glass block wall
larger sink - the bowl ones that sit on top of the counter
large large large shower with no door, just an opening - doesn’t need a door, just a small lip at opening
They used this neat rock tile for the counter that you can fit together somewhat and fill the openings with nice looking grout. Glass block for the shower wall, and non-slick tile (the non-shiny kind, sorry I don’t know technical names) for the shower inside. It looks like a bathroom that would be in an expensive hotel. It’s the kind of bathroom where you look in and go, “Wow!” Very cool.
So if you have the money and time to tear out your bathroom, it might be fun to change things around. My parents never used their tub so they made a huge shower with 3 shower heads instead. When they re-did my bathroom they left in the shower/tub combo but gave me a new toilet and matching pedestal sink, which I love. My dad ripped out the old medicine cabinet and made a shelf in the hole instead. He also made a small shelf around the wall on the sink side to set stuff since I lost counter space. Added wainscoting (sp?) and crown moulding. I love it!