Ten Tips For A Better Bathroom

Everyone loves a good top ten list! Read on and enjoy our “Must Do” for bathroom remodeling, 1. Install a Pocket Door. Most bathrooms are so small that doors can sometimes make them even smaller. Converting the swing door into a pocket door always opens up the space visually as well as physically. Warning: Pocket doors should always be installed by a professional as the installation often involves dealing with structural components of your home.

2. Venting? Always, always, always ensure your bathroom is properly vented. Many homes lack venting in the bathroom, resulting in black spoor-like stuff growing from the ceiling. Also many homes have undersized fans that often sound like an F15 on a takeoff roll. When it comes to venting, our favorite is a remote fan with light. The fan motor is installed in a location away from the bathroom many times in the attic, which reduces significantly the noise you will hear when the fan is on. This style of fan will have a 6″ grill in the ceiling which in the center, has a small halogen light that you control with a dimmer. The actual fan is controlled by a timer with push button presets ranging from 10 minutes to 60 minutes.

3. Comfort Height Toilets are just so much better! Comfort height or chair height toilets are much more comfortable for users. They are about 2″ taller then the old standard. If you have young children, you may want to have one toilet in your home that is at the lower height.

4. Painted Beadboard lends an elegance and look to a bathroom that is classic and clean. For a long time, I did not like beadboard in a bathroom. Why? Because beadboard usually consisted of 1×6 pine milled with a tongue and grove and beaded on the edges and center. As the beadboard was wood, it was subject to moisture changes. The nice tight paint job looked great until the heating season when the beadboard shrank and showed cracking in the paint. The beadboard would look awful until the humidity of summer rolled around.

Enter stage right, a product made by Nantucket Beadboard Company Beadboard.com in the form of 4′ x 8′ and larger sheets of bead-board. Manufactured from premium medium density fiberboard, the sheet beadboard is much more dimensionally stable and less prone to movement. ie a tighter paint job. We also like it because it installs much faster then the piece by piece method of wood strips. If you want to install the beadboard in your bathroom, make sure you purchase the moisture resistant grade rather then the standard grade.

5. Heated Floors. Quick Quiz. Can you name the healthiest, safest kind of heating system? If you said radiant heat, give yourself an A! Yes, we’re big fans of radiant heat, especially in the bathroom. Nothing beats stepping out of a shower onto heated tile on a cold winters morning. Our preferred brand of radiant heat is Warmly Yours. They have a system that is well thought-out and easy to install. The running costs of radiant are minimal for a small area such as a bathroom. AD ALERT: With every complete bathroom remodel, we will supply and install at no charge a complete underfloor heating system!(10/11 This promotion has expired.) Call or email for more information. To find out more about radiant heating visit WarmlyYours.com

6. Handheld Shower. One feature we suggest to clients who are upgrading, is to include a handheld shower in addition to the standard shower head. Handhelds are more flexible then a fixed shower head and allow you to do everything from bathing the dog to cleaning the tub or shower, as you can put water where you need it.Very Important: Be sure to install a handheld shower system that has a wall mounter diverter. We have found the diverter that is mounted into the fixed shower head, is either too hard to use or too high. One system we often install is made here in America by Symmons. (Symmons.Com)

7. Taller Vanities. Like the toilets we mentioned above, vanities have grown up which is a godsend to those who spent many a time stooped over at sinks designed for the vertically challenged! The taller height is more comfortable to use. Don’t forget however, to have a stepstool handy for the little un’s.

8. Flow in Sink. Is a type of sink you can have with a solid surface product such as Corian or Swanstone. The countertop material flows into the bottom of the sink creating a seamless bowl making for easy cleaning.

9. Hooks. Sometimes towel bars can be just too fussy and formal. Big hooks to hang towels allow you to hang and run and you have more hanging space. Some we have used, can be found at RestorationHardware.com Be sure to use the large ones to allow towels to hang freely so they may dry.

10. Creative Storage. One example is recessing mirrored cabinets in locations other then over the sink. Another is creating a space for a 20″ wide and 24″ deep linen cabinet when we have removed a 60″ tub and replaced it with a 36″ shower. One trick we have done in the past, is to recess a cabinet into closet of an adjacent room keeping the face frame of the cabinet flush with the bathroom wall.

Air It Out. From Remodeling Magazine

Nothing opens a space like more light and ventilation It seems that every old kitchen has a small window located above the sink. When homeowners think of remodeling, they usually consider new finishes and cabinets but stop short of moving walls or windows. But it’s worth convincing them that sizing a window as large as possible for maximum effect — even if it adds cost — is well worth it to open up their space and gain light and air.

If they worry about lost cabinet space, there are so many new options for undercounter storage that it shouldn’t be a problem.

—Dick Kawalek, a registered architect for more than 30 years, is founder of Kawalek Architects, in Cleveland; rck@rktekt.com

Inspiration Ahead

Pantone offers its 2011 color forecast. According to Pantone, a provider of professional color standards for the design industries, the color trends for 2011 include grape, deep periwinkle blue, cadmium green, antique moss, and gold, silver, and copper metallics. Pantone forecasts nine color palettes for home furnishings and interior design.

The nine palettes for 2011 include:

Simply Stated: Dusty rose, avocado, antique moss, deep periwinkle blue, warm taupe, and angora white.

Style and Substance: Jet black and metallics of gold and silver, subtle blue and frosted gray, purples, and wineish brown.

Clarity: Cool blues and greens, pure white, mystical mauve, violet, and Tibetan red.

Fragments: Amber, grenadine red, hot pink, baked clay, citron, grape, cadmium green, and bright gold.

Mixed Media: Deep teal, aqua, ermine, ochre, berry, metallic gold, copper, and frosted almond.

Designers can purchase “Pantone- View home + interiors 2011,” a guide that includes swatches of the 77 forecasted colors, at Pantone Paint retailers nationwide for $195.

Reposted from Remodeling Magazine December 2010 Article by Nina Patel

Cold! Very Cold! Remodeling Repeat Weeks 4-5

It's been a busy couple of weeks out on Scraggy Neck, Cataumet. The low temperatures and high winds have combined for some tough working conditions in the last week! Below, we have just started removing the front roof in preparation for the construction of the third floor.

Back wall is now removed and the winds are starting to howl. Perfect timing!

Room with a view!

Men At Work!

Ultimate Skylight!

Dusk settles over the open roof...

Wind block..um wall goes up!

Framing the third floor.

Third floor goes up.

Closing in the roof prior to an expected rainstorm.

Closing out another day on Scraggy Neck.

Remodeling Repeat...with pictures. Week 3

This week we were focused on beefing up the floor framing with lots of LVL's. We had to replace the undersized headers over the 3 sliders across the back of the house. We also started on some actual framing and moved the existing gable out about six feet.

Lower addition almost ready for the "move" What is really interesting here, is that we added a 2 story addition without having to build a full foundation. This structure is actually supported by concrete piers that are dug down below 4 feet.

The existing gable end of the house was moved out about 6 feet and allowed us to retain some of the original structure and save the client some money.

This is a temporary roof covering that will serve as protection while we complete the floor framing.

What is this? A new bay window? A balcony? Watch this space to find out more!

Remodeling Repeat...with pictures. Week 2

Week 2 finds us wrapping up the bulk of the demolition out on Scraggy Neck.  The rain finally ended. Was it 8 days of rain? Sure seemed like it. Here are some pictures to enjoy...

This is the view from the house we are working on. The spit o' land in the right is Wings Neck in Pocasset. Beyond is the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal where we can watch cruise ships, barges and sailing ships plying the waters of Buzzards Bay.

This is the back of the house that overlooks Buzzards Bay. In the weeks ahead, we'll be adding dormers and a observation tower. Oh, that's Blackie checking out the view just before he took his daily dip. LOL!

Front of the House.

Looking up at the chimney from the first floor. Notice the new engineered lumber "sistered" on to the existing joists. We're waiting for steel here, which will carry the floor loads in front of the chimney.

Stairs. Now just a memory. Many hundreds of feet have gone up and down.

Dennis. Crackerjack Carpenter and head comedian. Looking serious for the camera.

More next week. Cheers!

Remodeling Repeat...with pictures.

This week finds us on Scraggy Neck getting going on an extensive remodel. For those who don't know, Scraggy Neck is located in the village of Cataumet and is part of the town of Bourne. Scraggy as it's known locally, is a horseshoe crab shaped island connected by a causeway. One that's by covered by water from time to time! One of the neat things about this extensive remodel, is that I am remodeling a remodel that I did on the same house for the same owners 12 years ago. I'll get to see how everything has held up on this waterfront property and then take apart some of what I built previously.

This project will keep 5-6 carpenters busy for several months as we construct a new roof system, add an observatory tower, raise new dormers and add additional square footage and a porch. We also have to build a new stair case that connects 3 floors.

It's my plan to share the progress of this project via this blog.

Above is a picture of the living room just prior to the demolition. The plywood box in the background, encapsulates a slate topped pool table. We covered the pool table with plastic and we're just about to put a cap on the top to keep it protected for the duration of the project.

This is the debris chute built to channel the debris down for loading into the dumpster.

Soon several tons (Yes, tons!) of debris will fly down this chute!

Secrets of a Well Crafted Bathroom or Kitchen

Communication.Listening and understanding your needs.

Accountability. You work with the same person start to finish.

Resources. To build your project.

Experience. Knowing and understanding the big picture.

Note above that the first letter of each sentence when you look down spells the word "CARE" and that is a good place to start when considering someone to work on your home.

Do they care about you? or they simply see you as another job to "Bang Out" and move on. Do they care about how the project will affect you while it's taking place? Do they care about how your project is built? About the best way to do things?

Let's take a look at the above and really, they are a way of doing business rather then "secrets".

Communication
Of all the things that can go wrong on a project, lack of communication- both ways can really have a detrimental impact on a project. A well versed contractor will keep you in the loop even when there is a problem. Folks get annoyed when they are constantly having to ask "What's going on with my project?"

Communication is not just been reachable by phone or email. It's have a start and finish date for the project, it's having a clear readable contract. Having specifications for the project. It's telling the client regularly about what's happening and what's going to happen next. Yes, it takes work to do this, however it makes for a smooth project that glides over the bumps that will occur.

Accountability
Simply put, clients should be able to know who to go to and have assurance that things will be taken care of when there is a problem.

Resources

It's not just about having bodies to do the work. Rather its about having trade partners who have a depth of experience to tackle just about any project. It's also about working together as a team and thinking ahead for the next craftsman so that his job is made a little bit easier. Having the right tools will also go along way towards building a better project efficiently.

Experience
With today's increasing specialization, it's rare to find a contractor or craftsman who has worked across the trades and has built a project from foundation to finish. It's critical to have someone who can step back and understand the big picture. From knowing how to control moisture in a home to building bathrooms with universal access. Being able to identify potential problems in a kitchen before anything is built. Working for years in whole house remodeling has provided me with the ability to see and understand the big picture.

In selecting a contractor, builder or craftsman, see if they CARE.

How do they communicate? Where does the buck stop if there is a problem? What resources do they have to ensure the project is completed right and in a timely manner. What big picture experience do they have?