3 Ways to Tell If Your Bathroom Needs a Remodel
Do you have “deferred maintenance” piling up when it comes to fixing up your bathroom? You may be waiting for certain warning sides before you pull the trigger on committing to a full bathroom remodel. Here are five ways you can tell if such a bathroom remodel is in your near future.
Leaking or malfunctioning plumbing
Certain plumbing problems, such as those under your sink, should always be dealt with immediately. However, there may be leaks or malfunctions within your walls and your floors that you may not be aware of at all. If you’ve noticed problems with water pressure or hear strange dripping or rushing sounds during and after running any water in the bathroom, you should definitely have it looked into. If the problem is major enough, it may require doing quite a bit of work to fix the problem. In the meantime, you may as well look into other bathroom renovations, as well.
Cracks in floor or near the tub and/or shower stall
Water damage is a major contributor to big-time problems, and cracks in your bathroom floor can cause some serious issues in your sub-flooring. If you have a basement, it’s likely that the studs underneath could be in danger. So it’s good to deal with it as soon as possible. If the subflooring still looks okay, then you may be able to put off a remodel for a bit.
Like cracks in the floor, cracks near the tub and/or your shower stall can lead to water damage issues, especially to the interior walls and sub-flooring. However, these can be even worse than floor cracks, since this is where the majority of water in the bathroom is run. The damage can add up much more quickly in this case. If caulking is properly done on a regular basis, you can probably hold off on a remodel. But if warping in the walls or floor is noticeable, that means moisture is getting into places that it shouldn’t. A remodel is probably needed in the near future to discover and fix any long-term damage that may have been done without your knowledge.
Loose toilets
When you need to replace the bolts and wax seal on your toilet, it may mean that your bathroom overall probably needs some help. It may be as simple as replacing the wax seal, or the bolts simply need to be replaced. However, it may also mean that an existing leak in the toilet itself has caused enough damage to the subflooring underneath that the whole floor and subflooring may need to be replaced. In that case, you may just as well go ahead and plan a remodel.
It’s important to understand that some of these maintenance issues may not have led to actual expensive long-term damage. But if you have some combination of these issues existing in your bathroom, and they go too long without fixing, a major remodel may become necessary before you know it.
