DIY vs Professional Bathroom Remodeling: Pros and Cons
Bathrooms need remodeling after a few years as many things are spoiled and worn due to high moisture in this area of your house. From bathroom tiles to sanitary accessories, there are many things that homeowners need to repair or replace in order to create an eco-friendly bathroom.
Some people choose to perform the repair themselves to save money, while some prefer hiring professionals. Although most people call professionals while performing any repair or replacement in their bathroom, it is essential to know whether to do it yourself or not.
Both going DIY and hiring professionals have their own pros and cons. Let us explore the pros and cons of DIY vs professional bathroom remodeling.
Money
Most people talk about the satisfaction they get by doing the work themselves while remodeling their bathroom. Usually, it costs $250 per sq feet when you get it done by a professional remodeling contractor. However, homeowners can do it themselves at the cost of $75 per sq feet. It means a bathroom remodeling project will cost homeowners less than half of the cost they need to pay if done by a professional contractor.
Time
Time is another important factor while choosing between DIY and hiring a contractor for the bathroom remodeling. It takes longer for people to do anything themselves than getting it done by professionals. It takes longer as homeowners don’t have the tools and experience required to perform a job.
Professional contractors have both the experience and tools due to which they can perform any task faster than homeowners. Professionals know the ins and outs of every task than need to perform like replacing a fixture, installing a floor or wall tile, etc.
Bathrooms are the areas that your family needs to use regularly. Therefore, it is important to do any repairs and renovations as soon as possible. If you have a second bathroom that your family can use while remodeling the first, you can do it yourself; otherwise, you should hire a professional.
Skills and Experience
Remodeling a bathroom involves plenty of tasks like replacing the tiles, accessories, sanitary fixtures, and many other things. You need to know about mixing the concrete, leveling the floor, installing insulation, and plumbing.
However, many homeowners don’t have the skills and experience to perform these types of tasks. Therefore, even if you have the tools, there is a high risk of doing things in the wrong way. Any mistakes and errors can lead to the loss of money and time you spend on the DIY project.
Therefore, hiring a professional contractor is better than doing it yourself. However, if you have some skills and some experience, you can try performing some tasks yourself.
Flooring
Due to their ease of installation and low maintenance requirements, significantly large individual tiles are becoming more common in bathroom renovations. For the DIYer, the installation of bathroom flooring is relatively simple and quite easy for certain flooring types. You gain nothing by, for example, making pros taking on those easy-install coverings such as luxury vinyl planks. A DIYer who has learned the techniques carefully can do within a day or two.
If there are already installed tiles on the floor of your bathroom, you need to remove them and replace and level the subfloor. Also, you need to remove the toilet and vanity to remove the tile under them. For a fast remodel task, it is best to use groutable adhesive tiles. They look like ceramic tiles but are durable and easy to install.
Framing
Homeowners can easily perform many carpentry works like boxing in the shower, installing insulation, and building the walls. Most DIYers can perform these tasks with perfection, but it requires them to know the specifications of cabinets and accessories. Accuracy is the most important factor in framing. If you know how to use the tools with precision in framing work, you should go for DIY.
Install a heated floor
You might want to install floor heating while updating or remodeling the floor of your bathroom. Yes, it is possible to do it! But if you don’t know how to make electrical connections, call a professional to do the same. It is best to leave the tasks involving electrical connections to the professionals to avoid the risk of electric shock and get the work done with high quality.
Toilet, shower, sink
Do you want to reconfigure the toilet, shower, tub, or sink? For the daily DIYer, relocating or replacing the plumbing is not necessarily easy, particularly when access to the pipes is limited. Leaving this one to the experts is the right option to be sure the work is up to code. Some blogs like myhomezeedz.com can help you in many DIY plumbing tasks. Check them out.
You can upgrade your fixtures to efficient ones, such as water-saving macerating toilets and low-flow showerheads and faucets. Opt for energy-efficient LED lighting for more value and savings. Think of long-term benefits instead of settling for short-term savings.
Install a new bath
The installation of a new bath is similar to a toilet but much more labor-intensive. This becomes more complicated when they come with a surrounding shelving and structural support, which needs a carpenter, whereas the sealing of a wall-facing bath is best done by a professional if you are in your bathroom renovations after a polished finish.
Final words
Now, as you know about some processes, you can decide what you can perform yourself and what to leave for professionals. It is best to perform only the DIY tasks, you know better and have some experience in doing them. For tougher and complicated tasks, it is best to hire professionals like a plumber in Erskineville to get them done with high precision and quality.
Salman Zafar is an ecopreneur, consultant, advisor, speaker and journalist with expertise in waste management, waste-to-energy, renewable energy, environment protection, conservation and sustainable development. His geographical areas of focus include Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. Salman is the Founder of EcoMENA, a popular voluntary organization based in Qatar. He is also the Founder and CEO of BioEnergy Consult, a reputed consulting firm active in biomass, waste-to-energy and waste management segments.
Salman is a professional environmental writer with more than 350 popular articles to his credit. He is proactively engaged in creating mass environmental awareness in different parts of the world.
Salman Zafar can be reached at salman@ecomena.org or salman@bioenergyconsult.com
Great article! DIY bathroom remodeling can be a tempting option for those looking to save money and gain a sense of satisfaction from completing a project on their own. However, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons carefully. While DIY can be cost-effective, it may also take longer and result in lower quality workmanship. On the other hand, professional remodeling can ensure a higher quality of work and quicker completion time, but it can be more expensive. Ultimately, the decision between DIY and professional remodeling depends on your budget, skill level, and time constraints.