When you enjoy doing a little DIY at home, you can be tempted by the idea of taking on a bigger project. You can spend more on labor for home renovations than you can on all of the materials required, so the idea of saving some money by doing it yourself is definitely appealing. But a more significant project takes more time and knowledge to get it completed. Your bathroom might seem like a good place to start if you want to take on a bigger project, but it can also involve plumbing, tiling, and other challenging tasks. So if you want to take the DIY route, how can you make sure your bathroom doesn’t end up in a mess?
Use the tips below to avoid having to get a professional contractor to fix your mistakes.
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Plan Your Renovation
Before you do anything, you need to plan your DIY bathroom renovation. It’s important to know what you want to change and what you want the final product to look like. This includes not just picking a new bathtub and deciding what tiles you want to use, but also planning the plumbing and electrics so you know what will go where. You should draw a plan for your bathroom that outlines where you will be placing everything, where different connection points will be, and where your plumbing and electrical systems will go.
Know Where to Buy Parts
You need to be able to source the materials for your bathroom. When you work with a contractor, they can often help you with this and get some great deals on supplies. However, without their help, you need to find everything yourself. Looking online is often your best bet, with plenty of places where you can source essential plumbing supplies and bathroom materials. A site like Plumbersstock can give you excellent trade prices, even if you’re buying for DIY purposes. Make sure you have a list of everything that you need so that you can order everything necessary for your bathroom renovation.
Know Your Limits
It’s important to know just what you’re capable of before you decide to get started on a bathroom renovation. There are some things that you can do with a bit of DIY knowledge, but some tasks are better left to the experts. That doesn’t mean you can’t do something that you’ve never done before. You can learn by doing when it comes to a lot of things. However, before you decide if you should tackle a task or not, educate yourself on how to do it, what could go wrong, and how dangerous it is. Assess the risk and the skill level required, and use a professional if you think it makes more sense.
Find Reliable Resources to Learn New Skills
If you are going to do something yourself, you need to make sure you have the right information to help you do it. Before attempting a DIY job you’ve never done before, you should read up on it and watch people doing it too. It can be handy to have some tutorials or educational videos to watch because you’ll be able to see what you should be doing. You can find a huge number of resources out there teaching you how to do things safely and efficiently. You just have to find the right ones.
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Do It in the Right Order
A lot of work goes into a DIY bathroom renovation, and you need to do it all in the right order. If you end up mixing up your different tasks, you could end up with chaos. After planning your bathroom renovation, you obviously need to start by dismantling your existing bathroom, then removing any tiles. Changing the plumbing and electrics should be done before you start to put your bathroom back together again. You can then renovate your walls and floor, then install any new items, such as showers, tubs, or sinks.
Prepare to Have Your Home Disrupted
There’s no avoiding the fact that renovating your bathroom can be a disruption to your home. You need to be prepared to deal with some mess and perhaps slow progress on your renovation. However, if you’re doing it yourself, you do have the option of doing one thing at a time. This can help you to manage the chaos and ensure your bathroom is still usable, especially if you only have one bathroom.
A bathroom renovation is possible to DIY, but it’s important to be prepared. It can be a lot of work, so make sure you know what you’re getting into.