1.Ask the contractor for details of past work and recent clients.- (recent client's comments about Bathroom Facelifts Home Renovations).

2.How long has the contractor, (NOT a cabinet maker, tiler, electrician, plasterer, concreter, fisherman or handyman), been doing bathroom renovations?

3.Has he provided documentation clearly detailing work to be done, including the latest water proofing requirements and the fixed price?

4.What licence /registration does he have?

5.Is he a registered builder/renovator? Or a cabinetmaker, or a trades man qualified to do one trade only, who has done just five or ten bathrooms?

6. ASK FOR REFERENCES Phone numbers of his recent clients. So you can ring them and ask how things went.

7.Has the contractor drawn up a written contract before starting work, as required by Western Australian Law. (Domestic Building Contracts Act)

REAL CASE EXAMPLE of a tradesman working outside his licence qualifications. As building inspectors, we were called to inspect a bathroom renovation that had gone wrong, in High Wycombe.

It was done by a licensed plumber costing about $9,900 all up. The tiling was terrible, the shower rose was too low, vanity was installed crooked, waste pipes were left exposed, waterproofing was inadequate. The non self supporting bath tub was not installed properly. The whole job had to be ripped out and re done. If it were left as is, it detracts from the value of the house.The plumber was not qualified to do any renovation work. The plumber made many serious errors due to inexperience. He acted illegally, (gave no written Quote and had no contract and got more than the legally allowed deposit). There are many fine tradesmen, but, are they experienced? Will they follow instruction. Do they care about doing a good job? You need to find out by contacting their previous clients. Bathrooms -being such a high use wet area, it has to be done right the first time. Cheap work with no water proofing & un co-ordinated inexperienced tradesmen is a waste of your money.

USUAL EXTENT OF WORK

If it is done properly, renovation work is more difficult & time consuming than building from new. To do a reasonably good job you cannot just shove something new over the top of unsuitable old material. Things have to be blocked off, repaired, lines drained. Material has to be individually cut to size, removed, shaped, plugged, blocked, packed, chiselled or trimmed to suit what is already there. All houses move and no walls remain square.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?Archicenter from Perth, gives estimates--- "BATHROOM RENOVATION $9500 TO $25000. Ensuite is less.”http://www.archicentre.com.au/images/stories/pdfs/Archicentre-Cost-Guide.pdf

The average bathroom renovation costs about $6000 for material and about $8000 for labour. How much you spend on Major Items (Vanity, Tiles, Bath Tub or Spa Bath and tapware) is up to you.

We have done bathrooms for $6800 all up and some for $20,000 to $45,000 in total.

Shifting the shower or tub where there is no plumbing.       

Bathroom is bigger than average, on the second floor, contains asbestos.

Tiling to the ceiling, Sky lights to be fitted

If your house has galvanised waste pipes under the concrete floor. The floor has to be jackhammered up and galvanised pipes replaced with PVC.

If there is difficult access, (e.g. Through front door, down the hall, through the kitchen, dining room billiards room, up the stairs down another hall around the corner through the bed room through the built in robe to the ensuite).

Walls have to be removed.

If there is Electrical work. Exhaust heater fan. New power points heated towel rails.

If the ceiling under neath has to be pulled out to access plumbing.

If there is nowhere close to store tools and materials.

HOW TO CHOOSE, TAPS, VANITY & TOILET SUITE SHOWER TRAY OR BATH

Tapware - We recommend chrome plated on brass. "Easyclean” cross handles are easy to turn.with wet hands. Avoid painted or gold coloured taps & plastic handles. They don't last long. Chrome plated or glass flanged mixers work well too. Glass mixers look great on a vaity

Vanity – Prices and quality vary from $300 to $1300 for the same size vanity. Buy a good quality with roller drawers. Cheap ones won't last more than a couple of years in a well used bathroom. Check with your builder before buying. Water supply and waste pipe positions have to be considered.

Toilet Suite – Check if it is"P” trap, through the wall, or "S” trap, through the floor. Measure from the wall to the center of the pipe for S trap. Measure the length of pipe out of the wall for P trap. This is the "set out”. Close coupled suites (cistern sits on pan), must have the right setout.

Shower Tray bases & Baths – Acrylic baths, Spas or shower trays/bases are easier to clean, do not get mouldy like tiled shower floors.

ACRYLIC is NOT plastic. Is much better than tiled shower floors. Much easier to clean. Always clean and sparkilng white. No grotty tile joints on the floor and between the shower floor and wall junctions.

An acrylic tray or a bath, must have a reinforced base. If it has to be concreted underneath it is no good. This is a commonmanufacturing defect.

So common that some building regulations say ALL baths have to be concreted underneath. Of course this does not apply to self supporting shower trays and baths.       

Tiles

Tiles are much easier to clean than plastic wall sheeting. Glass, glazing, on tiles compared to cleaning body fat and soap scum off plastic lining. If you tried to clean fat out of a plastic bowl you know its very difficult compared to ceramic or a glass bowl.

Except for industrial and commercial applications, non slip tiles are not used in bathrooms or ensuites. All tiles will slip if you have wet and maybe soapy feet. Make sure you buy FLOOR tiles for the floor. These are still glazed but only slightly glossy making them more slip resistant than wall tiles. Do not get glossy tiles for the floor. They will be very slippery and will be wall tiles in most cases. If you buy seconds, (tiles of varying sizes, by half a mm or more, your tile joints will vary slightly. Dont buy any unglazed tiles or tiles with a heavy texture. They will be too hard to keep clean. All tiles in the shower area should be full gloss for ease of cleaning.

Grout joints.Do not worry about cleaning grout joints. Years ago bad chalky grout used. That is not the cas for the last 15- 20 yrs. Todays grouts are cement based and flexible. Do not buy grout. The grout has to be compatible with the glue the Bathroom renovator is using. The glue has to be compatible with the waterproofing membrane the bathroom renovator is using.

Rectified tiles (perfectly cut square edges) with minimum grout joints. For a Large flat surface ok. Not suitable for bathroom floors. Cannot be sloped to fall to the floor waste without cutting diagonally. Not suitable for bathroom walls unless walls are perfectly flat. Half a mm difference in the height or depth of the tile is very conspicuous with rectified tiles. If you have to have them, The walls need adequate preparation and a tile levelling system Tuscan or similar.

WATERPROOFING is a necessity to meet wet area waterproofing regulations.(AS 3740) Even after you sell and the shower leaks,future owners can have a legal case if waterproofing regs. have not been met by your renovator. There must be a primary and secondary water barrier in showers. Unlined showers leak water into the subsoil and attract white ants. We cannot tile over old shower floors or shower baths unless they have a s/s or copper liner under the concrete or painted on waterproofing reinforced with f/glass matting, for floors. If you have a copper liner & it is more than 25 - 30 yrs old it should be replaced with s/s, it will be corroded from reaction with the cement and water in the concrete.Insurance companies won't pay for leak damage if waterproofing regulations have not been followed. Shower trays and liners come under "Burst water receptacle” Corrosion comes under maintenance.

Non waterproofed walls, (Virtually every older shower in WA) will bubble and have effloresence (water borne salts and mineral deposits) coming through the walls. It may have become obvious only recently, but the water leaching water borne minerals into not waterproofed concrete/brick wall would have begun the damage within a year or 2 after the shower began to be used. When renovating, these can take some days or weeks to dry out after tile removal.

Copyyright Bathroom Facelifts, Maida Vale WA Office Ph 9352 8287 G Csukardy – Reg.Builder S1173 ph 0403 741 833 admin@bathroomfacelifts.com