Pre War Bath Reno
Planning to renovate our coop in Brooklyn that we recently purchased. Can’t decide to hire a contractor or to sub it out myself. The bathroom (approx 6’x9′)is the only room that needs “major” work. The rest of the apt is paint and some plaster work and floor re-finishing. The bathroom has a beautiful old pedestal…
Planning to renovate our coop in Brooklyn that we recently purchased. Can’t decide to hire a contractor or to sub it out myself. The bathroom (approx 6’x9′)is the only room that needs “major” work. The rest of the apt is paint and some plaster work and floor re-finishing. The bathroom has a beautiful old pedestal sink in great condition. It needs a new faucet. The tub has some staining but no loss of enamel. Can it be cleaned / polished? Cost? A new toilet is needed. The big issue is the tile on the floor and walls. I would like to retile the entire room sticking to the “classic” pre war motif. White tiles w/ black accents. The floor currently has 1″ white squares. The radiator is original and quite rusted. Would like to replace with a “low profile” modern radiator. Cost? Shower curtain on a new rod.
Our painter would then replaster where needed and paint. Any ideas of total cost? Difficulty?
Appreciate the help.
We did our prewar bathroom ourselves. It took much longer than it would have had we contracted it out, and it was hard to coordinate all the trades people who did the things we couldn’t do ourselves–plumbing, tiling, installation of a new window in a wall where there wasn’t a window before. If we had it to do over again, I think we’d hire a contractor to do the whole thing. We saved money but in the end, I don’t think it was worth it, and it was quite stressful. Especially when my husband took down the ceiling and the bathroom was then open to the unheated attic in January.
We put in a classic b/w tile bathroom, and we made three great decisions. We installed a small wall heater to heat the bathroom in a jiffy, separate from the house. We sprang for a terrific shower valve setup that enables us to control the water volume separately from the temperature. (The temp is set it and forget it–it has its own control.) And we bought a Wood Essentials handcrafted medicine cabinet (made in Brooklyn, by the way) which is a pleasure to see and to use every day.
Good luck!
FYI the toilet will probably need to be removed during the demo and retiling. I don’t know if the plumber can temporarily reinstall it inbetween so you can use the bathroom — probably.
If you have a claw foot tub, that also needs to be removed. Tile-in tub should be OK in place.
Check with a plumber first to make sure this is all possible.
Hmmmmmm
Except for the tile, these are incredibly little things that you could do yourself in a day. I wouldn’t touch the tub; reglazing destroys the enamel finish and does not last.
Why does the tile need to be replaced? How is the condition of the plumbing? If you’re going to rip out and replace all the tile, then it would probably be wise to replace the plumbing (and add any electric lines if you need them) while you have the walls open. This makes it a much bigger job.
Re the radiator: Is this steam or hot water? Check with the coop first to find out if & when you can replace, since you may not be able to do anything while there is water in the system.