Muddy Brook Builders has renovated a lot of bathrooms.  We put together a list of 5 of our top tips for your next remodel.  

1. Hire a licensed General Contractor!

Trust me.  When you are renovating a bathroom you want that project to move as efficiently as possible.  Being down a bathroom, especially if that is your ONLY bathroom is an extreme inconvenience for the household.  Hiring an experienced General Contractor (aka GC) with a license (aka Construction Supervisors License, aka CSL) ensures that you will have a qualified, knowledgeable professional who can pull the appropriate building permits and ensure your project is up to code.  Your GC will oversee the entire project, this includes ordering materials, labor, installations, carpentry and scheduling subcontractors (aka subs) like plumbers and electricians to complete your project.  The GC plays a pivotal role in managing and scheduling the project perfectly for maximum efficiency.  This is one of the biggest values of hiring a GC that homeowners often have trouble valuing unless they have attempted to manage a larger project on their own.  Without a GC a full bathroom renovation may be frustrating and take months longer to complete than anticipated. Nobody has  time for that!

At Muddy Brook Builders Ryan, owner and carpenter serves as a General Contractor. 

2. Maximize Your Space 

Bathrooms are small spaces, it’s important to maximize your space as much as possible.  For bathrooms your mindset needs to be about functionality, think about how you need the space to work for you and your family, share your thoughts with your General Contractor.  Get creative with storage and built in options.  Ask your General Contractor to customize the space.

3. Lighting is Key

Not often spoken about when it comes to bathroom renovations but something you should be intentional about, lighting!  To me there needs to be plenty of lighting options in a bathroom.  

• Natural light – a strategically placed window

• Bright light – ability to for a bright well light bathroom when needed, think for make up applications and cleaning

• Night light – literally make sure there is a place to plug in a night light! But more important have lights on a dimmer or a lower lighting option.  Think when you get up in the middle of the night and need low lighting, or bathtime. 

4. Heated floors are worth the hype

Having heated floors (aka underfloor heating, aka radiant floor heating), is a luxury to have in the New England winters.  Luxurious AND much more affordable than it used to be.  If you are ripping up your tile floors it will be a worthwhile investment to use that as an opportunity to install radiant floor heat.  

5. Buy the best fan for your budget

Lingering moisture is the killer for all bathrooms, it can lead to mold and other issues.  A bathroom fan might not be your most exciting item to pick out for your renovation, but not all decisions during a renovation are about the design finish details.  A bathroom fan needs to be functional, work quickly and quietly.  We have liked installing Panasonic WhisperChoice fans and Fantech fans, whatever you do just don’t buy the cheapest one.  You’ll regret it.