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Hello, I'm Marc Victors. I am excited to talk to you about painting your home. I loved to change the look of my home on a regular basis by using just a bit of paint. There are a wide range of paint options for every room. Therefore, it's important to know how to select the best type of paint for each area. For example, high gloss paint should only be used in the kitchen or bathroom since those areas need frequent cleaning to stay in good shape. Using high gloss in the bedrooms or living areas gives the space a harsh sheen when the lights are turned on. Please use the information on my site to select and use the right paint for the job. Also follow my site to learn how to correct apply the paint to the walls. Thanks.

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4 Questions To Answer Before You Remodel A Bathroom In Your Old House

by Terry Fernandez

As odd as this may sound, almost 17% of homes in 1960 did not have an interior bathroom. When homeowners decided to install bathrooms in those houses they usually had limited space to work with, which is why many of these bathrooms are small. If you own a home that has one of these post-construction bathrooms, you may be considering a bathroom remodel complete with expanding the bathroom size. First, however, there are a few important questions to answer.

Is it possible to move any of the walls?

Take a look at the rooms on all sides of the bathroom. Chances are, you'll be able to tell which room was cut into to install the bathroom. Would it make sense to remove the partition walls the previous homeowners installed to section of the bathroom? While you may lose a bedroom or den by doing this, you won't have to worry about removing load-bearing walls.

If renovating your bathroom to incorporate the remnants of the original room that was used won't work, then you will need to hire a structural engineer to examine the walls to see if any are load-bearing. If so, then you may need to install a header to bear the weight.

Are you able to expand outwards?

Another option is to expand the bathroom outwards if it shares an exterior wall. For bathrooms on the first floor, this should be fairly simple, unless the house was built with balloon framing. With balloon framing, the studs inside the exterior walls expand the full height of the house. However, it can be done with the guidance of a structural engineer.

For bathrooms on the second floor, you may be able to expand outwards with a cantilever design. This type of bathroom renovation is called a bumpout addition. Basically, the exterior wall will bump out similar to the way a bay window does. These types of micro-expansions typically only add a foot or two of space, but may be well worth it if your bathroom is very small.

Can the plumbing be moved?

After you've considered the various options on how to expand the bathroom in size, you'll need to figure out if the plumbing can be relocated to other areas in the room. Of course, why expand the size of the bathroom if you can't move the plumbing so the bathtub, toilet and sink cannot be spaced further apart? However, according to HGTV, moving plumbing around can cost a lot of money.

Instead of rearranging your fixtures to new spaces and driving up the costs of the renovation, keep the plumbing where it is and swap the fixtures. Would there be more space in the bathroom if the sink and tub are swapped? It's important to note that toilets should stay in the same location due to the drain, waste, and vent plumbing that is necessary. Also, toilets do not require hot water, so they don't have hot water pipes. This means that you will not be able to easily switch around your toilet with either your sink or your bathtub or shower.

Is the sub-flooring water damaged?

Since you are already considering moving forward with your bathroom renovation, go ahead and pull up the flooring materials from around your toilet and underneath your sink, if possible. You'll want to look for signs of water damage to the sub-flooring. You may need to replace the sub-floor entirely if the sub-floor is spongy, has water spots, or mold growth. This is especially true if your heavy bathtub will go on top of where there is severe water damage.

Depending on the severity of the water damage, you may also need to repair the floor joists underneath the sub-floor. While this is a job that can be easily done by any bathroom renovation contractor, you'll want to be prepared for the cost increase that goes along with the additional work.

If you are renovating a bathroom that was installed post-construction, you are probably doing it to increase the size of the available space in the bathroom. This can be done by moving walls or swapping around the bathroom fixtures.

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