Renovate a bathroom for around $3k?

Seaver,

Your budget does not get you a lot. Where is your apartment? What type of building is it in? Do you need a licensed people?

I would try to find a handyman for this project. Removing tiles from walls is much more complicated then one would think as the walls will need a lot of work after the demo. Also the building might require you bring all the branch lines back to the riser

watch DYI and try doing it yourself...

switching the vanity is easy and fairly cheap. It's switching out the tile that's the problem -- to keep the cost that low, you'd have to do the demolition yourself, and you're probably not insured for it. Even if you do get someone who is insured for it -- a building handyman would be the cheapest route -- carting costs of getting rid of the old tile waste are going to bust your budget.

I would wait to do this till you've saved some more $$, and then try to piggyback onto a neighbor's renovation so that the building will give you a discount on getting rid of your trash.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Tile always looks so easy on HGTV. The old tile is usually from the 1960s, just glued on, whereas here it's got .5" or .75" of solid mortar behind it, and as Ali said, you need a dumpster just to get rid of the stuff.

Same with wiring. On TV it's always wood or steel studs with sheetrock, so you just drill a couple of little holes from cellar or attic and fish the cable through. Here you've often got gypsum- or terracotta-block walls, code requires armored cable, and there's no fishing anything.

I have done a bathroom this cheaply, including replacement of all fixtures including the tub. BUT.... I skipped the wall tile (just used drywall) and used a tub surround in place of tub tile. I bought a nice vanity/sink, mirror, faucet, light fixture, floor tile, and shower curtain and painted the walls a fun cerulean blue.

It was a nice-looking bathroom that didn't scream "cheap" and photographed well. It was appropriate for the market the place was in (not Manhattan) and for the then-24 year old me who was living there.

I wouldn't advise going this cheaply in Manhattan. Save until you can tile the walls with medium-grade tile. When people are paying half a million plus dollars for an apartment, there is a basic level of finish that's expected. Anything you can do on $3k is not going to meet those standards.

Waste disposal may be very pricy, but doesn't the city's sanitation department pick up large waste items once a week? I thought Manhattan DIYers could reduce their disposal costs by getting their building's authorization and disposing Wednesday afternoons in advance of the city's Thursday AM pick-up. Alternatively, asking delivery men or movers to dispose of appliances or furniture can cost little to nothing.

"Construction Debris - While the Department does remove non-commercial waste from homeowners engaged in small "do-it-yourself" projects, homeowners who are undertaking large projects should contract for their own dumpster by contacting a private rubbish removal service. Bulk and construction debris generated by hired contractors or fee-for-service personnel on home repair or renovation projects is considered commercial waste and it is therefore the responsibility of the contractor to arrange for appropriate private disposal."

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/collection/bulk.shtml

This is great advice. Contractors are already renovating the building roof, so there are a series of dumpsters outside. I'm guessing it won't be too hard (if not totally legal) to piggy-back onto those.

Is it possible (and not completely moronic) to lay new tile or backsplash tile on top of existing tile, rather than tearing it up?

Seaver,

I have seen it done. I would not recommend it at all.

whoa! do not do tile on tile very moronic (nothing personal)! It would not be to hard to dispose of the trash in your regular pick up either with 50 gal contractors bags, be careful though. Also waste disposal is not that pricey I took down a whole wall in my place and building management had it picked up for $58.

Also coming from a contracting background and to be completely honest you can do very nice upgrades for 3k, profits can even be made by workers at 3-4k the problem is most licensed or busy companies will not want to waste their time when they are getting 7k and up, no one ever wants to pay however it is a skill.

My recommendation is to either save a bit more and find the right guy for the job (you don't want someone who will take the 3k and run, believe me the work will not be great) or go the diy route realizing that it A) has to be done right B) will be a lot harder and longer than you think C) won't be perfect. If you can live with that and are relatively handy go for it. Even if you do a decent job remember that your time is valuable as well and you will have tools to rent or buy.

No offense, but if your not going to do the renovation right, then it is best not to do it at all. In my crystal ball, I see a DIY disaster.

I did a shower stall renovation myself recently, it was terrific hard work, but the way I did it was to put pebble tile over existing swanstone.

I'm a 53 year old woman and I did it all by myself, every bit, but I'm stronger than average for my demographic, you need to be strong because all of this stuff is heavy.

Then I did a bathroom floor with pebble tile, right over the existing tile. Very very cool.

You can pebble tile over pretty much anything if you buy heavy duty mortar, and if the underlying substrate is in good shape (that is, staying put). Youtube has videos.

Pebble tile comes in flat cut stone, river rocks, tiny stones, various colors and mozaics, and even in ceramic versions now.

On the internet one 1 foot square tile costs $6 to $15, including delivery. I could not beat the internet price anywhere.

With pebble tile you cut it with big scissors, you do not need a tile or masonry saw, this makes it DIY friendly. It's on netting, you cut the net. You lay mortar, then press in pebble tile, then grout. I chose a very expensive stain proof grout but you could use ordinary grout and apply sealer. This was in a shower stall so I was super concerned about easy cleaning.

How does it look? Glamorous beyond belief, everybody who sees it is blown away. Nothing beats nature for beauty. I have trouble taking a fast shower because I love to look at the rocks.

Also, if you're at all arty, it is very satisfying material in that you can control certain aspects of the design.

But--I repeat--don't be fooled by the cute chick in the Lowe's video, who demonstrates how to do a large bathroom wall and looks like she just stepped out of Vogue the whole time. This requires patient, careful work and upper body strength.

seaver69,
I think you can do it. It all depends on where your apartment is and what building. If you are a nice, down-to-earth person as I think you are, you can do it with a handyman, pay him for his time and buy the materials for $3K.
Beware of those contractors who are saying that the bathroom gut-reno will cost $30K - they are pocketing $20K and go to great lengths to post discussions here to maintain this ridiculous pricing scheme.
The reality is that most people who live in Manhattan were not born there and are introduced to marketing reality that correlates to their income and not to the actual cost of time and material.
Do not pay for a bathroom reno as if it were brain surgery, it's not and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Good luck!

You can bust out all the tile in a day. During the RE bubble, I hired a guy for $150/day. Maybe $200/day. Now, there is a lot of labor sitting around, so rates should be even less. I think he took 5 days total to do the entire bath. Total cost came in around your number. Only clueless suckers pay $20k for a bathroom. Hire people by the day rate, and buy the stuff yourself (or with them)

Dealboy and look-pied are right. I did the exact renovation you are talking about 5 years ago. I used marble tile, the dimensions were approx the same and the marble cost about 2500. Do not buy it in Manhattan, go to NJ, Dal-tile is in Lyndhurst (10 minutes from the lincoln tunnel) and check home depot as well. Do not use a contractor, use the building's handyman or friends who know how to do this stuff. For my floor, the marble was laid over the existing floor; for the walls the existing stuff was removed. The demo took one day, and putting up the new marble (tile not slabs)took 2 days. There were 2 workers who charged me 2,500 for the 3 days, which was probably too much. I had the existing tub sprayed which I think cost about 500; and I bought a nice mirror and shaving mirror for about 1,000. All in it was 6500, and it looked great when it was finished. I know your budget is less than that so try to save some and do it when you are ready. Keep in mind that you will most likely sell the place in 5 to 10 years, so you want the bath to be attractive to potential buyers. Good luck.

Seaver69, one last thing........great handle.

Dealboy,

Do you live in Manhattan? Does your building have a board? Did they require all the plumbing lines be replaced back to the riser? What kind of fixtures did you buy? Do you have a picture of your renovation?

I agree with most everyone's comments on the DIY and that a contractor does make a huge profit, however I don't understand why no one wants to pay for skill in this country? Their is nothing wrong with a contractor pocketing 20k an over estimate btw if you have ever run a business with insurance, trucks, tools, gas etc. on top of your labor. A businessman accounts for that out of every job and looks toward expansion or at least providing a nice life for his family. Just for argument sake lets say it's the easiest business in the world if I am a busy professional that is not interested in doing my own renovation even if I posses the skill that's why I pay. The worst thing in the world especially with contracting is to nickle and dime and cut corners (nothing wrong with negotiating) however penny wise pound foolish could be defined by cheapskates doing renovations. For god sake people if your looking to save cash then do it yourself just don't beat up a competent professional for making a profit whatever his value demands. In closing when I want a suit tailored properly I don't look for the cheapest job I pay the guy for his skill.

Oh and I am not a contractor and have done my own projects with great success.