It can be pretty hard to talk about home improvements without getting into a chat about bathroom renos. I think bathrooms are higher on the wish list than kitchens a lot of the time.

I am the same as everyone else; I want a new bathroom too. I just need to find the time. I’m too busy doing everyone else’s. I just finished a great bathroom renovation that didn’t really start out as a complete redo. The plan started out as a simple up-grade.

Throw in a new tub, finish it off with a new tile surround. After that I guess we should think about tiling the floor. Well, that’s where we started. Like all bathroom facelifts, it seems to get a life of its own as things start to get rolling. Take out a bathtub that’s been there for several years and you don’t know what you will find.

Most often you can expect that the plumbing will need to be looked at. If it’s more than ten years old you should probably change it out to a newer model with a pressure regulated control so you don’t burn your butt when the kids flush the toilet down stairs or turn on the sprinkler outside.

This is the time to do it anyway, even if you think you don’t need to — after all, the wall is open and the pipes are exposed. Dealing with this issue at a later date could prove to be very costly and even may require that you re-tile your tub surround all together. As always it’s all about the wallet.

Giving the bath a total makeover can be a little expensive but spending a few extras dollars now can save you from wasting a bunch of dollars later.

Smaller things to think about when you’re re-tiling the tub surround can be adding tile to the small back splash behind the sink or even tiling behind the toilet. That way you won’t ever have to try to get a paint brush back there again.

In the bathroom that I just finished we discovered that the wall behind the tub needed to completely redone right from the insulation to the cement board. At first glance it didn’t look like there would be any trouble. But when we removed the old bath tub we noticed the wall was not up to standard.

After we took off the wood we also found the insulation was saw dust and not insulating much at all. We cleaned it all out and insulated it properly with a the proper vapor barrier before we added the cement wall board that the tile would stick to. Not a tough job but very necessary one to insure the job was done right the first time.

From now on in any house older than fifty years I am counting on replacing the wall board and anything behind the wall board that isn’t up to code. That way we can rest assured that it will last as long as we want it to, all the way to the bank after we sell it to the next guy.

Things like rebuilding all or part of any wall or managing plumbing issues can be budget busters but the dollars are much smaller than the sense of well being knowing that you will not have to pay any attention or money to the bathroom again. It’s nice to have a new bathroom regardless how we got there.

Because bathrooms are the second smallest room in the house after the broom closet, we can enjoy a much reduced material cost. Lots of home improvement materials are sold by the square foot and if your bathroom is an average one the floor is most likely less than 75 square feet.

So splurge a little and go for the pricey tile. The same goes for the surround. That too will probably be less than 75 feet so get the tile you want, how bad could it get with only 75 feet to buy for and not 275? This is one of those times where you don’t want to say to yourself, “I wish I done that in my bathroom when I had the chance.”