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Finally, take a good look at the existing room itself. Determine if any rooms are under it or over it and how the walls match up. It may be that you can easily move water fixtures from one side of the bathroom to the other because of other nearby plumbing. Take some measurements of adjacent rooms to see if there are any hidden pockets that could be used for new pipes or ventilation. If you are considering putting a skylight in your remodeled bathroom, take a look at the existing ceiling. It may be relatively easy to install a skylight well between roof rafters in the ceiling to allow sunlight into the room. If not, consider a solar tube or a wall window for additional light with privacy. The more you know about the existing bathroom the better you can design a new one—and you’ll stay ahead of costly surprises. One more point on inspections: Consider hiring a professional home inspector to take inventory of the bathroom or other area you plan to remodel. The cost typically is $150 to $400. It will not only save you climbing around in the attic or under the house, it will give you more confidence that you know what you’re dealing with. Alternately, if you’ve decided to use a contractor to remodel your bath the contractor will do the initial inspection. Just make sure it gets done. Remodeling Savings If you have friends or relatives who work in the building or remodeling trades—contractors, plumbers, electricians, inspectors—ask them to take a look at your remodeling project to determine if there are any special problems you will face. You can save some time and money! That’s the needs analysis for planning a bathroom remodel. It can be as simple or as complex as any other remodeling job, but it needs to be thorough. Why? Because you will be using it to design your new bathroom as well as determine costs. You don’t want surprises, opening up a wall to find out that it has extensive water damage that will cost you thousands more than your budget has. And you don’t want to plug the first appliance in to your new bathroom and have it trip a circuit breaker. So even if you need to hire an inspector or contractor to do the job, make sure you get an accurate knowledge of what you’re dealing with. Knowledge is power.
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