Charlie Nail

Charlie Nail here, let me be your home remodeling guide as you go from thinking about your project to doing it. Now, all of those notes and all of that thinking has been completed and it is time move into action.

When you remodel a bathroom, you may be required to pull a building permit. I say may be required, because every jurisdiction looks at it slightly differently. The only way you will know for sure is to call them and tell them what you plan to do. They will be able to tell you over the phone. Whether you do it yourself or plan to hire a contractor, please, please, please check for yourself on this important task.

Before you can pull this permit, you need a drawing. If you are hiring a general contractor, typically they supply the drawings, just make sure you get this detail pinned down in your contract. If you are going to be the general, you will need to supply a drawing to the subcontractors on you site. This will save lots of time and misunderstanding. Because the sub will have more confidence in your plan and know exactly what to bid, you will get a better price, saving you money! Yeah!

And finally, you can take this drawing to the vendors that you buy materials from, and they will have a more accurate way to see what will work best for you in the space you have.

How do you get this drawing? You can do it by hand or you can purchase my favorite home design software. Keep it simple and do what you feel most comfortable with. If you decide to do it by hand, contact me and I will go over several key points privately. These things are automatically included in the software, and you won’t know about them initially.

Oh, by the way… next stop - let’s go shopping!

Charlie Nail here, why are you doing home improvement remodeling at all? Why do you even want to remodel a bathroom? There are many reasons for doing this, just get very clear about this in the beginning and it will save you much time, money and stress.

First of all, consider the most important reason of all. Does your bathroom need it. Refer to the following blog post for ways to analyze the answer to this question.

Secondly, if you know why you are wanting to remodel this bathroom, review how this will affect the buying decisions that you make for doing this project. For example, you will buy different products for a bathroom in a house up for quick resale than you will buy for your dream bathroom. No right or wrong, just make sure you know before you buy.

Finally, are you going to do it yourself or hire it out. Big question. Lots of ways to look at this one. Allow me to guide you through this important decision making process.

Lots to think about, so make sure to take notes on the pre-assembled checklists that we have put together for you. The pre-planning guide, Home Remodeling Plan Workbook is available, as are quite a few design and sequence checklists.

Charlie Nail here, it’s true, the rage is vessel sink faucets and bathroom vessel sinks! Not only is that true, but it is amazing how this combination is so versatile. Remodel a bathroom with this style in mind. When you close your eyes and visualize it, you may think of them as part of a vintage. more rural home design. But, really, I have seen combinations that are so new and contemporary they almost look futuristic.

Not sure what to think? Pop on over to our site and take a look at it. If you follow the links you will see many, many styles to choose from. If it turns out that the vessel sink faucet and vessel bathroom sink are not your cup of tea, then you will definitely find a style that is. This catalog has over 1000 products available. Psst: Probably shouldn’t say this, but we like the Delta brand, a lot!

That reminds me, I am from the old school that has some fear about shopping online. All this technology kind of worries me, including buying things. But, I am over it. I have had some really great shopping experiences online and love the ease, convenience and savings that you can get from it. I think as long as you buy from reputable sources and trust your instincts, you will be ok.

I have a couple of different resources to share with you that might make it all easier to consider. The first is a downloadable book on how to keep yourself safe on the internet. I chuckle because the first thing it will tell you to do is verify your sources. I am Charlie Nail, true, but my company is Home Remodeling Colorado and my DIY site is Home Remodeling How To.Com. There, I am verified. Enjoy the book and I hope you get lots of good pointers from it.

The second thing is an article I ran across the other day, on the pros and cons of buying your bathroom remodel products online. Impartial view, take a look. I know it will give you great food for thought.

If you have any questions at all, make sure to post them on the blog and I will get back with you asap.

Charlie Nail here, let me be your home improvement guide as you start to remodel a bathroom in your home. You have already completed the pre-planning session and the home improvement how to likes and dislikes chart. Part of filling out that chart was to rank each issue according to how difficult you think it will be to change. This step is so important because it helps you decide what you will do and what you will have your team do.

All of your planning so far has been to create a master plan for all of your home remodeling needs. As we discussed this morning, this is an important step that will allow you to develop a clear plan for the entire house.

From this plan, you can break everything down into do-able sections, from both a time/convenience factor and from a financial point of view. Because you have a master plan, you will see the areas where individual remodels intersect and you can prevent remodeling the remodel. For more on this type of master plan sequencing, please check out the work and planning that was done for another family over the course of a 3 year time period. This work included remodeling the entire 2nd floor of their house, to include the master and hall bathroom. Amazing, but, sometimes wanting to remodel a bathroom actually turns into so much more. Forewarned is forearmed, so please think it through!

If you have not completed the pre-planning eworkbook, order that and get started. All other home remodeling checklists can be picked up on the site. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Charlie Nail here, a home remodeling plan is the key to success on any project. Whether you are going to do it yourself or hire it out, you need to have a well thought out plan. A year ago, while working out at the gym, I met up with a woman who was trying to treadmill her anxieties away.

I asked what was wrong and she told me that she was in the middle of a home remodel gone very bad. I introduced myself as a general contractor and asked her for more information.

Long story short, most of the problem was started by not having a clear cut plan, which resulted in remodeling the remodel as it was in progress. This resulted in lots of extra time, spending way more money than was necessary, and stress that can’t be measured.

This can happen so easily. You start with one project and it is so easy to add others on, while all the tradesmen are in place. Before you know it, your entire house is in varying degrees of demolition, and no one is thinking about the next step.

Or, everyone is thinking only about their part and no one is thinking about how it ties together. And before you know it, you are remodeling something that was just built. Yikes!

Please, please, please, take the time in the beginning to think through every part of the process. If you don’t know what the process is, please go through our site and become familiar with it. If you want to get a guided tour of each detail, order the eworkbook and do each step. Stay tuned in the coming days as we do this very thing on this blog.

In these scary economic times, you still need to care for and have a home that is functional and pleasing to you. This means that you may have to remodel parts of it. Don’t add to your fears and economic uncertainty by not having a home remodeling plan that you understand and can follow.