Adding Basement Bathroom Functionality - A Guide For Beginners

Remodeling professionals say that if you want to add a bathroom to your home on a limited budget, the first place to head is the basement. Adding basement bathroom functionality to your home is a smart choice that will raise its value and increase your home's convenience. It'll be a much more pleasant place to be. The basement is the best choice because it's the least expensive place to do this kind of renovation.

Adding a bath with a new footer, foundation or slab, as well as new roofing or siding, is likely to cost at least a third more than adding basement bathroom space to your home. You can put a bath in the basement without adding to the exterior footprint of your house. Most people aren't willing to sacrifice other existing living space, such as part of a bedroom, to add a bathroom elsewhere in the house, and even if you are, you'll have to deal with re-routing plumbing. A basement bathroom, on the other hand, uses existing walls and usually existing plumbing and electrical wiring, to produce an exceedingly inexpensive option.

You'll want to work closely with your remodeling contractor (if you use one) to choose the products and fixtures you'll be installing in the bathroom. Make sure that anyone you're working with is aware of your budget, and can help direct you to products that will be the most effective for your situation without falling outside your price range. You may wish to supply your own fixtures to be installed by someone else (it's an inexpensive alternative), but do take care. You're assuming the risk that the fixtures and products you buy are appropriate for the use you'd like to put them to.

Adding basement bathroom space to your bathroom is relatively simple if you have experience with plumbing, building, and wiring, or if you're working with an experienced contractor. Remember that if you're doing part of the work, the contractor may need to look over to make sure it's being done well. Even if you're doing all of it, many building codes will require you to have a pro come in and perform the last few major hookups or an inspection on the work you've done. This may seem inconvenient and expensive, but it prevents big problems later on.

Plumbing makes up the biggest chunk of your expenses when adding basement bathroom functionality to your home. Out of a fifteen thousand dollar renovation job, installing plumbing would make up about ten thousand. If you locate the new bathroom close to the old one, and make sure that you use the most efficient methods to get things working, you can save quite a bit. However, many basement bathrooms have complicated requirements, due to the difficulties with disposing of waste water below ground level. If you're in a situation like this and don't have much experience, make sure that you talk to a professional about your basement bathroom design.

Thomas Johnsen is the Author and Leading Expert on Adding Basement Bathrooms and the creator of the publication Adding a Basement Bathroom. Visit the site now to find the easy-to-understand step-by-step guides on basement bathroom construction available online today.