[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. Now, one of the things, if you're hiring a company to come in and do work, one company, and I'm gonna put on blast right now, the one company I don't trust is the bbb, the Better Business Bureau. If you're looking at references, stay away from that because, uh, many times I have seen with my own eyes, and this is my personal opinion, that I have seen contractors pay to hide problems with the B B B, get an A Grade because they paid extra to have that better grade.

[00:00:40] Eric Goranson: So, uh, do not use that if you're out shopping any of these services out there. That is not the place that I trust because I've seen too many. Things that went badly because, uh, they were able to, uh, purchase a better rating. And that to me is a big mistake when you allow that to happen. When it [00:01:00] comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know the, we got you covered.

[00:01:06] Eric Goranson: This is around the house, the segment that's brought to you by Root Quencher and root quencher.com. If you have trees, you're trying to water and they're not healthy, you need to get water right to the roots and you know how you do it. Root Quencher. Check out root quencher.com, save some money and have healthier trees.

[00:01:24] Eric Goranson: Welcome to the Round the House Show. This is where we hope you get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. We are gonna dive into bathrooms and bathroom remodeling and update tips. You know, this is one of the most common. Projects that we see out there, because many homes have multiple bathrooms, right?

[00:01:45] Eric Goranson: So you have one kitchen generally, and uh, it's pretty easy to have two bathrooms in a house, or at least one and a half. Bathrooms and bathrooms are really expensive to remodel. So any tips that we can probably help you might be able [00:02:00] to help you get a little more life out of it before having to spend.

[00:02:04] Eric Goranson: Big dollars on a project. So a couple things I wanna talk about is, is with any D I Y project planning is key, right? That is a huge deal, and the bathroom is just the same, and you don't wanna get things out of order because you don't have to do a project twice. So first, what I want you to do is I want you to do some detective work before you start any of these projects and figure out some basics.

[00:02:30] Eric Goranson: Look around and see if there's anything leaking or causing any water damage. You know, get up underneath if you can and see if there's a leak underneath that shower or bathtub. Is it under crawl space or a basement? Do you have access? Can you look up through a light fixture in the floor below and see if there's anything up there, because there's no sense going through and doing an update if you've got a problem that you're gonna have to tear it out anyway, just to fix that.

[00:02:59] Eric Goranson: So [00:03:00] doing a little work, seeing if you have any water damage mold, how bad is it? You know, is the floor in front of the tub pretty hammered or the shower hammered? Is it soft? You know, is that old 1970s shower leaking in behind? Do some detective work and until you can say there is nothing in there that's big, keep looking.

[00:03:24] Eric Goranson: That's a key right there. So once you've got that done, the next thing I want you to do is let's get into health and safety here for just a second in the bathroom cuz it's a key piece here. Make sure that that, uh, outlet is G F C I protected or lights as well. Make sure that that is all protected and make sure that you have a vent fan, a bathroom fan, some people call 'em fart fans, but a bathroom fan.

[00:03:54] Eric Goranson: That removes that and sends that all the way to the exterior of the house, not up into the [00:04:00] crawlspace or attic, not, you know, any place other than completely outside the house. And it needs to be ducted and insulated. That way you can have that move into the outside. So that's first, I think one of the easiest and best projects in a bathroom, just to update it.

[00:04:23] Eric Goranson: Is a good deep cleaning. If you have tile, steam, clean that tile and then seal it and a brand new high efficiency automatic vent fan. Now that vent fan, I'd love to see it on a timer. Or at least a smart home one. So it's running at least 20 minutes if you have a shower or a bathtub in there, you know, if it's a, um, powder room, it's not as big a deal, but you want to have it or that goes outside.

[00:04:58] Eric Goranson: So that's a key right there. [00:05:00] That can be one of the biggest things. And when you, bathrooms are notoriously hard to paint such a small room, but it's notoriously hard to paint. You have so many little corners, so many little places that you have to get around like the behind the toilet to really do that, right?

[00:05:18] Eric Goranson: Most of the time you have to take the toilet off the floor, disconnect it so you can get in behind it. But the first thing I wanna see you do is go in there and really give it a good scrub down. Give those walls and ceiling a good scrub down. And if you've got a matte paint, that's gonna be even harder.

[00:05:36] Eric Goranson: But really give that a good scrub down in there. Get all the, the chemicals that are on the wall, all of the, the junk and mildew and stuff that's hiding up there. Give it a good, deep clean before you do it. Don't just prime over the top of it. You want this to adhere. The last thing you wanna do is have any kind of mold or mildew growing underneath it.

[00:05:57] Eric Goranson: So go through, get it all prepped. [00:06:00] Cleaning is key. Good primer, good paint. Again, it's like the kitchen, making sure you got that good primer on there. And I'm not talking all in one primer and paint. No. Put a good adhesion pri uh, primer on there and then hit it with your good quality paint that's meant for bathrooms.

[00:06:18] Eric Goranson: You know, make sure it gets something that's mint for humid and, and moist situations like that, you know, if it's a powder room, it's not as big a deal if you don't have a shower or you know, it's a half bath or something. But any place that's steam producing. Make sure you've got a good quality paint in there.

[00:06:35] Eric Goranson: And like I said, ventilation is key. Making sure you have that, you know, and, and it's part of this is if you've got grout in there, you know, you could go down to your tool rental store and rent a steamer where you can go through and steam clean all of that crowd. That's if you hire one of those, the, the professional treatment guys to come in there.

[00:06:58] Eric Goranson: And I say guys, as a company, [00:07:00] if you go in and do that, it's really easy to go through and steam, clean it and scrub it, let it dry, and then seal it. You can change a complete look of a bathroom if you have a light grout and it's getting nasty and dirty. Now, the secret though, afterwards, after you've got that clean, if you want to get it clean as to make sure that you've got great airflow in that bathroom.

[00:07:24] Eric Goranson: So if you've got a big fan in, make sure you've got space under the door for air to come into that space. That's called makeup air for that room, so making sure that there's enough air coming into there. If you've got a really tight door that's a quarter inch off and you've got a hundred CFM fan, think about trying to pass a hundred basketballs of air every minute.

[00:07:45] Eric Goranson: You need to have enough room in there to get that going, and that'll be a key for having a really good space. So work on that. That's a good one right there. Now, one of my favorites in a bathroom, especially if it's a like a hall bathroom and it's got [00:08:00] maybe a vinyl floor coming and putting a, uh, waterproof flooring surface in there.

[00:08:03] Eric Goranson: Maybe it's a luxury vinyl plank. Maybe it's, uh, installing a new tile floor or putting in any one of the different sheet vinyls in there. There's a lot of great things you can do, but I tell you what, the one thing that I enjoy the most on a floor is a heated surface. Now if you have a tile floor in there and you've got a shower, that also keeps it dry in there too, cuz you could actually have the fan going for 20 minutes.

[00:08:34] Eric Goranson: You know, you wipe up any big water spots down there and then you can let that dry out with the heated tile floor doing its work. So it does really reduce the chance of mold in there if you've got ventilation because you're just removing that from there. Once it's turned into steam, once it has evaporated into the air, then the vent fan can grab it and get it out of the building.

[00:08:57] Eric Goranson: So I think that's a key right there to having a good floor and, [00:09:00] uh, tell you what it's worth, the extra money to have that circuit. You know, you'll need a 20 amp circuit most likely in there, but it's a good time to do that upgrade. And, uh, man, that tile floor is a huge one. Now, when we come back here, I want to talk about toilets for a minute, and this is a key one.

[00:09:18] Eric Goranson: And, and if you've ever watched South Park, if you're a South Park person, I hope you've seen the Japanese toilet episode. It will make you die laughing. It's funny. Uh, I love it when comedy comes into home improvement cause it makes for something funny. But, uh, definitely something for you to tune into is, uh, that, uh, go, go search that out on, uh, on your favorite, uh, streaming device.

[00:09:45] Eric Goranson: Find that. It's a good laugh, I can promise you. All right, we'll come back. We're gonna talk toilets, Iain, toilets just as soon as around the house returns.

[00:09:57] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Dick and Satchel [00:10:00] from. Steel Panther and you are listening too, around the house with Eric G. Yeah. We love Eric G and you should too.

[00:10:22] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we helped get the most outta your home through information and education. This episode we've been talking about the cost effective bathroom remodel tips. Not just gut it, but just some of these newer little, you know, just little projects you can take.

[00:10:39] Eric Goranson: On in your bathroom to really make it more valuable, make it more enjoyable, and, uh, make it a better space. And I wanted to talk about toilets for a minute because, you know, toilets again are one of those things that you get what you pay for. Um, I think one of the worst things you can do is run down to your local home center [00:11:00] and buy the name brand toilet.

[00:11:01] Eric Goranson: That's cheap because a cheap toilet costs you more money in the long run because they're not meant to flush very well. And toilet technology has come a long way, and you've heard me talk about it here before if you're a regular listener. So I appreciate you tuning in. But stay away from those cheap toilet models because for instance, I cut one apart for my TV show around the House Northwest, which you can grab.

[00:11:23] Eric Goranson: If you wanna catch the videos over there, you can catch this over. Uh, go to YouTube, go at Fox 12 and it's Fox 12 Oregon is where we're at. Go over there and you can just find the around the house playlist and find it there. So you'll see what I talked about when I did this, but I cut a toilet it in half and my buddy William helped me do that.

[00:11:42] Eric Goranson: But when you look at a cheap toilet on the inside, you know you have that shiny white porcelain on the outside. You want that porcelain to go all down throughout the trap area. Cheap ones typically don't have that. And because of brands like todo, [00:12:00] they have really pushed the American manufacturers in Totos made outta Japan.

[00:12:06] Eric Goranson: They are the, um, I think still the largest toilet manufacturer in the world. I believe they, they do more toilets in American Standard and Kohler combined, which are two big American brands. But really when you get a good quality toilet, which is about $300 on up, you get something that's gonna be more easily flushed.

[00:12:31] Eric Goranson: You get something that's going to get clogged up less and something that's gonna last a lot longer and stay cleaner because they put a better finish on it. Now, if you wanna ruin a toilet and the finish on it, make it harder to clean, pour bleach in it. Grab that gallon of bleach, pour it in there, swirl the brush around, and if you wanna etch the surface of that and make it so the dirt or anything else, and we'll leave it at that.

[00:12:56] Eric Goranson: Likes to stick to it more. Etch it with bleach cuz [00:13:00] that's what you're doing. If you buy like one of the new toto toilets, for instance. If you buy one of those, many of them and ask your, um, local plumbing dealer when you look at this to see if they have one of their nano coatings on the top side of it.

[00:13:14] Eric Goranson: What they've done is they've done their high quality porcelain and then they put a secondary finish over the top where really nothing sticks. It's like a non-stick layer to that. And what's cool, the non-stick layer is that it makes it easier to clean. They're almost self-cleaning now. I dunno if you've watched, uh, if you're a South Park purveyor or if you like comedy, make sure you watch the Japanese toilet episode.

[00:13:38] Eric Goranson: It's funny, it's wrong, but it's hilarious. And this is one thing I recommend to everybody. When you're doing a bathroom model or you're doing some electrical in the bathroom, make sure and put that circuit G F C I, right close to the toilet down low. So that way you have a place to plug in someday a bide toilet seat [00:14:00] or a bide toilet that need power.

[00:14:02] Eric Goranson: If you are looking at a bidet toilet seat that does not require power, I would run away. You want something that's gonna be powered, you do not want to get one of the $199 B day toilet seats, cuz guess what? It's gonna operate like a bide toilet seat. You want the heated seat? You want the remote control.

[00:14:22] Eric Goranson: You want the warm water. I did one, um, a few years ago, ah, probably five or six years ago, actually maybe five years ago, where we took AADE to one of the a hundred dollars bide toilet seats and hooked it up. You had to hook it off the co, the warm water line off of the, off of the sink, so you had to run a little hose all the way over to the toilet, and then when you turned it on to use it, it took a long time to get any kind of warm water there.

[00:14:50] Eric Goranson: That is the last thing you want in a bide toilet seat. Or a BDE toilet. So making sure that they have an unlimited supply of warm water, [00:15:00] that they've got a fan that charged with a charcoal filter on it. And some of those basics will make your life a lot easier. But really the first thing is, is making sure that you put an outlet back there.

[00:15:11] Eric Goranson: So if you're doing a remodel and you need to run power for something, add that to your list of things that you can do to make that worthwhile. And yes, there are. $179 home center toilets. And yes, there are $13,000 luxury toilets that are not gold plated that will do everything you want it to do from giving you a, uh, hair dryer for the bidet.

[00:15:44] Eric Goranson: That blows warm air on you to a heated toilet seat, to under bowl lights, to having a charcoal filtration system that doesn't make the room smell. So there are a lot of things in the price points of toilets and uh, it's something for you to really [00:16:00] consider because, uh, get what you could afford and, uh, you'll be better off.

[00:16:05] Eric Goranson: But I tell you what, buying a high quality toilet seat that is a bidet function will save you on toilet paper. And, uh, it will make for a cleaner experience for you. All right, so one of the things that you can do outside of replacing that toilet, which we were just talking about, is add a heated towel warmer.

[00:16:28] Eric Goranson: Now, what this does, and you might heard our show a few weeks ago, and I'll just just briefly touch on this, is that that heated towel warmer, what it can do is it can dry that toilet, that towel out, so it stays. Smelling fresher longer, and quite frankly, there is nothing wrong with having a nice warm towel when you get outta the shower.

[00:16:47] Eric Goranson: So that's a key right there. So if, if you do that, you could plug it into an outlet, you could put your own hardwired one in there. It's really trick. It will save you about a towel load of a [00:17:00] load of towels a week for most two people households. It will stop you from having to do that cuz all of a sudden that towel dries fresh.

[00:17:08] Eric Goranson: It's clean, it's comfortable, and it's something you're going to enjoy. So, uh, make sure to look at that. It can save you a ton of water and they don't use that much electricity and so you can use it, uh, sparingly as needed, but having that towel get dry will save you a ton of laundry. So something to think about.

[00:17:31] Eric Goranson: Now, one of the things too that I think is big too is if you can get a new shower door, if you've got that old shower door system, you can go through and get that dialed in a new shower door. When you've got a ugly, nasty, hard water stained one can be a game changer for inside your home and making it look like a much nicer finished product.

[00:17:53] Eric Goranson: But here is the thing, and this is the the struggle that I have. Is that I am not a fan of most of [00:18:00] the store bought shower door systems. Those just are not fun to put in. Uh, they're a lot of work and especially if you've got tile or something like that, they're very much a challenge. I would much rather have a door that fits, have it made, have it installed.

[00:18:18] Eric Goranson: It is something that I do not enjoy doing. Have I done my own? Yes. Do I swear I'll never do one again? Abs of freaking Lilly. They are not fun to put in. And, uh, when endowed have a one made to the right size and have that professional install it, we come back. I got some big tips for bathrooms just as.

[00:18:59] Eric Goranson: Hey, this [00:19:00] is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Keel, the Ron Keel Band and Steeler. We are rocking around the house with Eric G. Ray is your best. Welcome back to The Round the House. Show this where I help to get the most outta your home. Through information education. We have been talking about cost effective bathroom remodeling, tips, things you can do around that bathroom to make it a little bit better, make it a little more enjoyable without having to gut it.

[00:19:26] Eric Goranson: Now, here's one that I think is a really cool one, especially if you've got that seventies or eighties home with a really low, like 30, 31, even 32 inch high vanities. You know, the standard vanity height has moved from that low side up into kitchen cabinet height, which is now 36 inches. That is kind of the new standard for bathroom vanities.

[00:19:49] Eric Goranson: Well, in the seventies you saw him being desk height, which was down at 30 inches. Which is horrible. It's really tough on your back. [00:20:00] And, uh, that is something that, uh, how we do bathrooms these days, having a bathroom vanity, six inches higher is important. Now I get something. You know, having a shorter vanity if you've got kids or something like that, I mean, that's one thing, but just always remember when you're designing out those remodels for kids, they're only gonna be that way for just a number of years, handful of years.

[00:20:21] Eric Goranson: So if you're gonna buy time to do it and just gonna leave it that way, cool. Maybe you wanna wait. To get that dialed in maybe later, and, uh, get that really kind of updated and leave those lower vanities for a couple years until those kids get much taller and, uh, they grow quick. As you know, those times go by fast, so you might wanna wait a little bit or just get a nice little stool like everybody else does and, uh, the kids will do fine.

[00:20:45] Eric Goranson: So just something to think about with Vanity Heights. Now if you want to tackle a smaller project that casts a little bit of money, but it's not the price of a remodel, you can go through and change out that bathroom cabinet, countertop, [00:21:00] sink faucet. It is a complete game changer of the entire look of the bathroom.

[00:21:07] Eric Goranson: It's a major update. Now, here's one thing I'd like to mention too, and this is where I think it's really important when you're out shopping for fixtures. So if you're like, Hey, I'm gonna do some upgrades. I'm gonna put a brand new shower valve on a new faucet, I'm gonna put on some new stuff, please make sure and use all of the right brands in series of it.

[00:21:30] Eric Goranson: So they all match. That's huge. If you can do that. We're golden. I want all the towel pieces. I want your towel bars, I want the faucet, I want the bathroom, vanities, hardware, all that stuff to play well together. Now you can have two different colors and go kind of so you're not two matchy matching, have two colors.

[00:21:57] Eric Goranson: But I wanna see all of that stuff [00:22:00] match and come together. That is gonna look really good. It needs to play well together. If you have a chrome faucet and a gold shower valve and black hardware and oil rub, bronze toilet paper, it looks like you're at Liberace's yard sale and it doesn't match. So you wanna make sure that you've got everything matching within that space.

[00:22:28] Eric Goranson: And like I said, if you've got a, a, uh, two-tone faucet, you can use those two tones around, but use the same brands when you can. That's gonna be super important, so you can put that together. That's gonna be a big key for making this look cohesive and planned out. Now there are companies out there like some of the more common ones, like the Deltas and the moans and stuff that you saw, those pieces being used in the eighties and nineties.

[00:22:56] Eric Goranson: They do make some trim kits to upgrade stuff, so do a [00:23:00] little research online and see what styles they have. Sometimes those old classic fixtures, you could actually do a nice little update there, and that goes a long way. Now, next up here, I really wanted to talk about. You know, some larger projects that aren't that expensive, but they're a little bit more work, new lighting.

[00:23:20] Eric Goranson: So, That lighting upgrade can be huge. If you just have that bathroom light over the top of the sink and that's it, and maybe you don't have a light in the vent fan, maybe there's no overhead light and you're trying to increase that lighting. With today's L E D lights, it's really not that hard to be able to go in there and extend out and put a couple L e D lights in that room.

[00:23:41] Eric Goranson: You know, sometimes putting one that is rated for over the shower. You can put 'em up there if they're weather, if you know, if they're rated for steam and they're rated to go over the shower, those enclosed lights, they'll say that they're approved for that. But you can add in a couple lights in there and change the entire look.

[00:23:58] Eric Goranson: That's the beautiful thing about lighting. [00:24:00] Make sure, of course you have the same color temperature as the bulbs in the vanity light, but really new lights updating those lights. And adding lights is good. Now, here's one thing that I always see and it's just, it's my pet peeve on Pinterest and so many other places is so many people want to go, oh, I wanna have my big bathtub.

[00:24:23] Eric Goranson: I want to add that bathtub cause I have space over here. And then I wanna put in that chandelier overhead. I seriously hope you have a nice tall ceiling. Because it is against code to have that hanging chandelier over the top of the bathtub. Why? Because you don't wanna be TA standing in water, in touching electrical appliance over your head.

[00:24:45] Eric Goranson: So that has to be taller, so you can't touch it. But if you've got an eight foot ceiling and you wanna put a chandelier, and guess what, you're not gonna be able to put that over the bathtub. You're gonna have to have a much taller ceiling to make that fit and look well, so you can't, even though you'll [00:25:00] see pictures everywhere.

[00:25:01] Eric Goranson: And yes, I have seen projects where. The contractor says, Hey, it's up to you. I'll put uh, an electrical box over the top with a cover plate on it, and when I'm outta here and moved out, if you wanna put a light in, go ahead. I can't do it for you cuz it's not building code and it's a safety issue. I've seen people do it.

[00:25:19] Eric Goranson: But it doesn't mean that it meets building code because that is a dangerous situation when you start mixing electricity and water together and all it takes is for somebody to reach up and slip or, or try to steady themselves and you've got a, uh, probably a fatal situation there that nobody wants to see happen, and that could be really dangerous.

[00:25:39] Eric Goranson: So no pudding hanging fixtures over the tops of bathtubs. It's a really bad idea. Now another thing that's really smart that I see people doing is a, as another little upgrade is adding as they're doing other electrical work in the house, maybe doing a panel upgrade, putting in another set of outlets in there on a different separate circuit.

[00:25:58] Eric Goranson: So maybe you've got, [00:26:00] uh, you know, the kids, you know, it's very easy if you've got kids in the bathroom that are teenagers, two of them, two sinks, and they're both trying to use curling iron and hair dryers. Guess what? It's pretty easy for those to kick that, uh, that breaker or G F C I out. So first, make sure that you've got one that's working because when those things wear out, they kick easy.

[00:26:21] Eric Goranson: So maybe it's not the hairdryer. Maybe you've got a G F C I outlet that is worn out. They last about 10 years max. So if it's a little bit older, it's a little bit discolored. Might be chance to, to replace that. And see if that solves the problem before you put it in another circuit. But if you're really gonna drop another circuit in, I tell you what, it's a good way to go because now you have two different circuits up there and it's got two different feeds.

[00:26:46] Eric Goranson: So if you've got two different kids, or maybe it's uh, somebody, uh, you know, a parent and. A kid that's in there at the same time getting ready in a smaller house. These are things that can make it much easier and, uh, [00:27:00] really make it kind of, uh, solve some of those problems that you have with electricity.

[00:27:05] Eric Goranson: And that can be a big one there. And so that added power at the same time, if you're doing it and you can add one behind the toilet like we talked about earlier. So you have an option down the road for a bide toilet seat or a bide toilet. So something to consider, you know, one of the other projects too that we've talked about a little bit, and we'll talk about it here and, and more so in the next segment.

[00:27:27] Eric Goranson: But, you know, painting and finishing those cabinets and maybe doing an upgrade there is kind of nice. Not having to replace those at the vanities in decent shape. You just wanna change colors. Sometimes painting it can look really good and we'll talk about some of those steps coming up. But, uh, that can be a good saving grace, especially if you've got like old dated hardware that you wanna fill in because it's got a weird handle, you know, where it doesn't work well.

[00:27:54] Eric Goranson: So sometimes you can go through and actually fill those and do it. Now here's a secret. Before we get into that, I [00:28:00] want to, I wanna throw this out there. One way I have done this when I've wanted to change out vanity hardware. Where there's a weird drill pattern that I can't find the right hardware. I have hired a furniture repair person to come out and fill those small number of holes and airbrush grain and stain match it.

[00:28:20] Eric Goranson: You can't tell if you find the right person that it was even there, so that few hundred bucks might be cheaper than a new vanity. Especially if you like the look and then you can put on the hardware you want. Stick around around the house, be right back. These important messages,[00:29:00]

[00:29:02] Eric Goranson: Show down people, it's time to go. It's call. Call. Welcome back to the Round the house chase, where we help you get the most outta your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. We've been talking bathrooms. That music there was by my buddy Jim Haas. You've heard him on the show.

[00:29:25] Eric Goranson: From Blaze Grills, that's him playing his, uh, his stuff out there, which I really enjoy. Thanks, Jim, for giving us a little last call today. I wanna take a second and talk about, uh, you know, painting cabinets here before we get into some of the mistakes that people make that I wanna make sure that they don't do on a bathroom.

[00:29:43] Eric Goranson: But, uh, you know, going through, cleaning up that bathroom vanity, getting all the soap scum, all the oils, lotions have oils in 'em. So really cleaning all that stuff out. Any place that they've been touched by the hands around knobs and handles. And then you're gonna sand it. You're gonna take the doors and drawer fronts [00:30:00] off.

[00:30:00] Eric Goranson: You're going to tape it off. Then you will prime and paint and put the new hardware on. And like I said, it's a good time to fill those, uh, hardware handles if you're going that route. But really, that's a nice easy way to just do a simple little upgrade at low cost. And, uh, paints out really nice. And if you do the prep work right, it'll look really good.

[00:30:21] Eric Goranson: But it is a, a time consuming process even to paint something as small as a vanity. Well, some of the mistakes that I'm worried about happen, and this is stuff that I see out there all the time. That I wanna make sure that you don't tackle or do incorrectly while you're trying to update that bathroom.

[00:30:38] Eric Goranson: And the first one to me is painting tile. I have yet to see anything that looks decent when someone has gone in and paid or painted tile. To me, it looks like. They absolutely just painted it. And sometimes people have companies come in, maybe they went to the [00:31:00] local fair or home show and said, oh, I hate the color of this place.

[00:31:03] Eric Goranson: I'm gonna paint that four by four tile. And to me, when I see the paint, it's in the grout. It's all the same kind of monochromatic color. It looks painted, and then as soon as you get a scratch, it chips off these big pieces. And then it really. It looks like it's painted. So that's one that I've seen that has never gone well.

[00:31:26] Eric Goranson: I'm sure there's company's out there that'll show you samples, and I've seen even people come through and go, Hey, we're gonna do that. And then we go through and do a contrasting grout with a grout pen. Hey, that's okay. It still, to me looks like painted tile, so I think if you're tired of the tile, It is really time to replace it.

[00:31:45] Eric Goranson: I've not seen that go well. The other mistakes that I've seen, uh, on a bathroom is trying to paint your own bathtub with your over-the-counter kit. Um, I've not seen that gone well. I've seen that where it chips, [00:32:00] it'll chip. The first time somebody drops something in the tub, whether it's a toy or a bottle of shaving cream or whatever, it scratches and chips.

[00:32:07] Eric Goranson: And then once that's done, it's pretty tough to fi to finish it. Now you think about it, there's a couple different ways, three different ways they make bathtubs. The old fashioned way was when they took cast iron and made a casting of it when it was still red hot. They sprinkled porcelain, which is a dust of glass like flower on top of it.

[00:32:28] Eric Goranson: When it hit the red cast iron, it turned to glass. So you had this glass coat finish. Super durable. It's great. The next one is you've got your kind of builder basic fiberglass tub shower where it's one piece. And, uh, that really is fiberglass and it has a color gel coat on it that's kind of built into it, kind of like a, a Corvette, but it's built into that.

[00:32:52] Eric Goranson: And the other one is a steel that maybe has some sound ending behind it where they've got a baked on finish on that. Now, none of [00:33:00] these are all, actually, all of these are more durable than if you go in there and do a refinish and paint. Now you are not gonna ever put on anything that is durable, more durable than that porcelain that was on that cast iron tub.

[00:33:17] Eric Goranson: So all you're doing is painting it. You're getting a few more, you know, years of life maybe if you're careful. But that's all that is. So I want you to think about that. I think most of the time those that goes badly, you could do it, but it's just a temporary fix. Now, the other one I think is a big mistake as well, and I see a fair amount of this.

[00:33:37] Eric Goranson: And this is, again, one of those things. I am not a fan, and I'm sorry, even if you're an advertiser of my show out there, uh, I have seen some really poorly done capped products where they come in and put in a, uh, a piece over the top of the, um, you know, of the tub. So they basically put a liner, a plastic p v c [00:34:00] liner over the top.

[00:34:01] Eric Goranson: And it's molded to feet, your tub. I have taken a fair amount of those out and uh, they can work okay. But again, you have a smaller tub and it's just a cap over the top and it's a, it's a temporary fix in most cases. I'm sure there's some companies out there that I haven't seen. I'm sure there's companies out there that are doing a great job that I haven't experienced.

[00:34:24] Eric Goranson: But from what I've seen, um, they haven't gone well. And when they had steel tubs that were chipped many times that rust kept going and the tub would rust out because you'd get some moisture back in there. Or if you had a fiberglass one that was cracked, it would continue to crack. And then you'd have a soft spot in the bottom of that.

[00:34:42] Eric Goranson: So, again, something to think about with those. But, uh, for those one day tub repairs, uh, I have seen that go pretty badly, more than once, so I'm gonna put it as buyer beware. Now, one of the things, if you're hiring a company to come in and do work, [00:35:00] the one company, and I'm gonna put on blast right now, the one company I don't trust is the bbb, the Better Business Bureau.

[00:35:06] Eric Goranson: If you're looking at references, stay away from that because, uh, Many times I have seen with my own eyes, and this is my personal opinion, that I have seen contractors pay to hide problems with the B bbb, get an A Grade because they. Paid extra to have that better grade. So, uh, do not use that if you're out shopping any of these services out there.

[00:35:32] Eric Goranson: That is not the place that I trust because I've seen too many things that went badly because, uh, they were able to, uh, purchase a better rating. And that to me is a big mistake when you allow that to happen. And if you Google search, there have been a lot of, uh, I think it was, uh, 2020 back 15 years ago or something.

[00:35:52] Eric Goranson: They did a whole expose on that, on the news. That is a worthwhile watch. Uh, because there were places like Wolfgang Puck and Disney [00:36:00] that, uh, had f ratings because they wouldn't pay up and, uh, keep their accredited ratings. So it's something to be very careful with. I do not trust them. I did not bring them into construction, and it is not a reliable source, in my opinion.

[00:36:15] Eric Goranson: So another thing here too that's, let's get back to this. Bathroom stuff is we wanna be healthy with what we're doing in there. So the other thing that I'd like to see happen is that you're watching the chemicals you use, and what's the best way to do this? Actually, before you start any project that you're remodeling or fixing up that bathroom, please have your water quality issues resolved before you start.

[00:36:44] Eric Goranson: And I want soft water that's balanced. Not too aesthetic, not too caustic, because all the money you spend can be quickly ruined by bad water. So take the time [00:37:00] before you start that bathroom project, make sure that you have your water tested. And if you have anything inside of that that is, um, really, you know, if you've got hard water deposits or iron or any of those other things that might be good for you but are bad for your fixtures, make sure that you take the time and meet with a water quality professional before you buy any filtration.

[00:37:25] Eric Goranson: Do not go down without having a water test, cuz you really don't know now. I mean, if your neighbor, for instance, next door had a water test done and it's on the same water system. Maybe, but I really wanna see to make sure that if you've got an older house that that maybe lead's not coming up, or you're having some other issues that's within your house.

[00:37:43] Eric Goranson: Now you could know what the water coming in is, but making sure that you've got that under control, that hard water and water quality issues is the biggest destroyer of bathrooms. Bathroom fixtures because of the deposit it leaves [00:38:00] and how it makes it look horrible, and it makes it harder to clean because those things now are easily stained because they're not a sealed surface like you see with tile porcelain and something like that.

[00:38:11] Eric Goranson: So that's a key right there. So making sure that you have water quality issues, dial it in. That should be the first thing you handle in your house. And make sure it's going to make your fixtures last longer. It's gonna make your showers last longer. It's gonna make you use less soap. It's gonna make your water heater and your ice maker in the refrigerator, all these things will work better.

[00:38:32] Eric Goranson: When you have that water quality issues taken away, those issues are gone. You're in a better place. All right. Those are my quick tips on bathroom remodeling and when you're ready to do a bathroom remodel. Bring that designer in and talk with 'em about what you want and what you do, and try to reimagine that space and see if there's a better way of doing it.

[00:38:53] Eric Goranson: Because when the builder built it, or the last person that remodeled it, there might be a better way. All right, everybody. [00:39:00] That's the end of the show. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you in. Thanks for listening to Around the House