OT: Bathroom Remodel

[jibsey]

I have a contractor to rip apart and redo a master bathroom who is pretty good. Any advice on who to install or where to get glass shower enclosure or glass door? That’s A specialty? i’d Rather not work with Home Depot. Is it better to get vanities with sinks and tops already installed or get cabinets and then quartz or corian afterwards? Is there a place to see all this stuff? The potential cost of this whole thing frightens me.

 

[UofCT]

If you live in CT I highly recommend not using Mike's Factory Direct out of Westport. Probably the worst experience I've had with a contractor/vendor in my life. It was painfully bad.

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

My parents just had a shower glass door installed this week and used Southington Glass. They seemed to like them.

 

[Excalibur]

I have a contractor to rip apart and redo a master bathroom who is pretty good. Any advice on who to install or where to get glass shower enclosure or glass door? That’s A specialty? i’d Rather not work with Home Depot. Is it better to get vanities with sinks and tops already installed or get cabinets and then quartz or corian afterwards? Is there a place to see all this stuff? The potential cost of this whole thing frightens me.

Getting the cabinets and counter separately will give you more options. There are plenty of places that sell cabinets and vanities at a whole range of cost. For a bathroom, you may be able to get a scrap piece of stone which will save on costs. We just got done with a major kitchen remodel and used Centennial Granite in New Haven for the stone.

As for shower doors, you can look at Oasis in Avon or Eastern in Milford for an enclosure. If you're just looking at a standard fit sliding glass door, I'm not sure if it's worth the cost for a custom door.

 

[upstater]

I have a contractor to rip apart and redo a master bathroom who is pretty good. Any advice on who to install or where to get glass shower enclosure or glass door? That’s A specialty? i’d Rather not work with Home Depot. Is it better to get vanities with sinks and tops already installed or get cabinets and then quartz or corian afterwards? Is there a place to see all this stuff? The potential cost of this whole thing frightens me.

Can't speak for Connecticut, but my contractor told me he would install everything if we sourced it.

Doing this came in much lower than the A-Z contractors who also provide the cabinetry/porcelain etc.

Worked out well as I found concrete tiles from Vietnam online through a Cali retailer at 33% of the costs for tiling in my area. Getting a tub and toilet was easy too. Cabinetry, however, you have to splurge on, as I found out. This was the only thing that we paid full price for to get it right. Only thing that went wrong was the Glass installers for the shower put the towel rack inside the shower??!??!? They didn't like us much when I insisted they redo the whole door. Not my fault.

I would go with cabinets installed then the quartz/corian afterward. You can save a ton of money on the top if you go with extra pieces that they have in stock. They are usually big enough for a bathroom cabinet top.

 

[Chuck]

I also can't speak for CT, but I agree with Upstater. We did our bathroom last year. We have a contractor that did our basement so we went back to him. He gave us a list of what we needed and we did the rest. Tile using his contractor discount at a local tile place, toilet and accessories on Wayfair (great price and solid customer support when toilet came smashed), tub from Amazon, and vanity from a regional place that had the best price for the piece we liked. When the tub and vanity came in the contractor then measured for the marble we needed and we got that cut at a local place with his discount. Costs add up, but I know we saved a bundle by spending a bit of time on the web to find better prices on the stuff we wanted.

Glass was tougher to find. We read a lot of bad reviews of local places, and I didn't know enough to order from a random place on line. We went with the glass guy the contractor recommended. It worked out fine.

Our bathroom is above our garage. Heated floors have changed my life.

 

[UConnFranklin]

I just did my bathroom last March and I used Manchester Glass Co. They did a nice job and a little less expensive than West Hartford Glass.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I did my master two years ago. Contractor arranged all of that. If they can't do that, what the hell are you paying them for? Local glass place came out and measured the shower area once it was roughed in, and then built/cut the glass to fit. They came out to install it.

 

[8893]

These guys have been great for us in terms of sales and service of shower door/enclosure:

Premiere Shower Door

We had a contractor do everything else, with stuff we purchased separately from different sources.

 

[methodology]

Ask your contractor. If he is able and has installed in past you'll save money having him do it. If it's something he can't do go with whenever you purchase from.

Not sure where you are located but Galleria in Middletown has a large showroom of all different types of countertops, tile, cabinets, etc. A lot of other places including connecticut stone get their quartz, granite from them. It's open to public right off 91

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

I did my master two years ago. Contractor arranged all of that. If they can't do that, what the hell are you paying them for? Local glass place came out and measured the shower area once it was roughed in, and then built/cut the glass to fit. They came out to install it.

If you, spouse, business partners, etc are willing to do some homework to source materials a la @upstater, potential total costs savings may result just paying a contractor for his labor. Or, a contractor can manage everything including sourcing, suggest you'll get his discounted materials price, and then build in his additional-related profit margin which may or may not exceed his purported materials discount.

Once you've done a few home or building renovations or more, you know the game and know good dollars can potentially be saved. The advantage of @HuskyHawk's model is you have one contractor/company to chase should something go wrong and the latter's responsible for chasing suppliers, subs, etc. Neither all right nor all wrong, different methods, time allocation, and effort level work for different people and businesses.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

I have a contractor to rip apart and redo a master bathroom who is pretty good. Any advice on who to install or where to get glass shower enclosure or glass door? That’s A specialty? i’d Rather not work with Home Depot. Is it better to get vanities with sinks and tops already installed or get cabinets and then quartz or corian afterwards? Is there a place to see all this stuff? The potential cost of this whole thing frightens me.

Try Bender Plumbing Supply in New Haven. They have a show room

 

[intlzncster]

Only thing that went wrong was the Glass installers for the shower put the towel rack inside the shower??!??!? They didn't like us much when I insisted they redo the whole door. Not my fault.

Probably thought it was for wash cloths and the like. Unless there already was a bar in there for such things.

Costly brain fart for them tho.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If you, spouse, business partners, etc are willing to do some homework to source materials a la @upstater, potential total costs savings may result just paying a contractor for his labor. Or, a contractor can manage everything including sourcing, suggest you'll get his discounted materials price, and then build in his additional-related profit margin which may or may not exceed his purported materials discount.

Once you've done a few home or building renovations or more, you know the game and know good dollars can potentially be saved. The advantage of @HuskyHawk's model is you have one contractor/company to chase should something go wrong and the latter's responsible for chasing suppliers, subs, etc. Neither all right nor all wrong, different methods, time allocation, and effort level work for different people and businesses.

In our situations, kitchen as well, it was a hybrid. Contractor managed all the subs and labor. We handled some of the supply, and were able to use his discounts to get fixtures, tile, wood, whatever, ourselves. We liked the custom cabinet guy the kitchen guy used so much that we hired him directly for the bathroom.

I think much depends on how competitive the environment is. Our guys were willing to manage the project to the extent we needed them too. I knew nothing about glass for showers, so we left that to them.

 

[jibsey]

Try Bender Plumbing Supply in New Haven. They have a show room

Went to Bender in Hartford, good place. The other question somewhat related is there anyone who is an interior designer who Is good but not crazy expensive And good to work with? My wife and I are bad at this.

 

[Fishy]

I would find a house that has a nicer bathroom and then buy that house.

If that is too expensive, consider selling your current house as you probably do not need both.

 

[SallyH]

Go to a plumbing supply house, they have frameless shower doors. If you can afford it install a couple of body jets while you've got everything ripped apart.

body jets for showers - Google Search
Also this is similar to the tile mural we put in the shower:

Bathroom tile designs - Fish tiles - Creole Fish - Tile Mural

 

[CL82]

I would find a house that has a nicer bathroom and then buy that house.

If that is too expensive, consider selling your current house as you probably do not need both.

Not sure if joking but a friend of mine actually came to this conclusion after his wife put together her wish list for upgrades.

 

[Jaker]

heated floors, heated toilet seat.

 

[BlueWhiteOrange]

Costco and sams club, both online have some. I have bought glass shower enclosures from both. Good quality and price and they deliver to your house. They are heavy and bulky so you need a place to store until installed.

 

[Jaker]

you can order an entire bathroom over the internet

 

[Uconnrick]

I have a contractor to rip apart and redo a master bathroom who is pretty good. Any advice on who to install or where to get glass shower enclosure or glass door? That’s A specialty? i’d Rather not work with Home Depot. Is it better to get vanities with sinks and tops already installed or get cabinets and then quartz or corian afterwards? Is there a place to see all this stuff? The potential cost of this whole thing frightens me.

I used "The Original Frameless Shower Doors" . I ordered them online and installed them myself. They were very helpful and made sure everything was perfect. The installation was pretty easy and they have a 2 week lead time. I save big money doing it this way.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I did a Master Bath remodel a couple of years ago We had a large walk in shower no tub except in the main bathroom.
Showers are much more useful and the norm in AZ over 55 communities
I see developers in all age communities also offering the option.
Tubs become useless for older people
We went floor to ceiling tile added a seat. AZ homes usually have 9 or 10 foot ceilings.
A large rain head and a hand held long enough to reach the seat
I looked at online glass doors , very good looking and nice quality but my tile guy balked at installing them for fear of dimensional issues. There is limited adjustment.
I hired a pro went with custom glass . That turned out to be a good idea as he went through a number of drill bits on that very hard tile.
I wouldn’t get anything less than 3/8” thick glass.
The bathroom was the among the biggest selling feature in that house.
We also had a large vanity that we redid the top in a high end granite that was a remaint*from a Kichen install. The cabinets and large mirror were fine .
*Most wholesalers have a “Boneyard “with left over Quartz or Granite available inexpensively.
Private message me if you want pictures

 

[HuskyHawk]

Not sure if joking but a friend of mine actually came to this conclusion after his wife put together her wish list for upgrades.

In theory it can be cheaper. You certainly won't get close to 100% back on what you put in to a bathroom or kitchen (and less on any other room). But real estate commissions and mortgage rates being higher, plus the cost of moving means it will almost never be worth it if you like your house.

Hell, I'd stay in my house for the next few years even if I won the big Mega-millions. Moving is that big a pain in the neck.

 

[jibsey]

I did a Master Bath remodel a couple of years ago We had a large walk in shower no tub except in the main bathroom.
Showers are much more useful and the norm in AZ over 55 communities
I see developers in all age communities also offering the option.
Tubs become useless for older people
We went floor to ceiling tile added a seat. AZ homes usually have 9 or 10 foot ceilings.
A large rain head and a hand held long enough to reach the seat
I looked at online glass doors , very good looking and nice quality but my tile guy balked at installing them for fear of dimensional issues. There is limited adjustment.
I hired a pro went with custom glass . That turned out to be a good idea as he went through a number of drill bits on that very hard tile.
I wouldn’t get anything less than 3/8” thick glass.
The bathroom was the among the biggest selling feature in that house.
We also had a large vanity that we redid the top in a high end granite that was a remaint*from a Kichen install. The cabinets and large mirror were fine .
*Most wholesalers have a “Boneyard “with left over Quartz or Granite available inexpensively.
Private message me if you want pictures

I will go with custom glass, talked to a glass guy and says after the tile they laser measure and custom order. He made a point of emphasizing the thickness which I forgot but I will check. Couldn’t be 3/4 could it?

 

[intlzncster]

I will go with custom glass, talked to a glass guy and says after the tile they laser measure and custom order. He made a point of emphasizing the thickness which I forgot but I will check. Couldn’t be 3/4 could it?

Yeah, the real thin stuff sucks. Even if you don't, it always feels like you're going to break it. And it 'vibrates' more.

 

[upstater]

This is what we did in our home, every item selected by us, installed by contractor ($10 sq. foot concrete wall tiles, light fixtures from Restoration Hardware, sinks, tub and toilets from WayFair, paid the most money for the vanity from a local company, $1.50 sq. foot faux wood floors from Home Depot, about $1k for granite top):

 

[HuskyHawk]

I will go with custom glass, talked to a glass guy and says after the tile they laser measure and custom order. He made a point of emphasizing the thickness which I forgot but I will check. Couldn’t be 3/4 could it?

Custom is the way to go. Most of these modern shower stalls are designed to fit into your space, so are not standard size. I think my glass is about 3/4". It's a 1/2 inch at least.