Featured Project: Edina Bathroom

This feature project we are going to talk about is a bathroom remodel that we completed in Edina.  This style of bathroom remodel is pretty common in Edina, St. Louis Park, Minneapolis, and many of the other cities with older homes featuring a main floor bathroom.
The bathroom can best be described a 5 feet wide, 12 feet deep, with the bathtub running left or right as you walk into the room. The bathtub is also used as a shower. The room also most likely has a smaller vanity with limited storage.
Our goal is to show you what goes into a typical bathroom remodel:
First off, we have to start with the design phase; this is typical of all of our remodels. In the design phase, we select the products that you want in your bathroom such as: tile, vanity, vanity top, etc.
After the design phase is complete,  we obtain the building permit, electrical permit, plumbing permit, and heating and air-conditioning permit, if applicable. During this phase of the project we are also establishing your timeline for the project.
Below you will notice photos taken before, during and after the demolition phase. For all homes older than 1978 lead safe practices need to be followed.
For all of our remodels on homes built prior to 1978 we complete a lead test.  If the area we are completing the demolition in tests positive for lead, then we follow lead safe practices for the demolition phase of the project.
During the demolition there will be a lot of debris that will be removed from the house.   Prior to starting, we need to prep the area immediately around the bathroom along with a path leading to the outside.
For all of our remodels, we take the time to not only prep the floor, but we also put plastic over all your furniture.  We install a dust protection system to keep dust from other rooms and the inside of your house.  Even though we take all the necessary steps to help eliminate as much of the dust as possible, it only helps to control it.
So after the demolition is complete, all the existing drywall, tile, flooring, bathtub, vanity, and vanity top will be removed. What will be left? You will be left with the framing for the bathroom, older plumbing, and older electrical.
The first thing we address after the demolition phase is the plumbing. We complete the rough in for the new vanity, toilet, and shower faucet. Depending on the condition of the existing water lines and drain lines we may need to bring some of the plumbing up to code, especially in older homes in cities such as Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, and Edina.
After the plumbing is complete it is time to rough in the electrical. We usually have to install a vent fan if there is not an existing one. Then we may need to install a new dedicated circuit for a new vanity light, and possibly a light over the bathtub/shower.
After the plumbing and electrical rough in inspection is complete, it is time for us to complete the building/framing inspection. We install new insulation in all exterior walls and a new vapor barrier over the new insulation.
Once our framing inspection is complete, it’s time to install new drywall in the bathroom. To give you an idea for a timeline, we’re about 5 to 7 working days into this project. After the drywall, priming and painting are complete (usually by the end of week two), it is time to start prepping for tile. We prep for tile on the bathroom floor and the shower walls. The prepping and the setting for tile essentially go hand-in-hand.
Once the tile is set, we are on the backstretch for getting this remodel complete. At this point we have a few miscellaneous items to complete, we install the vanity, vanity top, mirror, and other miscellaneous bathroom items. We then finish the bathroom up by completing the final plumbing, and finally electrical.  After the final plumbing and electrical inspections, we then complete our final building inspection.
Now, a question that we receive often; how soon can we have our bathroom back or how long will the remodel take? If the bathroom we are remodeling is your only bathroom, we set a schedule to have your shower back and working by the end of week two.
The cost for a bathroom remodel of this nature can and will vary. The price variance will come from the final products selected; tile can cost $2 a square foot to $20 a square foot. A bathtub could range from $700-$1800. These are just a couple of examples to give the idea of price differences when designing a new bathroom.
For us at Excel builders, it’s important to talk budget early on in our first consultation. After the budget is established, we can start talking about the scope of work, your needs and your wants for your new bathroom, and then we can move to the designing phase of the project.
As explained above, the designing phase of the project is where we will select all of the items that will be used in your bathroom and we will finalize the costs for electrical, plumbing, and our labor scope of work.
We hope you find this featured project page useful.  We like to use it as a way to show not only our products for remodels, but also photos before, during and after the project.  We think this may help you better understand the entire process for completing a remodel.