The Rural Voice, 1994-05, Page 49RURAL LIVING
Pick the right time for bathroom renovations,
and it's not when your wife is pregnant
By Bonnie Gropp
Jf I could offer any sound advice
about do-it-yourself bathroom ren-
ovations it's that you shouldn't
start them when your wife is pregnant
and when your job has taken you out
of town so you only have the week-
ends to work on it.
It was over a decade ago that my
husband and I decided to renovate the
upstairs bathroom in our century
home. With three small children and
one very much on the way, it was a bit
of an inconvenience in that this was
the only working bathroom in the
house. My husband was on a job near
the Quebec border so weekends meant
dismantling the bathroom and fre-
quent trips to the neighbours.
While renovations in our home were
often done for cosmetic reasons, the
bathroom work was a necessity. The
plumbing was archaic; drains were
slow to run and quick to plug; and
highly visible, though someone had
attempted a decorative touch by paint-
ing the drain waste and bent pipes
black.
While we were pleased with the
look of the old claw foot tub we had
to give consideration to whether or
not we should invest in a new one or
have the present one refinished. Obvi-
ously, cost and time were the signifi-
Refinishing an old
bathtub
is not as expensive
as you might think
cant factors. Upon investigation it was
apparent that our budget would not
allow for the extravagance of a new
one which could cost over $1,000.
Refinishing that old tub is not as
costly as one might think, (about $500
for top end of today's prices). There
are, as with most services, different
Considering the wear and tear a family of six can place on a home's only bath-
room, ours seems to have stood the test fairly well.
choices to make that will determine
the life expectancy (ranging from
eight years to undetermined) and the
length of time after the work has been
done that you must wait to use it.
Unfortunately, we felt the time it
would take to refinish it could be a
problem with our young family, so
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