  
Remodeling Your
Bathroom: Top Reasons Why
If you've been in your home for a
while, you have no doubt become accustomed to its quirks and
charms – the odd lumps in the middle of the kitchen floor, the
strange musty smell of the basement, the warped window frames
that make the windows stick. And you've probably
considered remodeling – perhaps the kids have moved out, and
you can finally afford to. Or perhaps you plan on selling
your home in the near future and you're trying to increase its
value in a down housing market. There are plenty of
reasons to want to remodel…and the best place to start is the
bathroom.
First of all, the bathroom is the prime candidate for
remodeling, simply because it's the prime candidate for damage
due to water from heat and humidity, backed up toilets, spilled
soap, perfume, lipstick or nail polish. Likewise, things
get worn, or broken, or accumulate scrapes and abrasions.
Another reason why is because your bathroom says a lot about
how you keep house. Your bathroom is one of the places
where your home décor can really show your own sense of
personality and style. Perhaps you really dislike the
style that it's in, or it's taken water damage over the years,
or maybe you just want to do different fixtures.
A third reason to renovate or remodel your bathroom is to
open out more space. Perhaps you can make a larger
bathroom by knocking down an interior wall, and put in a larger
tub, or a new shower enclosure. Perhaps you want more
shelves, or you want to update the lighting? Or maybe
your reason for doing it is more pragmatic – you want to clear
out and widen the air vent so that mold doesn't grow in the
ceiling.
Perhaps you simply want a larger shower enclosure, or a
shower enclosure that's not covered with years worth of
accumulated grout and grime and discoloration. Maybe you
want one in a different color, to
make the
bathroom seem more airy, or you want to replace those hard to
clean tiles with a clean surface enclusure that's easier to
maintain.
One of the best reasons to update and remodel your bathroom
is return on investment, particularly if you're selling your
home. A typical bathroom remodeling starts at $3,000, and can
go as high as $20,000. However, it's estimated that for
every dollar you spend renovating your bathroom, you add nearly
$5 to the asking price of your home; kitchen remodeling hits a
similar rate of return at $3 of property value appreciation per
dollar spent, but also tend to have a higher minimum buy
in.
So, there are plenty of reasons to renovate and remodel your
bathroom – which one works for your situation? Consider
all the options, and look at the benefits. It's almost
always worth it, whether you're living in the home or trying to
improve its value before selling it.
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