When renovating your bathroom over the coming weeks you will be forced to make multiple decisions. Some decisions are more critical than others but most will have quite a large impact on the rest of the work downstream or the lifespan of your new remodel.

You need a game plan. Start to finish. Without one you will bounce left and right and some of your plan may not work with the rest. Get organized.

Do you have kids? How will you protect those little lungs from dust?

Does the bathroom have a window? Can it be used for demo waste or dust exctraction?

Is it your only shower in the house? Can you use the shower at the gym or at work?

What tools do you have?

Do you have a plumber?

An Electrician?

I send all my new clients to www.Houzz.com to make an Idea Book for us to discuss and get a game plan. Start there.

Good Luck

Here is a link that might be useful: Vancouver Dream Bathrooms - Ideabook

I think Sarah's biggest worry is that her house only has one bathroom...so not only is it her only shower, but her only toilet as well. That certainly complicates matters.

In fact, my mother really needs to redo her bathroom (needs a new subfloor as well as the cosmetic stuff) but she hasn't yet because she doesn't know she's going to strategize being without her one and only bathroom for the time it will take to replace the subfloor, tile, grout etc. So I'm interested in hearing advice on this too.

This is tricky to do and to do right.

You can speed the time line up if you throw money at the project. ie Fast setting materials, more men, longer days and on and on.

The toilet is the kicker. Get a Portable Toilet delivered to your home once construction begins. It is a life safer.

Plan the tub replacement first and get this installed so you can bathe will work is being done. With simple poly and screws you can protect the walls from damage.

I'm embarrassed to omit that me and my family bathed in my new bathroom remodel for over six months before we all took our first shower. That is way to many baths in a row. But we didn't cut any corners and the shower is great!

If you can post some pictures and some guidelines I'm sure the men and women hear can help formulate a game plan.

How long do you have to do the renovation? Will you work part time, nights, weekends, day and night?

Questions, Questions, Questions.

JW
Vancouver

Have you and your husband done any DIY remodeling before? Have you ever remodeled a bathroom before? Do you have other friends/family willing to help? Will you be hiring a professional for any of the work? Do you have a plan for bathing and eliminating while your bathroom is unusable?

I am wrapping up a 2nd DIY bathroom remodel, but have been lucky to always have a 2nd (and 3rd) bathroom to use during the remodel. However, there are some things I have learned that might be helpful for you too.

DIY remodeling (and even professional remodeling) usually takes more time than expected. Why? Well, when you start opening up walls and floors, removing fixtures, etc, unless you're the person who built the house in the first place, you're likely to find the unexpected. Additionally, if you're doing DIY work, you are likely to underestimate the amount of time it takes you to complete something since you likely do not do this kind of work every day. Being mentally, financially, and physically prepared for the longer timeline helps. Plan ahead ways to speed things up if necessary: hiring professionals to help with some of the work, hitting up friends/family for assistance, skipping work that is unnecessary or can be done at a later date, taking extra time off work, etc.

Have a detailed plan. Determine exactly what will be done, in what order, by whom, and when. Make certain you are not waiting on anything or anyone that might slow you down. Make certain you and your husband are both in agreement on all of the specifics of the plan so you can work independently and together without miscommunication or mistakes.

Determine which things must be done in a particular order. For example, your toilet must be removed and then the floor tiled before the toilet can be replaced again. Find ways to minimize the timeline on these dependencies and try to estimate exactly how long they will take so you know how long you will be without important fixtures. The remodel I am currently working on includes a powder room and a laundry room. We had to be without a washer and dryer (I know, not nearly as devastating as being without a toilet - not looking for sympathy here) while I finished the floor. So, I did everything I could other than the floor first, then focused 100% on the floor, then moved the washer and dryer back in and moved on to other things. We even moved the washer and dryer in and out of the room (up several stairs!) a few times as necessary.

Do peripheral work before you try to tear everything out. In your case, you should be able to rip down the walls and plan your tile layout before you remove the floor, toilet, shower, etc.

Have all of your supplies ready before you begin. Buy your tile, underlayment, lumber, fixtures, tools, etc before you begin. The delays in getting supplies will only delay your job longer. Similarly, plan an organized place for storing your supplies. Know exactly where your tools are at any time to save yourself time looking for things you need.

Good luck!

We are also getting ready to renovate our only bathroom. Because it's our only one, we didn't even consider DIY. We will be shelling out the dough to the pros. They said it will take 4-5 days and they will reset the toilet each night so we can use it. I commend you for taking this on as a DIY project. Best of luck!

Can you provide a little more info about what materials you're ripping out and what you're replacing them with? The timeline and advice would differ based on that.

For example, if you're pulling out a fiberglass shower and replacing it with a fiberglass tub/shower, that's doable in a day. If, OTOH, you're demo-ing a mud job tiled shower and replacing it with a tub and tiled walls that's a different size and/or configuration, that'll take much longer.

For another, example, if your bathroom is 5x7, and you're replacing non-glued sheet vinyl with ceramic/porcelain tile, that could be done in a day. If, OTOH, you've got to demo existing ceramic tile, and your new tub/shower has a different footprint, so that you need to get that replaced before you can tile, then it will impact both the sequence of the work and its duration.

So give us a few more details of the "before" and "after" and we can try to help out.

And as Sherriode said, you can put the toilet back every night for the cost of a wax ring each time.

Get a camping toilet

I've done this to several tenants who did not want to leave during the renovation and here's what the game plan was:

I had all the materials ahead of time so there would be no delays waiting for parts.

Rip out everything possible but leave working toilet. Tenants took sponge baths with water from the kitchen for the three or four days the bathtub/shower was not working. (your kids might be delighted to skip baths for a while)

New subfloor went in immediately, except near toilet.

Tub/Shower area got done next

TOILET DAY!!!! Toilet rip-out, subfloor replace and joist repair if needed under it, toilet area tiling, and toilet replace all happened the same day.

Depending on the size of the bath, the whole floor may be tiled on that day.

Great idea about the camping toilet, lazygardens! Some have waste containers and chemicals that allow you to dispose of waste in a standard garbage can.

12 years ago, no kids yet. Sun shower (for camping) in garage centered over kiddie pool. Bucket with tp for the two days w/out toilet. Worked out okay until the first frost...

It's good to see my buddy John Whipple here!!!

Toilet is no big deal buy extra wax rings or you can use a foam ring or fernco assembly for toilets and that would save the wax aggrivation. The worst part will be the unforseen issues on your project and be prepared to hire a plumber or electrician just in case... Post some pictures and we'll put our heads together.

Todd Stull
Enola, PA