Bathroom Repairs that Cause Remodeling

Posted by creed on December 15, 2009 under Bathrooms | Be the First to Comment

Next to your kitchen your bathroom is a close second or third in the most used rooms of your home. In this case the remodel was very limited to a new tub surround, shower head, and tile flooring. This remodel was dictated by water damaged caused by a water leak which when they go unchecked can cause major damage slowly over years of time. This damage was caused by the shower but sometimes it is caused by a toilet or a sink leak. Also carpet in a bathroom is a big no no. Think of carpet as a big sponge that never gets rung out. Now don’t go removing carpet from your whole house as studies have shown that carpet is a type of health filter that picks up dust and viral contaminates and experts also state regularly schedule professional carpet cleaning can clean this filter for you. Putting carpet in a bathroom is done usually by builders in order to offer the customer a lower price point. Of course we are always sensitive of our customers’ budgets and ceramic tile installation usually starts around $10 a square foot. Most bathrooms are the smaller square footage rooms in your house. This project took about 3 days. As always we warranty our workmanship for 1 year.

To tile your back splash or not?

Posted by creed on July 21, 2009 under Kitchens | Be the First to Comment

The kitchen is the most used room in your home.  Everyone gathers there during get a party because thats where the food and drinks are always found.   The same reason the family gathers around the kitchen as well.   The area between and around your kitchen sink, oven, and stove top is the most used area of the kitchen.  Why because all the food preparation is done there.  This means the thing called the back splash or the wall between the counter top and the bottom of your cabinets tend to get the most abuse of any walls in your home.   Constantly under attack from over spray from the sink or splashes when dishes are placed in it.  Or the things that come from the stove top when frying something in a pan or when the sauce bubbles over.  

The advise we have is to pick a darker color if your choice is to paint your back splash as it will show stains less.   Also at a minimum go with a satin or a semi gloss in your paint choice as this will make the surface easier to scrub over a flat finish paint. 

The easiest to clean and maintain will always be to tile the back splash.  This makes the seam between the back splash and counter top completely water proof or sealed.   Once the grout between the tiles are sealed it is a easy to clean and a very sanitary surface. 

Color of tile comes in such a huge variety these days it can be hard to choose.  Choose well as this is something you wont want to change often due to the expense mostly.   Try picking more neutral colors that accent your cabinets, counter tops and floor colors.  Try to think of the stranger that will walk into your kitchen years from now and will be trying to decide if your kitchen could be theirs once they purchase your house.   If you like to be bold and love bold colors then do that with the paint you select for your walls as those can be changed with the lease amount of effort. 

 As always if you dare to dream of your next home improvement projects call on us at CREED Improvements. We can help you from the design process to the completion! 

Tiled Back Splash

Tile can make over a bathroom

Posted by creed on June 30, 2009 under Bathrooms | Be the First to Comment

When considering remodeling a bathroom be sure to consider the flooring choices.  Tile is a very popular choice.  Don’t forget to consider adding the new heated flooring systems.  These can be added to most bathrooms for under $750 but they have to be added prior to putting the tile down.  The below pictures are of a tile job we did for a customer last week.  The tile layout design is called pinwheel.  The homeowner was so happy with the change that it made for both of their bathrooms. 

I didn’t take any before pictures because there was carpet in these bathrooms.  If you have carpet in your bathrooms PLEASE get us or someone to put tile in there before the plashing of kids in the tub ruins the subflooring and causes the costs to rise because the subflooring has swelled and in extreme cases can cause mold.  I am not an alarmist but please know that carpet doesnt belong in a bathroom (unless its a rug).   If you have questions please let us know.  We stand ready to help with advice for the do-it-yourselfers to taking on any project you can dream of.

Pinwheel Design Ceramic Tile CREED Installation

Hall Bath Pinwheel Style Ceramic Tile CREED Installation