Lansing Bathroom Remodels

Bathrooms come in all shapes and sizes, and with each one comes unique design and construction challenges. An average full bathroom in a communal hallway is 5’ x 8’ (40 square feet) so there’s not as much emphasis on design as the space is relatively limited. You can switch locations around but you still need a shower, commode, and sink along with their associated plumbing. Master Suites generally have a lot more room to work with, so there is a lot more opportunity to get creative, and a lot more opportunity to misfire and deliver a space the homeowner is not happy with. While we can handle any job, we prefer to help clients from the beginning stages of master bath design to help them best implement their ideas without sacrificing functionality or ending up with a dud.

What sets a Master bathroom apart from a standard full or half bath, and why should you invest in this space? While they aren’t necessities by any means, a master bathroom can improve quality of life by giving you your own spa room or private oasis where you can relax and unwind. Going far beyond basic utility, we have built or remodeled spaces with changing areas, huge double his-and-her vanities, walk-in closets, separate areas for commodes, massage tables, Whirlpool jet tubs, enormous custom showers with bench seating, and heated floors. Our expertise allows us to confidently deliver on the most “out-there” plans – come to us with your dreams and we can transform them into reality! These improvements are for you and your family to enjoy as long as you live in the house – don’t invest if you’re just looking for resale value or to follow popular trends.

Bathroom Design Needs Assessment

Assessing your design needs may sound tough, but in practice is not very difficult. All you need to do is be able to talk about how you and your family use your bathroom now, and how you would ideally use it in the future. We’ll bridge the gap between the two and let you know what’s feasible at each level of budgeting. Here are some examples to get your wheels spinning about what kinds of things you should consider when designing your master bathroom’s plan.

How many people will use the bathroom? How many need storage space?
Are there any physical limitations to consider?
Is there enough storage currently?
Do you like shower/bathtub combos or shower only?
Are there enough electrical outlets?
Are you happy with the current lighting or do you need more in some spots?
Will your bathroom match the style of the rest of your house?
Do you have ideas of what colors/features you want for your fixtures?
What preferences do you have for colors, materials, and finishes if any? Anything you hate?

What is a Full Gut Remodel?

You may have heard the term “full gut” remodel from friends or on one of the many HGTV shows and wondered what it means. A full gut would be removing every existing item from the bathroom, stripping it down to bare-bones structure, repairing and adding material where necessary, and then putting it all back together with brand new components and finishes. Picture everything in your restroom – shower, vanity, toilet, medicine cabinet/mirror, shelving, etc. – totally removed. Now we can get to the normally hidden sub-floor and drywall to check for damage and to prep for the incoming new material. Plumbing, electrical, and HVAC are re-routed as necessary before the new items are secured in place. Then it starts looking like a bathroom again as we put new things back into place. The final finishing touches include painting, trim, and installing accessory items.

Contrast this with a smaller update or partial remodel where perhaps just the paint and flooring were updated, or a new shower/bathtub unit was installed without changing much else in the bathroom. We want to make the distinction here because full guts are more complex and take better advantage of a high end, full-service remodeler such as R. L. Rider Remodeling. Why spend a bunch of money and time on designing for a cookie-cutter project when there would be no added benefit from hiring experts?

How Do I Choose My Products?

Before we begin to remodel in your home, you need to select the products we’re going to use. We can help guide your selections based on your style/decor preferences, but the final decision ultimately lies with you – how do you want your most used room to look until your next remodel years down the road? After countless bathroom remodels, R. L. Rider Remodeling has refined the selection process to make it easy, stress-free, and even fun to pick out items for your new bathroom.

After designing and agreeing on the remodel’s general layout, it’s time to get specific with what items are going to go where. This lets us tackle any design challenges before the installation is happening instead of having unexpected surprises at the end of a job if something doesn’t fit quite right. Knowing the dimensions of big items, like vanities and bathtubs, is just as important as the little items, like light fixtures and towel bars, because everything must fit together just right. And fitting the style is just as important as fitting in size. Picking out items at this early stage gives time to visualize how they will fit and if any adjustments need to be made to make it work.

The list can be overwhelming, but we break it up for you by showroom and give you physical locations to visit around Greater Lansing in addition to the best online resources if you don’t want to leave the house. A full gut remodel will require a lot of decisions: floor, paint, lights and fans, countertop, vanity cupboards, mirrors, commodes, showers and baths, accessories such as towel rings and tissue holders, just to name a few. Each of these choices is grouped by item type and displayed with the allowance listed on the contract to keep you on budget. (Don’t worry if you go over or under your allowance – we make it easy to adjust and will credit you any money you don’t spend.) We only put our trust in the best companies around Lansing that keep high standards for customer service and satisfaction because we want every aspect of your project to go smoothly.

Ways to Update Your Bathroom

There are so many options for updating your bathroom that range from budget-friendly to high-end luxury and everything in between. A popular choice in recent years has been removing old acrylic shower/bathtub units and building a beautiful new tiled shower with a glass door in its place. (Be sure waterproof “greenboard” is used combined with tile-ready underlayment – very important for durability and avoiding mold!) Many clients want to get modern, high-efficiency toilets and fixtures without changing the layout as a way to refresh the room without going overboard. An even less intensive choice is new flooring, light fixtures, and a fresh coat of paint while leaving everything else alone. Or, you could go all out and knock down the walls for a dream-home master suite addition.

As mentioned earlier, there are projects that are relatively simple and can be performed by one or two subcontractors, or by the homeowner with an intermediate knowledge of construction. Then, there are projects where plumbing and duct lines are being re-routed, a cutting-edge, hidden-tank toilet is being installed, and there’s a huge amount of specialty waterproofing work being done in preparation for a new ceramic tile shower. Common sense tells us which situation calls for a skilled design/builder and which could be done by someone less experienced, but the lines are not always clear cut.

A word of advice for the DIY crowd if you go that route: there’s so much misinformation floating around and so many opportunities to cause more harm than good when working on an unfamiliar project. Please make sure to take proper safety precautions and be absolutely certain that you know what you’re doing on a given task. What looks easy on TV is often glossed over, sped up, or dramatized to fit in a 20-minute program meant to sell ad space. Doing your own project is a great way to save money, learn new skills, and feel the satisfaction of working on your home – just call a professional when in doubt and never risk your own or your family’s safety.

List of Bathroom Remodeling Services

Here’s a partial list of specialties we have handled at R. L. Rider Remodeling – do any of these sound like the luxurious upgrade you’re searching for? Don’t see it here? We can handle any project you’re dreaming of!

Complete “Full Gut” remodels
Master Suite additions and updates
Heated flooring (new or retrofit)
Custom tiled showers
Single, double, and floating vanities
Streak-free or frosted glass doors
Luxury bathtub installations
Handicap/ADA improvements
Aging in Place (CAPS) remodels
Full CAD design and 3D drawings

Lansing Bathroom Design & Construction

R. L. Rider Remodeling is a design/build firm that would love to help you with your bathroom project! Let us guide you through our seamless, professional process we have developed to create the bathroom you’ll be bragging to your friends about. We’ll help you flesh out your ideas, advise you on budget impact, give you 3D pictures for visualization, and make the construction itself stress-free and non-intrusive. Plus, you can rest easy knowing R. L. Rider Remodeling will be standing behind their work with a 3-year warranty.