Real Estate Agent · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2020 · 24 posts · 28 votes
Hi BP Community,
My wife and I are rehabbing our bathroom in our first rental. We've replaced the toilet and have removed a small section of rotted subfloor with sheet vinyl flooring on top and replaced it with LVP. We have another 40+ square feet of flooring to replace, but we wanted to pause at this phase. The bathroom walls are falling apart and need replacing too, and we're unclear if we should finish replacing all of the floor FIRST or if we should replace the walls now?
Looking for a good rule of thumb here; assuming they both need replacing, walls first or flooring first with bathroom rehabs?
Also, what cost-effective yet durable material would you recommend for your bathroom walls? Sheetrock? Drywall? Ceramic? Tile?
I'd appreciate any and all suggestions, thank you!
Lender · Washington DC · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
4y
Gut it all baby. Floor rotten because of leaks. To find the source is upstream in the Amazon, and maybe everything leaks. Once you think you can retrofit a shower head, then the valves behind it are frozen. When you think you can save the sink and faucets then the stub out or ptrap or something no longer exists in the supply chain. Once you get down to the studs in the walls and the floor skin is gone you can see where you are. Ordering parts is a real pain right now- be careful ordering something expensive online only to find it back ordered and coming in July. What does Gopher Supply have on the shelf that you can put all the parts together, knowing you have everything and they fit together. The flooring goes in last, as it can be damaged by hammers that drop, boots, all kinds of accidents. Plan, order, demo, draw a little map of bath on garage floor and place the cabinets, toilet and tape it all on the floor. IF this is your first one what it looks like on paper and how close your knees are when you sit on the toilet to the wall- matters. It's a tight space that needs your love. Rough plumbing in, drywall and tape over or backer board walls and porcelain tile if you are keeping this long term. Porcelain serves forever and keep extra pieces in the attic or crawl space. Porcelain is now made to look like marble or wood. Fake wood on walls is not what I am suggesting, and please don't do grey. Turn water on and test. Turn back off. Next paint. Then put cabinet in but don't secure to the floor, just check the fit. Floor last. PS Demo can be a lot of fun for your wife, yes really therapeutic and consider it the gym with goggles.