Bathroom Renovation

Same as kitchens, bathrooms split into three honest scopes. A cosmetic refresh — new vanity, new tile on top of an existing waterproofed substrate, new fixtures in the same locations — is the fastest path. A plumbing reroute, where the toilet stays where it is but the shower moves or a double vanity replaces a single, opens the floor and triggers more inspection work. A full fixture relocation — moving the toilet, converting a tub to a curbless shower, switching from an alcove to a walk-in layout — is structurally a different project, and on older homes with cast-iron drainage it often surfaces stack issues that have to be addressed regardless of whether the owner wanted to.

On every wet-area renovation we do, the substrate behind the tile gets a continuous waterproof membrane. Schluter Kerdi, Wedi board, Laticrete Hydro Ban — there are several systems that work, and we pick based on the assembly. The shower pan gets a sloped, fully-bonded membrane installed before tile, with the drain integrated into the membrane, not punched through it afterward. Curbless showers on a wood-framed floor need a recessed pan and structural prep, which has to be planned at framing, not improvised at tile. The BC Building Code requires waterproofing in wet areas; the way the spec gets executed varies by trade, and we have a short list of tile setters who do this work the way we want it done.

Porcelain or stone, large-format or mosaic, matte or polished, rectified or pillowed edge — the visual choices are endless and the durability choices matter more than the visual ones. Floor tile needs a slip rating that's appropriate for a wet area (we look at the DCOF spec, not just the look). Stone needs sealing and a maintenance conversation. Grout colour reads completely differently in a bright north-facing bathroom in Burnaby Heights than it does in a basement bath with two pot lights. We bring samples to the actual room before signing off. Costs vary widely by selection — we won't quote tile by the square foot in a service-page paragraph, but we'll walk you through the levers honestly.

Every new or substantially renovated bathroom in BC needs mechanical ventilation; the BC Building Code requires a minimum exhaust capacity that depends on the building's ventilation strategy. On older homes with bath fans dumping into the attic — still a common find in Burnaby — we either run new ducting all the way to a properly capped roof or wall outlet, or we tie the bathroom into a whole-home HRV (heat-recovery ventilator) if one's installed. HRVs are quieter, run more continuously, and recover heat from the exhaust stream — on a Step Code build they're often the cleaner answer. On a renovation of a single bathroom, a properly-sized standalone fan, vented correctly, is usually fine. The wrong answer is a fan that pretends to vent but actually pushes moisture into the joist bays.

Plumbing and electrical permits get filed before demo. Inspections happen at rough-in (before the walls close), at waterproofing if the inspector asks to see the membrane, and at final after the fixtures are in. We coordinate the inspector visits so the tile setter isn't waiting two days to start. The whole sequence — demo, rough-in, inspection, waterproofing, tile, vanity, plumbing trim, electrical trim, paint, final inspection — runs cleanly when the permit is in place and the trade schedule has been thought through. On a single-bathroom reno, the build is typically several weeks; the part of that time the bathroom is unusable is most of it, so we'll always ask which other bathroom in the house you're planning to use before we start.