Remodeling Your Bathroom:  Top Reasons Why

If you've been in your home for a while, you have no doubt become accustomed to its quirks and charms – the odd lumps in the middle of the kitchen floor, the strange musty smell of the basement, the warped window frames that make the windows stick.  And you've probably considered remodeling – perhaps the kids have moved out, and you can finally afford to.  Or perhaps you plan on selling your home in the near future and you're trying to increase its value in a down housing market.  There are plenty of reasons to want to remodel…and the best place to start is the bathroom.

First of all, the bathroom is the prime candidate for remodeling, simply because it's the prime candidate for damage due to water from heat and humidity, backed up toilets, spilled soap, perfume, lipstick or nail polish.  Likewise, things get worn, or broken, or accumulate scrapes and abrasions.

Another reason why is because your bathroom says a lot about how you keep house.  Your bathroom is one of the places where your home décor can really show your own sense of personality and style.  Perhaps you really dislike the style that it's in, or it's taken water damage over the years, or maybe you just want to do different fixtures.

A third reason to renovate or remodel your bathroom is to open out more space.  Perhaps you can make a larger bathroom by knocking down an interior wall, and put in a larger tub, or a new shower enclosure.  Perhaps you want more shelves, or you want to update the lighting?  Or maybe your reason for doing it is more pragmatic – you want to clear out and widen the air vent so that mold doesn't grow in the ceiling.

Perhaps you simply want a larger shower enclosure, or a shower enclosure that's not covered with years worth of accumulated grout and grime and discoloration.  Maybe you want one in a different color, to make the bathroom seem more airy, or you want to replace those hard to clean tiles with a clean surface enclusure that's easier to maintain.

One of the best reasons to update and remodel your bathroom is return on investment, particularly if you're selling your home. A typical bathroom remodeling starts at $3,000, and can go as high as $20,000.  However, it's estimated that for every dollar you spend renovating your bathroom, you add nearly $5 to the asking price of your home; kitchen remodeling hits a similar rate of return at $3 of property value appreciation per dollar spent, but also tend to have a higher minimum buy in.

So, there are plenty of reasons to renovate and remodel your bathroom – which one works for your situation?  Consider all the options, and look at the benefits.  It's almost always worth it, whether you're living in the home or trying to improve its value before selling it.