Bathroom Remodeling Ideas: Small Spaces, Glass Showers, Heated Floors, Cabinets, Tile, and Tubs
Host:
Welcome to the Home Remodeling Show with Edge Construction on News Talk 1310 WIBA. Have a question? Email it to EdgeConstructionRadio@gmail.com.
Now, here is your host, Sean Prebil, on News Talk 1310 WIBA.
This is the Home Remodeling Show, brought to you by Edge Construction. You can find them online at EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is all one word, Edge Construction Company dot com.
Their telephone number is 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE — E-D-G-E — so easy to remember.
Joining us this Saturday morning is Mike Twohig of Edge Construction. Mike, how have you been?
Mike:
Great, Sean. It is good to see you.
Host:
We are going to talk bathrooms this week, and we have not talked bathrooms for a while.
Mike:
We have not talked about them all year.
Host:
Exactly. It is about time we get at it.
We were actually talking about a recent bathroom remodel project you guys had up on the website, EdgeConstructionCompany.com.
Speaking of the website, not only can you see recent work there, but there are also great links to Pinterest, Facebook, and Houzz, which is an amazing tool for finding remodeling ideas.
Head over to EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is Edge Construction Company dot com.
Let’s talk about that recent bathroom remodel — or I should say bathrooms remodel. You took one bathroom and made it into two.
You guys did some really amazing work. As amazing as EdgeConstructionCompany.com is, with the great tools like the slider, great pictures, and everything else, the photos do not tell the full story at all.
Mike:
No.
We have talked about some of the small spaces we have worked on. This one was down to the inch.
Before we started, I want to talk about these bathrooms because they were interesting. It was a great design challenge for our gang and a construction challenge because there are codes for everything.
For example, a toilet in a bathroom needs 30 inches of space. It cannot be off-center. It has to be 15 inches one way and 15 inches the other way. That is the minimum.
This one was literally down to about 15 and an eighth each way from the shower.
Host:
Wow.
Mike:
We took kind of an odd space. You work on so many houses, and there are a lot of times when homeowners ask, “Why did they do that?” And we are asking, “Why did they do that?”
This was one of those.
They had a very nice house in a beautiful and very up-and-coming area. It had this long, awkward bathroom, and behind it was a three-foot-deep, weirdly deep closet.
You had to go down this tunnel in the closet to get to the back of it.
The homeowners approached us and said, “Is there any way to get two baths out of this space?”
That is what we did, and it is really cool.
Host:
A couple of things jumped out.
One was the tile. I do not know if I have seen this before, but the overall long, glassy-looking tile on the wall is beautiful.
But what caught my eye was the pattern on the tile on the floor that is also repeated in the niches in the shower.
Those tiles are beautiful. I have not seen those before. They are really nice-looking tiles.
Mike:
Yes.
Those are patterned after old concrete tiles that were painted. Now you can get regular, durable tile that has that same look.
A lot of those — I am just going to call them concrete tiles because that is what everybody knows them as — have really bold designs on them. We have seen those, and we can point to some on our website where they have intricate, bold designs.
They are very cool. They have made a comeback, and we are doing those on backsplashes and in bathrooms.
This one is kind of muted. It is almost like you are looking through a fog at the design, and it is one I really like.
I am glad you brought that up.
Host:
What grabbed my attention is that it is subtle enough that it is not distracting, but in that room, with the wood in that bathroom, it is the perfect complement.
Obviously, that goes back to design, and I think that is probably the mark of great design. I do not necessarily know exactly what it is, but when you look at it, you think, “That is just right.” All the pieces in the space complement each other very well.
Mike:
Yes.
I was excited to get these pictures up because that is one we had not done before. I was not even aware that it was out there.
When I talked to Heather and her gang, they said this was something they saw at the Builders’ Show last year.
That is a great reason to go to that stuff for us, because we are seeing products that have kind of an age to them. This looks like something from a long time ago, but it is done really well.
Like I said, it is a super durable product.
If you are looking at that shower, one of the baths was tied to the primary bedroom, and it has a tile surround in there.
Did you notice anything about the niches?
Host:
I was going to ask you.
I see that there are three of them, and there is an elongated lower one that stands out to me. I have a guess what it might be for, but I do not know for sure.
If my guess is correct, I probably would never use it unless you really wanted to be aerodynamic when swimming.
Mike:
Yes. It is for shaving your legs in the shower.
It is a little niche for your foot.
This was not a big space. It was not like we had room to put a bench in there because we just did not. So we got a couple of niches to put shampoos and things like that, and then one low niche to put your foot up.
Host:
In a smaller bathroom, is that a common thing you guys do?
As you say it, it sounds brilliant, but I guarantee there are a lot of people who have never thought of doing that.
Mike:
We have brought it up in designs for a couple of years, but I think this is the first time we have done it, if I am not wrong.
We do a lot of benches and a lot of steps and things like that, so people have usually gotten away without doing it. But I think this pretty much does the trick.
Host:
I know my wife would greatly appreciate that.
The other thing that caught me with that bathroom is how the faucet is mounted.
As you were talking about, there is not a lot of space. When I look at the sink below, it is able to go right back. One of the reasons why it is able to go right back is that it is a wall-mounted faucet.
I do not see that often. I am guessing it is both form and function. It looks fantastic, but is that why it is mounted that way?
Mike:
Yes.
I do not know which led to which. I know people like the look of the wall-mounted fixture, where your hot and cold and your faucet come right out of the tile.
But I think it might have had something to do with getting the vessel sink they wanted because they wanted the look of it.
That vessel sink looks like it is sitting on the countertop, but it is a nice, big vessel sink. I think I would like this because sometimes I feel like where the water comes out of the faucet is too low and maybe splashes around.
This is a great look, and it allowed the homeowners to get the vessel sink they wanted.
It worked out nicely. It was quite a trick to get all the tile turned around. There was not much tolerance for that tile, so it had to be cut really tight around all those fixtures.
Host:
When you are talking about tolerance and the overall layout, you are talking about such a tight area that everything has to fit.
To pull this off, when it comes to carpentry and what you guys are doing, we are talking about very exact measurements.
When you are dealing with a space like this, every inch, quarter inch, and eighth of an inch matters, doesn’t it?
Mike:
It does.
From our standpoint, we do not want someone to walk into that bath and say, “Oh, they really crammed everything in here.”
We do not want it to be obvious that it was a tight fit. It needs to look like we meant to do it that way.
A lot of design is that way when you are working on houses. Design has to make sense, not just because we are standing here right now making these decisions. It has to make sense for somebody a few years down the road who says, “Oh, I love what they did there.”
The reason does not stand out and hit you in the face.
Host:
Does computer-aided drafting help with projects like this as well?
When we talk about scale and design, and making the space feel maximized and spacious even though it is not a big space, do those computer drafts and designs help accomplish that?
Mike:
I think it is the best tool we have right now.
If the gang put up our CAD renderings from before we started, we usually do those through the design phase, and at contract we tie those to the contract. They are also in our scope so people can look at them, and our people can look at them.
You get much more of a feel from looking at the renderings than you would from something else.
Now, it is really fun for me to have the renderings with the pictures because you can say, “Wow, we really nailed it on that rendering.”
This is a white rectangular tile. I believe it is a four-by-twelve, and these have texture.
Usually when they fire a tile, unless it is perfect — laying perfectly flat with all the corners down — it is considered imperfect.
This one is purposely fired to be imperfect. It is a white rectangular tile, but it has a lot of texture and movement. It gives it personality.
One of my favorite things about this project was, at the time, I was thinking, “Really? We have to do a wood ledge underneath the mirror?”
We did this wainscot tile around the room and had our faucet coming out of that tile above the toilet and all of that. But that wood ledge broke it up enough and gave it just a little personality.
Again, designers are always right. I have to admit it.
Host:
That shelf looks really nice. As you mentioned, it is part of a beautiful design.
The other thing is that I do not know the background to this remodel, but looking at the before pictures, the bathroom was not in horrible shape.
It was not as if I would have walked in and said, “Oh my gosh.” It was not in terrible shape. If you could take that bathroom and put it in the house I grew up in during the 1970s, you would say, “Wow, this is amazing.”
But by today’s standards, it was ready for an update.
Mike:
Yes.
It was still functioning as a bath. I do not think there were major problems.
At some point, somebody had done a little updating here and there, trying to Martha Stewart it and get another few years out of it.
But this family was growing, and I think they had enough of trying to deal with the one bath up there. If there was a chance to remodel a bathroom, it would sure be nice to have two baths.
Like I said, it was a real trick to get it in there.
Pictures are not going to do it justice. That is why we are talking about it.
I love it. In some of those finished pictures, you can really see the floor and how the cabinet tied everything together.
I think that cabinet was 18 inches. It is really small. If you want to know how small of an area you can get a legitimate bath into, that is it right there.
Host:
Check that out right now at EdgeConstructionCompany.com. Go into bathrooms and look for Two Bathrooms: Maximizing Minimal Space. You will see it right away, and it is absolutely amazing.
If you are thinking about doing some remodeling, whether it is a bathroom, kitchen, basement, addition, or anything else, Mike and the team at Edge Construction would love to talk with you.
Pick up the phone and call 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
I mentioned the website, EdgeConstructionCompany.com. Not only is there great stuff on the website itself, but also fantastic links to Pinterest, Facebook, Houzz, and Instagram.
Check them out online at EdgeConstructionCompany.com.
We will talk more with Mike about bathroom remodels next as the Home Remodeling Show with Edge Construction continues right here on 1310 WIBA.
Host:
This is the Home Remodeling Show, brought to you by Edge Construction. The website is EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is all one word, Edge Construction Company dot com.
Their telephone number is 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
We are hanging out this Saturday morning with Mike Twohig of Edge Construction and talking about bathroom remodels.
We just talked about a recent project. Definitely check out the website to see that and so much more: EdgeConstructionCompany.com.
Mike, one of the things I have loved — and obviously bathrooms are generally smaller spaces in the scale of things around the house — is that when we were talking about one of those recent smaller bathroom projects, you notice a lot of glass.
Specifically, shower doors and those types of things.
Not only does it look fantastic, but since it is transparent, it seems like it helps make that space feel a little bigger.
Am I off on that, or is that the intention?
Mike:
I think it definitely does.
I am looking through our website to see if we have any traditional kind of old cool glass panels, and we really do not. It is a lot of clear glass.
It is kind of like if you have a piece of artwork, you want to show it off. You want to look at that tile and everything else.
Some of the kicks on glass from the past, like spotting, have gotten better. There are treatments now in the industry that make that job a lot easier to maintain.
We are generally going back and taking pictures after somebody has been living in that space for a week or two. We get the flood of construction done, let things settle down, and then go back in and try to get some pictures.
If you look at the glass, it all looks pretty good.
There are different treatments you can do to glass too. If you look on the bath page of our portfolio, you will sometimes see people fog the glass in the middle, so you can be on an episode of The Simpsons.
Host:
There is an episode of The Simpsons. I was just thinking about that.
When I look at your work, a lot of bathrooms seem to incorporate glass panels if it fits the project.
Mike:
Definitely.
We went through a time where it got popular not to have a fully glassed-in door. I even liked the idea, but I do not have it in my own house, so maybe I would not have liked it if I had.
We did not get complaints on it, but we did get comments from people saying they wished they had put a door on, just to keep the water where it is supposed to be and not out on the floor.
I have noticed it in a few nicer hotels, where they have it open. The more open, the better.
I am curious where that is going to go with glass.
You see that most of the stuff we do is custom glass. It is all custom done by somebody local.
I do not want to scare people away by making them think it is super expensive, because this is one thing I really think is worth doing.
You go with the frameless glass. You do see some fasteners, but everything looks tasteful and clean.
Like I said, it makes the room feel lighter and more open, and you get to see the beautiful tile work in the shower.
Host:
One thing I think about with an open entry, as much as folks may like conserving that open feel, is heat.
Mike:
That is another thing. We should all study whether people are opting for that in the summer and then forgetting about winter.
Host:
Speaking of heat and bathrooms, that is another area we have talked about in the past.
There are amazing options to really dial in that heat, whether it is heating the tile or heating the space.
It is amazing what you guys are able to do at Edge Construction when it comes to making that space very comfortable.
That is a space that experiences all sorts of temperatures and humidity. It is quite the art form to make that place as comfortable as it is.
Mike:
Yes.
You need heat in a bath because if you are going to have a good fan in there — and I love those good fans — we use those beautiful Panasonic fans that move a ton of air quietly.
You are drawing air out, so you need something coming in there to warm that space up.
Whatever their system is, we figure that out. If it is hot water, we figure that out. If it is forced air, like most of them, we have that coming in.
But you were getting to the tile too. Probably about a third of the jobs we do with a tile floor, people opt for the heated floor.
Once in a while, we get a customer who says, “I wish I would have put that in there. Is there any chance we can do it now?”
Unfortunately, once that tile is laid, we are done.
The system for that has improved so much over the years.
It used to be that if we wanted to do a heated tile floor, and you can still buy these for a homeowner installation, they used pads. It looked like a small electric blanket. You laid it down, mortared it in, and tiled over the top.
Those were fine, but they only heated that one spot. If you step just off of it, it is cold tile.
We use the Schluter system. If you see tile work going on and there is that orange membrane, they have one for the floor. It almost has little pucks, and you wind the wire through it.
You can wind this wire all the way through and heat all of the areas in a custom way. It is very efficient on power, low voltage, and the heat is right where you want it — right on your feet.
The ability to control that heat is also great.
Now, with good electronic programmable thermostats, if you get up at six, you can have this thing fire up at 5:30. Then, when you walk in, that floor is nice and warm.
You can have it turn off at seven or whenever you are done, so it is not using very much electricity, and you have heat when you need it.
Host:
When we talk about design, I think a lot of times homeowners think about visual design. They do not always think about mechanical design.
When we talk about how you are going to heat that floor, is that part of the design process?
Mike:
It is, but there is no reason to put it underneath the cabinet. We are pretty much going to put it everywhere else because there is no reason not to.
There is always plenty of wire. We can run it where we need to, and then it is a closed loop.
Good installers, and we install our own, will put an extra thermostat or two in.
The thermostats are actually separate wires that go out into a couple of different spots. I am probably calling it a thermostat when that is not quite the right term, but it is the point that measures temperature and goes back up into the unit.
If one of those would fail at some point, usually you have another one that you can just hook up.
Host:
That is very cool.
We were talking earlier about the niche in that recent bathroom remodel. One of the things you mentioned is that unique one for someone shaving their legs and having a place to put their foot.
A lot of the bathrooms I see that you guys have done at Edge Construction, if they have the space, include a beautiful bench built right in there.
I am so jealous of this. How convenient. Would you ever have to leave?
Mike:
No. Bring me dinner. I will just hose myself off.
Host:
You have the niche to put your drink up there.
Mike:
The benches are really nice for a lot of reasons.
If I give my dog a bath, it is really nice for me to sit on the bench and hose the dog down in there.
We also mentioned shaving legs.
We have an aging population, and that is another thing to think about. It fits in really well with universal design.
Host:
I do not know that we have talked about this, but I was looking at the website because we are talking bathrooms this week. There is a bathroom up at EdgeConstructionCompany.com titled Primary Bathroom Oasis.
I do not think we have talked about this one.
I was casually scrolling through, and the more I looked at it, the more I saw. I realized that may be the perfect bath.
Mike:
It is really nice. It was a really fun project.
With that one, it has a cathedral ceiling, so the ceiling slopes up. It gave us a chance to do something really neat with that shower.
Host:
That shower is obviously beautiful. It looks like you had quite a bit of space in there from what I can tell.
Is that a primary bath?
Mike:
It is a bath where we almost had more room than we needed.
It was like, “What do we do with this space?”
So we got some extra storage down on the low end of the ceiling, and we have the beautiful freestanding soaker tub.
I do not know if you can tell by looking at it, but it is one of the heavy ones. It is that acrylic or resin tub that weighs 300-plus pounds.
We got that thing up there, but it holds the heat. It really looks nice too.
I think it is much nicer than people realize.
Then you have the private water closet, as they call it across the pond.
Host:
It is beautiful. I urge folks to check that out: Primary Bathroom Oasis at EdgeConstructionCompany.com.
There are some great projects there, and I would also urge you to click their link to Houzz.
You will get some great ideas and start thinking about yourself. Then, if you are thinking about doing some remodeling, Mike and the team at Edge Construction would love to talk with you and get to know you.
Pick up the phone and call 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
Edge Construction brings you the Home Remodeling Show right here on 1310 WIBA.
Host:
You are listening to the Home Remodeling Show with Edge Construction. Email your questions to EdgeConstructionRadio@gmail.com.
Once again, here is Sean Prebil on News Talk 1310 WIBA.
This is the Home Remodeling Show, brought to you by Edge Construction. You can find them online at EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is all one word, Edge Construction Company dot com.
Check out the website. There are some great recent projects, and you can also go back through the portfolio for many years and look at some of the great projects they have done at Edge Construction.
There are fantastic links to Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Houzz, which is an amazing tool if you are thinking about remodeling.
Make sure you are checking out the Houzz link from EdgeConstructionCompany.com.
Their telephone number is 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
We are talking about bathroom remodeling this week.
I had started looking at a recent project posted up at EdgeConstructionCompany.com, the Primary Bathroom Oasis, and just started to fall in love with that bathroom.
One of the things I love about it is that vanity. You were telling me during the break that it is a furniture style, which we are seeing quite often, and it is a really cool look.
There is also a Wisconsin company you work with on those, right?
Mike:
Yes.
I have talked a little bit about this company for the last year or so. We have sort of been easing into it.
It is in Rib Lake, Wisconsin. I do not know if you know where that is.
Host:
I do not.
Mike:
Well, Sean, everybody knows that.
It is up here somewhere. You find the North Pole, and then you go about an hour north.
We had seen their product probably five years ago, and we had tried to do business with them. It is a company that was trying to control its growth. They did not want to overextend, which we appreciate.
We waited a couple of years, and I sort of forgot about them. Then somebody showed up at our door and said, “Okay, we want to talk to you now.”
So we went up to Rib Lake, Wisconsin. We hired Santa and the sleigh and went up there.
It was very cool to see.
One thing I really liked about their facility was that so many times when we look at these facilities, it is like they are trying to eliminate people. Everything is done by a CNC machine. A vacuum conveyor is taking parts over here, and nobody is even looking at this stuff.
I am thinking, “What if something does not look right? Who catches it?”
With this company, it is a little bit old school, and the benefit is that when their stuff shows up, it looks great.
I am not saying it is perfect 1,000 percent of the time. That is just too tough a test. But it is almost there. It has been really good.
They package everything really well.
In our world, to get a product nowadays that nice and Wisconsin-made is an upgrade a little bit in cost from our normal Wellborn Forest product. There is room for both, and we are still doing both.
But we are edging into more of this product.
One benefit is that, when you look at this vanity, it looks like a custom-made piece of furniture. This is some of the capability they have.
Host:
You mentioned the look and how it fits that space so perfectly. It looks like it was designed and built specifically for that space.
The other thing I noticed is the storage on the other side. The hardware is a perfect match, the wood grain is a perfect match, and that also has the furniture-style feel to it.
Was that also done by them?
Mike:
It was. It is all them.
I cannot say enough how happy we are with them.
Like I said, probably at least half of the cabinets we are moving now are Great Northern.
It has been great for us. The capability they have to do things that are not completely custom — you still have to work within their system — has been great.
So far, whatever we have dreamed up, they have been able to do.
Host:
When it comes to bathroom cabinetry, you have mentioned a couple of different companies you work with regularly at Edge Construction.
You guys can also do custom work. We talk a lot in the kitchen about custom things and things you are personally building yourself in the shop.
Those are things that can be done if folks want to do that absolute one-of-a-kind piece. You are able to execute that at Edge Construction, aren’t you?
Mike:
We are.
We are cautious on that because it does take a fair amount of time to build things custom.
But sometimes you just cannot get there when you are looking for an out-of-the-box product, even with custom capabilities.
Occasionally, people bring in a picture that is very unusual. They like it, but they do not know why. They want us to design around it and build it.
You just cannot get those things off the shelf.
So we do have the capability to build some of those custom things.
Host:
We are talking this morning with Mike Twohig, owner of Edge Construction.
The website is EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is Edge Construction Company dot com.
We have been talking about a lot of stuff from the website, and it behooves you, as some might say, to check it out. It is fun to do. I love on a Saturday morning to get home later today, sit down, scroll through the pictures, and show Christina some of the cool stuff as well.
But if you are thinking about putting some of that stuff into action and saying, “I would love to upgrade the kitchen or any area around the home,” Mike and the team would love to talk with you.
Pick up the phone and call 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
We touched on floor tiles, and in one project you touched on some of the tiles on the wall as well.
Tiles, tiles, tiles.
One of the great things in the times we live in is that tile options are endless. Designs are endless.
As great of a benefit as that is, it can be overwhelming for homeowners.
At Edge Construction, working with a designer who can narrow that stuff down to fit your style is huge so homeowners are not overwhelmed by the options.
Mike:
It is.
There are a couple of ways to short-circuit that issue of having too many choices. Sometimes that is a fear for people. They are overwhelmed by all of these choices.
Our designers pull from quite a few of the showrooms in town.
We are looking for things that are in style, but styles that will last. We are also looking for things that are popular right now, and budget comes in.
I have this theory, and I know it is true: just because you are paying more for something does not mean it is better quality.
It might just be rare. It might just be a one-off. There might be other reasons it is more expensive.
We are looking for things that fit budgets. We are looking for the cool stuff, and we are filtering out.
There are 10,000 choices of tile. There are probably a lot more. But 9,000 of them you could toss out right away because they are not things that people generally buy.
That still leaves a lot of choices.
A good designer working with you is going to get a feel for what you like.
On the first car, they might bring you four or five tiles that we have. If that does not cut it, we can always stretch out from there and look for other things.
Designers can really help in that process.
Host:
One thing I love, and I think tile is part of it, is when I am on EdgeConstructionCompany.com looking at bathroom remodels, I quickly realize no two bathrooms are alike.
That is a challenge you put out for designers.
They are all very unique, and I think one of the ways folks accomplish that is working with their designers on different types of tiles and materials.
We started our conversation this week talking about a smaller bathroom remodel where they were able to get two bathrooms into one space. One of the first things that caught my eye was that very subtle but very cool tile pattern.
That is a fun thing about working with Edge Construction. You do not know what is available until you start that conversation.
If you have some ideas, they would love to talk at Edge Construction. Just pick up the phone and call 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
Learn more online at EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is Edge Construction Company dot com.
We will talk more about some bathroom, shower, and other spaces. I am going to ask you about tubs in the next segment.
We will do all of that next as the Home Remodeling Show with Edge Construction continues right here on 1310 WIBA.
Host:
This is the Home Remodeling Show, brought to you by Edge Construction. You can find them online at EdgeConstructionCompany.com. That is Edge Construction Company dot com.
We are talking shower — bath remodels — bathroom remodels.
One of my notes says showers. I am going to cross out the word shower. I cannot say it today.
Shower is definitely part of your bathroom remodel, but we are talking about bathroom remodel ideas with Mike Twohig, owner of Edge Construction.
Before I talk about bathtubs, I want to mention one cool thing.
We mentioned the Schluter system in the last segment, and there is actually a picture of one in progress up at EdgeConstructionCompany.com.
One of the things you were explaining to me during the break, which I had not thought much about, is that, as a homeowner, it is always about what we see on the surface.
I think of beautiful tile. But when it comes to modern tile and modern flooring, the part doing the heavy lifting is the stuff homeowners are never going to see.
Those tiles look beautiful. The grout looks fantastic, or lack thereof, depending on the design. But the heavy lifting is done by the stuff behind it.
Mike:
Yes, it is that orange membrane.
If you go to the Primary Bathroom Oasis and get down to the in-progress pictures, there are pictures of the shower built but not quite at the start of the tile process.
You can see what that looks like with the orange membrane and all the prep work that goes in.
Our view is that the heavy lifting is done by this membrane. We are building a bowl that is impenetrable.
If you do it right, it is not your tile that is stopping water from going into your downstairs or lower level. It is this membrane, the Schluter membrane. That is the one we use.
The tile then becomes the artwork — the thing you see.
We are not naive enough to say that tile does not do anything. But over the years, when tearing apart tile, you can pull that tile off and tell that water had gotten behind there.
The mortar and grout have a lot of airspace in them, and water does seep its way through there a little bit. In some cases, a lot.
That can get damp. If you do not have much air moving in there, and you do not have a good bath fan, that mortar can actually rot a little bit.
You can see that in houses with block foundations, where the mortar gets bad after a while and crumbles. The same thing can happen with tile.
Host:
Seeing the in-progress photos, especially with that Primary Bathroom Oasis, is pretty amazing. You can see how much coverage there is.
I cannot imagine what all goes into getting that stuff installed.
But obviously, with a lot of this, it is the things you do not see that really make all the difference.
As we talk with Mike and Edge Construction about their projects and work, a lot of times it is the things we do not necessarily talk about on this program that make all the difference.
Obviously, we love seeing a beautiful result, but it will not last if it is not done properly.
That is a great thing about working with Mike and the team at Edge Construction: getting all of those layers done right.
I want to ask you about tubs.
Have we reached a point where a homeowner could get away with simply having a shower with a bench in it? Or are tubs still standard, specifically in the Midwest? Do you need at least one?
Mike:
The concern is that even if you do not use the tub, someday a family might buy the house and want a tub.
There are plenty of small houses in Madison where it is one bath. Maybe aging homeowners say, “I do not use the bath. It is inconvenient for me. It would be so much nicer to have a shower.”
I say, “Do what you want to do.”
If somebody later says they need a tub, let them deal with it.
I do not think it is going to stop somebody from buying your house at some point. If they really want it, let the next generation worry about it.
You are an adult. You bought this house. Make it fit your needs.
Generally, yes, if you have two or more baths, one of them is going to have a tub. That makes sense.
But do you really need it? Most people do not.
Host:
What about the materials?
Earlier, we talked about that beautiful bathroom remodel with the great soaking tub. The materials for tubs now are amazing, not just in how they look, but in performance.
We talked earlier about heated towels and things like that. The tubs themselves can hold heat better. They have great depth.
If you have the project for it, it is amazing what you can do with tubs.
Mike:
There are options on tubs.
The standard — and we have one in our showroom — is a very nice fiberglass tub. The kick on it is that this is what most people put in, and it works fine.
But there are other levels to it.
If you go to the next step up, it might be a resin tub. They have a certain look to them. They are very thin-walled, and you wonder how it can weigh 200 pounds. But go pick one up, and you will believe me.
The advantage of the resin tub is the look. It is a little more contemporary, so it is not for everybody, but it holds heat much better.
If you are going to use this tub a lot, something like that becomes more important.
Last year at the Builders’ Show — and I am headed out there again in a month or so — I sat in some copper tubs and wood tubs, believe it or not. They were beautiful.
But I asked, “How much?” I almost had a heart attack. They were very expensive.
I suppose if you had the right space and the right look, they were super cool.
Part of me says wood and water do not usually mix. But I saw them, sat in them, and thought, “This is such an amazing-looking product.”
Maybe you just do not use it. Maybe it is artwork. I do not know.
Host:
If you are listening this morning and thinking about doing a bathroom remodel, maybe think about that because I would love to see the pictures and how that turns out.
One great thing about working with Mike and the team at Edge Construction is that they have a little something for everybody. Every project is different, and they would love to get to know you.
You can get to know the team at Edge Construction and see all their work at EdgeConstructionCompany.com, especially through those links to Pinterest, Houzz, and Facebook.
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Their telephone number is 608-636-3343. That number is 636-EDGE.
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