Ha, newspapers as insulation...classic. I once opened up a client's bathroom wall and found a perfectly preserved vintage soda bottle just chilling there. Guess the builders needed refreshment mid-job and figured recycling was overrated back then...
"Guess the builders needed refreshment mid-job and figured recycling was overrated back then..."
Haha, reminds me of the time I tore out an old vanity and found a half-empty pack of cigarettes tucked behind it. Must've been someone's secret smoke break stash. As for my remodel, ended up around 8k, but that was with me doing most of the grunt work myself. Honestly, you never know what you'll uncover once you start pulling things apart...
Haha, finding hidden stuff during remodels is always a fun surprise. When we redid our bathroom, I stumbled across an old newspaper from the 70s stuffed behind the drywall—guess someone was catching up on current events between tile jobs? Anyway, your 8k sounds pretty reasonable considering you did most of the work yourself. Did you run into any unexpected plumbing or electrical issues along the way? Ours ended up around 10k, and that was with us trying to keep costs down by reusing fixtures and shopping sales. Honestly, budgeting for these projects feels like guesswork half the time...you never really know what's lurking behind those walls until you're knee-deep in demo.
We just finished our first bathroom remodel a couple months ago, and honestly, budgeting felt like throwing darts blindfolded. Initially, we thought we'd be around 7k since we were DIY-ing most of it, but ended up closer to 9k after uncovering some sketchy plumbing behind the shower wall. Turns out the previous owner had done some creative pipework that definitely wasn't up to code—had to redo a good chunk of it. Did you guys have to deal with permits or inspections at all? We debated skipping permits at first, but I'm glad we didn't because the inspector caught a wiring issue we totally missed. Also, funny you mention hidden stuff—we found an old Pepsi bottle from the 80s tucked behind the vanity. Makes me wonder what else is hiding in the rest of the house...
We DIY'd ours last year and budgeted around 6k, ended up closer to 8k—sounds familiar, right? Didn't have plumbing surprises, but the electrical was a mess.
"Did you guys have to deal with permits or inspections at all?"
Yeah, we debated skipping permits too, but glad we didn't. Inspector caught some sketchy wiring behind the vanity. No vintage soda bottles here, just a rusty screwdriver and some questionable wallpaper choices...
