OakRenoTech: Home Renovation

How do you feel when you’re coming in to your bathroom? Is the air fresh and dry?

To avoid humidity and stale air, it’s very important to choose the right fan. I’ve been installing Panasonic fans for years, and they are the greatest on the market. Even though they’ll cost you a little more, they’ll always keep your shower dry: no mold, no dew will appear on walls. Panasonic vent fans with motion sensor are energy efficient and quiet.

I usually recommend using high end bathroom accessories. Although being expensive not always means high quality. For example, Hansgrohe tub faucet’s chrome levers got stain marks just within a few months from installation. After debating, company’s customer service refused to replace or refund the faucet, suggesting that detergents damaged the product. Yet, strangely enough, only levers got affected and not the other parts. It’s good I had this facet in my own washroom and wasn’t responsible for it in front of my customers.

Finally, your choice of surface materials is critical for the bathroom. Everybody knows that if you don’t prime a drywall, paint will come out. Home Depot says, ‘use one can which is both prime and paint, and you don’t have to prime anymore’. But to achieve quality, I wouldn’t rely on that. It is especially important when applying materials for surfaces that are exposed to steam.

When you follow the best practices and chose the right materials, you’ll enjoy your King’s bathroom!

Related articles: Best Material for Washroom Floor, Buy Renovated Or Renovate?, Do You Enjoy Your Toilet?

Natural stone is the best floor choice for washroom. Wooden floor just isn’t practical.

I love working with natural stones: marble, granite, slate, onyx, soft and hard. And I always wish for my customer to have a piece of million years history and million dollar look in their possession. What a beauty the earth provides us!

What’s the most important though is subfloor, material that is underneath your tiles, not just material what you see.

Thanks to Schluter shower flooring system, german technology, the stone washroom floor is

• complete water-proof,
• has no cracking,
• has no nails or screws, which means it won’t have rusty parts.

I’ve been using this technology for already 7 years, since it came out on market, and very happy with its performance.

Related articles: Buy Renovated Or Renovate?, Do You Enjoy Your Toilet?, Three Decisions To Make for the King’s Bathroom

Imagine you’re moving into a beautiful home with washrooms with natural marble… and just a year later your floor got corroded, nails and screws give stains: dark-brown marks bleeding through your stone pores. This happens when technology used wasn’t good.

Some people ‘flip’ houses by doing lousy renovation. They put accents on colors and modern style, sacrificing the quality of materials – parts you can’t see. For example, they put tiles on top of existing tiles. I’ve been asked to do that kind of work and refused. And I asked other contractors don’t do it: you’ll see – you might be the next one buying that house…

So, when you’re buying an old house that has been completely renovated, I suggest you get a good contractor, who doesn’t need to be a home inspector, to look at the workmanship in the most important rooms in the house and point out to things you don’t see.

I’d personally never buy a renovated house but rather the one that needs renovation. “What if I don’t want to live in a mess?” – I expect you to ask. Well, this can bite you sooner than you think. While nothing can be wrong about bedrooms, the most expensive rooms in the house, kitchens and washrooms, will cost you more if you’d have to redo them. Hire a contractor so you can see the whole process and quality of work. Good materials won’t cost you double, and you’ll get return on your money in the long run.

Related articles: Best Material for Washroom Floor, Do You Enjoy Your Toilet?, Three Decisions To Make for the King’s Bathroom

My cat definitely enjoys it.

Why? Because this toilet:
- is convenient due to its elongated shape;
- stays clean thanks to powerful ‘cyclone’ one-flush performance;
- automatically maintains level of water;
- works quietly.

Many people are starting to prefer the look and feel of this elongated Toto toilet model.

Toto toilets are highly efficient: not only require minimal cleaning with environmentally unfriendly detergents, but also provide true water savings.

Great products, I recommend them!

Related articles: Three Decisions To Make for the King’s Bathroom, Buy Renovated Or Renovate?, Best Material for Washroom Floor