Bathroom Remodeling in Chevy Chase, MD

What a bathroom remodel in Chevy Chase actually involves

Houses of this age in Chevy Chase carry plaster over lath, knob-and-tube remnants in some attics, and original single-glazed windows. Any interior project has to plan for what opening those walls exposes.

Early twentieth-century Colonial Revivals, shingled four-squares, stucco and frame houses built when Chevy Chase was a streetcar suburb, most of them added onto at least once since.

• Waterproofing the wet area. This is the part that matters most and is the least visible when it is done. A tiled shower needs a continuous waterproof assembly behind the tile, correctly detailed at the curb, the corners, the niche and the drain, with a sloped substrate. Cement board alone is not waterproofing.
• Tile, stone and layout. Full-height walls, floor layout set from a center line so the cuts land symmetrically, and a shower floor pitched correctly to the drain in every direction.
• Vanity, fixtures and glass. Cabinetry set level, fixtures installed and tested under pressure, and shower glass measured after tile — never before.
• Finish and punch. Paint, trim, mirrors, accessories, and a walkthrough where every fixture gets run and every joint gets checked.

Lead paint: the rule that applies to most of Chevy Chase

There is a federal rule most homeowners have never heard of and most bids never mention. The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule covers pre-1978 housing and requires a certified firm, contained work areas and a specific cleanup protocol any time painted surfaces are disturbed. Most of Chevy Chase's housing stock predates 1978, so assume this applies to your house unless someone has established otherwise. We are an EPA lead-safe certified firm and we work that way as a matter of course. If you are getting bids and nobody else has raised this, that tells you something worth knowing about the bids.

What drives the cost on a Chevy Chase bathroom remodel

There is no honest price on a web page for work like this, and a contractor who publishes one is either guessing or fishing. What is useful is knowing what actually drives the number, so that when three bids come back at three different prices you can tell which one understood the job.

• Whether the fixtures stay in place. Moving a toilet or shower drain is the single biggest cost step in a bathroom, because it means new drain and vent work and often opening the ceiling below.
• What the demolition finds. Rot at the flange and at the base of the wet wall is common in bathrooms over thirty years old and it is not optional to fix.
• Adding a bathroom where none existed, which is a plumbing project with a bathroom attached rather than the reverse.

The mistakes we get called in to fix

• Tiling directly over unmodified cement board and calling it waterproof. It is not a waterproof membrane, and the shower will eventually wet the framing behind it.
• A shower floor that does not slope consistently to the drain. Water sitting in a corner is a grout and mold problem forever.
• Ordering the shower glass off drawings instead of measuring the finished tile. Glass is not adjustable.

One licensed team, one contract, one point of contact

A bathroom involves a plumber, an electrician, a tile setter, a drywall finisher and a carpenter working in a space that fits one of them at a time. Sequencing is everything, and a single contract means one schedule and one person answering for the waterproofing rather than a tile setter and a plumber pointing at each other.

We would rather over-disclose than be asked. Maryland: MHIC #111971, issued by the Home Improvement Commission and searchable in the state licensing database. General liability and workers' compensation in force, with certificates sent by our carrier on request and before signing, not after. The licensed trades on your project hold their own licenses and their own policies and pull their own trade permits, which is the legal requirement rather than a preference. Your contract is with us, and so is the responsibility.

Where we work in Chevy Chase

• 20815
• Chevy Chase Village
• Town of Chevy Chase
• Somerset
• Martin's Additions
• Section Five
• Rollingwood

How a Chevy Chase project runs

1. On-site consultation, measurements, and a scope you can read. We start by understanding the house and what you want from it. Measurements, photographs, a look at the systems, and an honest conversation about which parts of your wish list the building will actually support.
2. Feasibility against Chevy Chase rules, before design. We establish what the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services, plus your municipality will require for bathroom remodel at your address, and what your lot, your zoning and your existing house will allow.
3. A scope you approve before anything is filed. Line items, stated allowances, and a written change-order process, because the disputes in this industry all live in the space between what was assumed and what was written. Once you approve it, we prepare the permit submission and carry it through review.
4. One supervisor, one schedule, one handover. MHIC #111971, The same person runs your job start to finish, we meet every inspection, and at the end you get a punch walk under working light plus the closed permits and warranty documentation as a package.

Bathroom Remodeling across Chevy Chase and Montgomery County

Regular working area here: Chevy Chase Village, Town of Chevy Chase, Somerset, Martin's Additions, Section Five and Rollingwood, plus 20815. What buyers and appraisers in this market respond to is period-correct exteriors with fully modern interiors, and kitchens that work without gutting the character out of the house — worth knowing whether you are renovating to stay or renovating to sell.

Homeowners here usually reach us for more than one thing at a time. Related work in Chevy Chase: kitchen remodeling in Chevy Chase, basement finishing in Chevy Chase, whole-home renovation in Chevy Chase, interior painting in Chevy Chase.

We came to general contracting from the outside of the house in, which is the part most remodelers subcontract and hope for the best on. That means the same company handling your interior can also handle roof replacement, siding, aluminum siding, gutters, soffit and fascia and window replacement — under one contract, with one warranty conversation instead of three companies pointing at each other about where the water came from.

Chevy Chase bathroom remodeling questions