Bathroom Renovation
Strip-out andstructural repairbefore anything new.
The one honest moment in a bathroom renovation is the day it is empty. Everything found then is cheap; everything missed is not.
In detail
Strip-out & structural repair
We take the room back to studs and subfloor rather than working over what is there. That exposes the three places bathrooms rot: around the toilet flange, where a slow leak from a failed wax seal has been soaking the subfloor for years; at the base of the shower or tub, where the old pan or the tile bed has been letting water through; and at any wall that backs onto an exterior elevation, where condensation has had somewhere cold to collect.
Joists get inspected properly at the same time, and in older housing stock they frequently need attention — not from age, but from a previous plumber who notched or drilled through the middle third of a joist to get a drain across. That is repaired with sistering or engineered reinforcement before anything is laid back over it. Subfloor is replaced where it is soft rather than sistered over, because tile and waterproofing both need a stiff, flat substrate: deflection is the reason grout cracks and membranes eventually split.
What this covers
- Back to studs and subfloor, with the room contained and protected
- Inspection at the flange, the pan perimeter and any exterior wall
- Joists repaired where notching or rot has compromised them
- Soft subfloor replaced, and the floor made stiff and flat for tile
- Part of
- Bathroom Renovation
- Typical timeline
- 2–6 weeks
- Where
- All 21 New Jersey counties
Questions
Asked most aboutstrip-out & structural repair
Why does the subfloor around a toilet so often need replacing?
Because a failed wax seal leaks slowly rather than dramatically. Water tracks under the flange and into the subfloor over months or years, and the first visible sign is often a floor that flexes or a stain on the ceiling below. By the time it is obvious, the sheet material has usually lost its integrity and needs cutting out rather than drying out.
Does the floor really need to be stiffer for tile?
Yes. Tile and waterproofing membranes are both intolerant of movement, and a floor that deflects under load will crack grout, then tile, then compromise the membrane underneath. Stiffening the floor — new subfloor, sistered joists, or an uncoupling layer where appropriate — is far cheaper than a tiled floor that has to come out again.
The rest of the scope
Everything else inbathroom renovation
Start your project
Ready to build or remodel your home?
Let's create a home that fits how you actually live — and holds up for the next twenty years.