Issues You Might Encounter When Making Over the Bedrooms in Your Home

You want to create the home of your dreams and your current bedrooms just don’t fit in. Making over the bedrooms seems like a very simple fix to that problem. But it may not be as simple as it seems. There are a lot of issues you could encounter when making over the bedrooms in your home, and some of them can be bigger problems than others.

Unsafe or Unavailable Materials

Depending on the age of your home, it may have originally been made with unsafe materials such as lead or asbestos. If this is the case, you’re likely to discover that not only can you not continue your home makeover on your own but that you need to move out until the unsafe materials have all been safely and thoroughly removed by professionals.

Another possibility is that your home was made with materials that are no longer available. This can create two different potential problems:

• Your remodel may cost more because you need to replace more materials to have it all match
• You may need to search architectural salvage stores, other reuse centers, or even online, to find matching materials if you want to restore it

Outdated Plumbing and Electrical

Plumbing and electrical codes can change more often than you think. What was up to code even as little as 10-20 years ago may be outdated today. As you tear into walls and floors, coming across plumbing pipes and electrical wiring, you may find that you need to do some upgrades to get your home back up to current code.

Be prepared to hire a plumber and/or an electrician to help you get your home’s systems updated so they’re both safe and functional.

Previous Renovation Work Done Poorly

If your home is older or it’s had more than one previous owner, chances are you aren’t the first person to do some renovations. Bedrooms are especially prone to being remodeled. And this means there’s a good chance you’re going to find at least one layer of poor renovations that you’ll need to figure out how to undo. This can be another area where you find you need to hire a pro, particularly if a previous owner tried to do some plumbing or electrical work themselves.

Water Damage

Water damage is a much more common problem for homeowners than you might think. It can come from a pipe leaking or it can come from other sources, such as a roof leak or a flood during a severe storm. You and/or previous owners may never have even been aware there was a problem or a previous owner may have covered up the damage. Either way, it can lead to rotten wood and plaster, mold, mildew, termites and even structural damage that can make your home unsafe.

Water damage can make your remodel much more expensive as you replace all the damaged materials. It can also extend the time it takes to finish making over the bedrooms.

Remodeling bedrooms is a great way to put your stamp on your home. But it can also open up several problems you didn’t expect. By knowing what might be hiding in your sleep sanctuaries, you can be ready to deal with whatever you find. And that can have you sleeping peacefully in your newly made-over bedrooms that much quicker.