The other morning, as I was having a shower and organizing my thoughts and duties for the day, a tile fell off the wall from behind the taps and into the tub. Thinking that maybe it had been installed with some sort of miracle waterproof glue, I picked it up and stuck it back in place. It stayed there for five seconds then fell off again.
As I rinsed the shampoo from my hair, I could hear the ominous music from Jaws as I imagined this large money-eating shark swimming around in my bath tub.
My house is 35 years old, so I expect to be doing some repairs from time to time, and applying some adhesive to the back of a tile and setting it in place is well within my area of expertise. But after I was dressed I took a closer look and found that the tiles on either side of the one that fell off, also came off very easily.
Further investigation revealed that the Gyproc was damp and spongy. Maybe, just from condensation or water from the shower, but surely not from a leaking pipe or joint inside the wall. If that’s the case then I knew I would have to “call somebody in.”
Most guys do not like to “call somebody in,” as they feel it is a threat to their masculinity and they want to show their spouse that she has someone she can count on to look after her every need.
However, most spouses prefer that their husbands “call somebody in.”
Most women take pride in their bathrooms and endeavour to keep them neat and tidy should company arrive. The last thing she wants to see is her husband heading in with hammers, wrenches and crow bars and the last thing she wants to hear him saying is, “Don’t worry honey, I got this.” I have a lot of firefighter friends who do odd jobs on the side on their days off.
However, most of their wives will not allow them to do work in their own homes.
In the contractor world there are specialists these days. There are kitchen specialists, basement specialists and, of course, bathroom specialists. One bathroom specialist has the following warning on his website: “During your bathroom renovation, you could run into unforeseen issues such as outdated electrical wiring, failing plumbing pipes, and rot or mould.
Trying to tackle these problems in addition to completing your bathroom remodel is risky, especially if you don’t possess expertise with wiring or plumbing.
When you hire a professional to handle your bathroom renovation, you know that any issues will be handled with skill to avoid turning a small problem into a larger one.”
That’s the key, not turning a small problem into a larger one.
But words like rot, mould, plumbing and electrical wiring all have dollar signs attached to them. To me, bathroom renovations seem like money down the drain.
At least that’s what McGregor says.