How to Fix Your Small Bathroom to Suit You Better

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Let's face it: when most people build houses, having a luxurious, gigantic bathroom or series of bathrooms isn't always the highest priority. For most people, building a house is about efficiency: and setting aside square footage simply to have more tiles near the toilet isn't the way to achieve that. Others might disagree and say that a good bathroom is worth the expense, but if you want to have an open bathroom and efficiency, you'll probably want to learn how to save space.

Bathrooms can be a bit clumsy and small - if you want to squeeze as much ambiance in them as you can, it's time to learn how to save space where you can. That's why this article will tell you exactly how to achieve that.

• Install over-the-door towel bars.

  Making room for the towel bar (or even a towel cabinet, in some cases) can be a little difficult. If your walls are close together, you might want to look elsewhere to hang your towels: on the door itself. Hanging your towels on the door will potentially put a little distance between your towels and your shower, but that doesn't mean you can't simply pick up a towel on your towel bar and place it near the shower. These towel bars can be easy to mount; just make sure that your floors aren't slippery when you walk from door to shower!

• Think vertically.

  When we think about space, we usually think in two-dimensional terms: the floor goes north, south, east, and west. But what about up and down? You can create more efficiency by looking at the different things you can stack in your bathroom. Do you have too many appliances scattered on your counter? Buy a mini-cabinet that stores them upward, creating more available countertop space. A combination bath/shower is also efficient, which is why many people love to have those installed in their bathrooms, as well.

• What can you remove?

  Sometimes, efficiency isn't about adding more; it's about cutting the fat. If you've been putting up with a bathroom that has cabinets way out in space, you might simply consider removing them and replacing them with more efficient, space-saving cabinets. Look around your bathroom and ask yourself what else you can remove: towel bars, shelves, and unnecessary decorations come to mind.

Remember that saving space in your bathroom isn't always about physics; it's about what you can imagine. Try to keep your mind open, see new perspectives, and ask yourself what you would do to save space if someone forced you to do it. You might find that the new efficiency helps you in the long run.

Originally posted 2009-08-05 03:30:56.

This post involves:

ambiance, appliances, bathrooms, countertop space, efficiency, mini cabinet, square footage, tiles, toilet, towel bar, towel bars, towels

... and focuses on:

Bathroom, Handyman, How to Fix

Posted by Fix Handyman on May 28, 2010 in Bathroom, Handyman, How to Fix

How to Fix a Broken Tile in Your Kitchen

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Whether your kitchen floor is new or old, there's nothing that disturbs the balance of a room quite like a broken tile. After all, tiles were installed with a pattern in mind: break one link in the chain and the whole thing falls apart. That's why it's important to know how to fix a broken tile - like learning how to change a tire, sometime it pays to know how before you have to do it.

First, we can assume that the conjoining material between each tile is already hard, which means that you'll have to do a little work that might include dust and debris. Make sure to wear protective eye goggles - you might even want to cover your mouth to prevent inhaling too much dust into your lungs.

Next, you'll have to destroy and remove any leftover spots from the previous tile. Most likely your tile is still in place, unless the whole tile itself came out already. In order to remove tile chips, you're going to want to follow a precise pattern: break the tile in the center using a hammer and nailset, and then cut the tile into an X pattern using a glass cutter. Then you can use the hammer to chip away the rest of the tile - beginning in the center - and pry up the pieces using a metal tool.

Once the area is cleared of the main tile bits, it's time for you to dry it out - suck out the remaining debris with a vacuum cleaner. It might not hurt to sand down any protruding areas that might get in the way for the new tile, so be sure to vacuum after you've done the sanding, as well.

Now that you have a clear area where your tile used to be, it's time to replace the tile. First you're going to want to fill the area with latex primer and allow it to dry - you should probably make sure to protect this area so that no one steps in it, particularly small children if you have them. After the primer has dried, you can apply tile adhesive, making sure to move it left and right to make sure it settles in properly. It's important to keep the tile level, so use a mallet to make sure that it gets in far enough. Any extra tile adhesive that comes out of the sides can be scooped up with a stick or screwdriver.

Give the tile some time to dry and you should be all finished. You've covered up the spot in your kitchen that detracted from all the rest. Now if you could just get a new set of cupboards.

Photo Credits: wakingphotolife

Originally posted 2009-08-04 13:55:27.

This post involves:

chips, debris, eye goggles, glass cutter, hammer, how to change a tire, kitchen floor, latex, lungs, mallet, metal tool, nailset, precise pattern, protective eye, tile adhesive, tiles, vacuum cleaner

... and focuses on:

Floors, Handyman, How to Fix, kitchen

Posted by Fix Handyman on March 31, 2010 in Floors, Handyman, How to Fix, kitchen