Jacqueline and Ted’s bathroom renovation

Ottawa Home Renovation contractor bathroom glass shower door

Bathroom before.

When I make a promise, I keep it.

Jacqueline and Ted called me based on a referral from Stephanie, whose basement I renovated in February. Jacqueline and Ted had renovators working on their basement bathroom. To say that it was not going well would be an understatement.

You may know that I am not a fan of the white-tank-top-overall-wearing TV renovator, but I did have a ‘Mike Holmes moment’ when Jacqueline and Ted asked me to have a look at the work underway.

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Bathroom after.

I promised to restore their faith in the renovation process by doing a much better job of the upstairs bathroom.

Jacqueline and Ted live in a beautiful old home off Elgin St., downtown Ottawa. The upstairs bathroom is adjacent to a bedroom with large walk-in closet. Their plan was to re-allocate some of the closet space to the bathroom, to be used as a shower enclosure.

A very organized couple, they already had drawings, materials and fixtures for the upstairs bathroom.

As with any older home, we came across the usual issues when opening and moving walls. All were easily addressed as we moved through the project.

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Recessed shelf in the shower.

The shower enclosure was created with a Schluter base and Schluter Kerdi waterproofing membrane on the walls, all of which was covered in tiles. Schluter Ditra was applied to the wooden subfloor to prevent movement and stop any grout cracking. (I’m not on Schluter’s payroll, it’s just that they make good products.)

Ottawa Home Renovation contractor bathroom glass shower door 01

1″ tiles in the shower base and 12″x18″ tiles on the shower
walls. Space for the new shower enclosure was created
by taking space from a large closet in the adjacent bedroom.

A few words from Jacqueline and Ted

I think the challenge will be to keep this short! Off the top of my head, here are some of things we discussed when talking about the experience.

First of all, what a wonderful experience! Yes, OK you may been aware that we had just come off not quite a “contractor from hell experience” but close enough… but our experience with you and your team was a dream. In fact… do projects actually work as well as this?

You were very clear and upfront about timing, boundaries and payment schedule. Beyond the actual work, those are the type of things that can create ill feelings between client and contractors and when approached clearly and professionally, at the front end, it is all avoided.

One of the key ingredients for us was timing. I actually have never experienced a renovation where the deadlines were met, until we met you.

The professionalism and energy that you and your entire team brought to the project made you a joy to work with. The quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail was superior. The shear fact that you called us with a status update on more than one occasion made Ted say, “I love this guy!”

We were stunned by the personal attention. I can say, without a doubt, that we are looking forward to working with you on the next project (which we already have in mind) but we will take some time to enjoy our recent reno!

Jacqueline & Ted