Planning a bathroom renovation

Keep the footprint, or change it

The toilet drain is the hardest thing in a bathroom to move, because it needs a large pipe with a steady slope. Keeping the toilet, sink and tub or shower roughly where they are keeps the plumbing simple. Moving them is possible, but it can mean opening the floor and, on a first floor, the ceiling below.

Tub, shower, or both

Many homeowners trade a tub for a larger walk-in shower. If the house has only one tub, think about who uses it: small children and some buyers later on may want one. A curbless shower is easier to walk into but usually means recessing the floor so water still runs to the drain.

The parts that keep water where it belongs

• A waterproofing layer behind and under the tile in the shower, not just tile and grout.
• A properly sloped shower floor that sends water to the drain.
• An exhaust fan that vents outside the house, sized for the room, so moisture does not settle in walls and ceilings.

Safer access

Grab bar blocking inside the walls costs little while the walls are open and saves tearing tile out later. A bench, a handheld shower, a wider door and a curbless entry make a bathroom work for more people for longer.

Adding a bathroom

A new bathroom needs a drain path, a vent and water supply, and on Long Island it also raises a question about the sanitary system. If the house is on a cesspool or septic system instead of a sewer, more fixtures can mean more load, so ask about the system's capacity early.

Permits

Plumbing changes, new fixtures and any wall or floor framing are the kinds of work building departments look at. Your town or village decides what your project needs: see who issues your permit.

Before you sign with anyone

• Check the contractor's county home improvement license yourself: Suffolk or Nassau, plus any town license on the East End.
• Ask for a certificate of insurance sent to you by the insurance agent, not a photo of one.
• Get the contract in writing and signed. New York's home improvement contract law, General Business Law section 771, requires the contractor's license number, a description of the work and materials, the price, the approximate start and completion dates, and a schedule if there are progress payments.
• Know your two protections under that law: you can cancel until midnight of the third business day after you sign, and payments made before the work is finished must be deposited as the state's Lien Law requires, unless the contractor gives you a bond or similar guarantee instead.
• Match each payment to finished work. A payment schedule that runs ahead of the work leaves you carrying the risk.