Bathroom remodeling in Princeton, MA

The houses this is written for

The stock here is antique farmhouses and capes, a number of substantial period houses around the town centre, contemporary and post-and-beam homes built to take advantage of the views, and newer custom houses on acreage.

Bathrooms in the Princeton housing mix

The farmhouses and capes on the older roads typically have one upstairs bath cut from a bedroom in the early twentieth century, often with a half bath added later near the back door. The substantial period houses near the centre usually have more, but in odd places, wherever a chase could be found at the time. The contemporaries and post-and-beam homes were built with a primary suite, and those baths now date from the seventies through the nineties.

Newer custom houses on acreage have the baths people expect, and the work there is usually finish-level: a larger shower, better tile, a double vanity. Each of these starts from a different point, and the plumbing behind the wall tells us more about the job than the fixtures in front of it. We open a small inspection hole early when the drain route is uncertain.

Septic and well come before layout

Adding a bathroom does not by itself change the design flow a septic system is rated for, because that figure is generally tied to the number of bedrooms. But the system still has to be in sound condition and sized for the house as it is actually used. Before we design a second full bath we want the tank and leach field looked at. On these lots there is usually room for a fix if one is needed, but it has to be known first.

Well water needs two checks. Pressure has to hold when two showers run together, which may call for a larger pressure tank. Water quality affects fixtures directly: hard water clouds glass and scales valves, iron stains porcelain. Treatment ahead of the bathroom supply is often the right call and is cheap compared with replacing a stained tub. We ask for your most recent water test at the first meeting.

Adding a bath in an old house: chases, stacks and framing

A second full bath in a farmhouse needs a waste route to the main drain and a vent to the outside. We map the existing stack first, then look for a closet, a corner of a pantry or a spot beside the chimney where a new chase can run without cutting through original trim. The floor structure gets checked for size and condition, because a tiled floor and a filled tub weigh a great deal more than the bedroom floor that was there before.

In a period house we plan every cut before opening anything. Joists get sistered where they were notched by earlier plumbers. Supply lines stay off exterior walls, which on a Princeton hillside can freeze hard. And any materials from that era in the walls or floor get tested before demolition, with removal planned accordingly. That planning is what keeps the old rooms intact around the new one.

Waterproofing, ventilation and the exposed wall

Every tiled shower we build has a continuous waterproofing membrane behind it, with corners, curb and niche sealed as one system. The tile is decoration; the membrane is the bath. Fans are ducted through an exterior wall with rigid duct and a damper, sized for the room and controlled so they run long enough after a shower to matter. In a cathedral-ceiling bath we build a chase for the duct at framing stage.

When the bathroom sits on the weather side of the house we look at the sheathing and sill while the wall is open. Wind-driven rain and freeze-thaw on the west and north elevations show up first as soft framing behind a shower wall, and repairing it while it is exposed is the cheap way to do it. We include a line for that possibility in the scope so it is not a surprise.

Same footprint, new layout, and staying put

Keeping the fixtures where they are is the quickest bathroom job and often the right one in a house where the floor is sound and the drain works. Moving the toilet or the shower means new waste routes and, in an old house, structural work, so we only recommend it when the layout gain is real. In the contemporaries the usual brief is swapping a corner tub for a large tiled shower in the same location.

Aging in place suits the single-story contemporaries and the newer custom houses especially well: a curbless shower, a wider doorway, blocking for grab bars and a comfort-height toilet all go in easily during a remodel. Our sequence runs design, scope, testing where needed, demolition, rough-in, inspection, waterproofing, tile, fixtures and finish, with deliveries scheduled around the driveway and the season.

Questions we get asked about Princeton