The top 10 mistakes you can make when designing a bathroom in 2024

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[00:00:22] Eric Goranson: And then you basically just run the power up there. So you don't have to, you could have all those controls without running extra control wires. So that saved me probably two days of drywall finishing and trying to match texture and all that stuff when I could just. Do it that way without having to run new stuff.

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[00:01:02] Eric Goranson: This is our round. Welcome to the Round the House show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I am Eric G. This is where we're going to have a ton of fun today talking bathrooms. And this is my top 10 mistakes people make when designing their bathrooms in 2024. These are the mistakes that I see people make.

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[00:01:46] Eric Goranson: That was 43 stories tall, all with a kitchen cabinets on those top floors. So I've done everything from commercial to residential to everything in between working with home builders and everything else. So I really want to give you some of that wealth of information today. So you don't make [00:02:00] these mistakes.

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[00:02:27] Eric Goranson: Now, here's the thing. Maybe that bathroom layout is so simple that there is nothing That can be moved around. But the problem is there is so many great new technologies out there. That designer can help you figure out the right flooring material, the right paint, maybe the right bath fan, because those have changed a lot.

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[00:03:12] Eric Goranson: So this is where you want to lean on your designer to help you make that. Choice the lighting, especially if you're aging in place and you're trying to come up with a bathroom. That's something you can grow into. Maybe you're 50 years old and you're like, Hey, I know next year I got to have a back surgery or knee surgery or something like that, what do I need to do to make this so it still looks beautiful?

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[00:03:49] Eric Goranson: All right. The next one here is a mistake that I see contractors, I see tile centers, see homeowners making, and it's probably [00:04:00] the most expensive mistake that I've seen out there. And I see this on social media. I see it on even some of the tile setting pages out there that are supposedly for pros. This gets really rough guys.

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[00:04:34] Eric Goranson: Can you know something? Those old technologies to me are best left in the old technology pile because there are so many better ways to do it these days. Now we have systems out there that will give you a lifetime warranty that they'll have a backing to it. And you know something, if it's installed correctly, you'll have a completely waterproof system.

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[00:05:19] Eric Goranson: Had its place, I'm not a fan. Because it's not waterproof. It's going to be moisture resistant. But if water gets behind that, here's the thing. Let's talk about this for a second. Tile is not waterproof. Grout generally is not waterproof. So behind that has to be a waterproof membrane to stop moisture from coming back.

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[00:06:02] Eric Goranson: And it goes quicker. If you have to sit there, put in the backer board, tape the seams, do all that, put on two or three coats of Redguard and deal with that smelly mess. Why don't you just do it all in once, put the foam board up there, the backer tape, the seams, the screw holes, call it a day. You're done so much faster and you have a much better system.

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[00:06:44] Eric Goranson: If done correctly, very waterproof. All it takes is to Nick a liner. Or not get the drain set right with the mud set pan or even worse. You get the tar in there. I don't want that tar inside my house smelling that stuff anyway, but these are all [00:07:00] things that I look at and go, man, we do it so much better now use technology and it's going to last a lot longer on, I'm sorry to the guys out there, they're going to send me messages.

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[00:07:30] Eric Goranson: Had problems. Technology keeps getting better and better. And the same thing goes with tile setting. Use the latest stuff and do it right. It'll last a lot longer. All right. Next up here is, and I've done this in my house. I took out a bathtub, but taking out the bathtub for the shower, tap your brakes a little bit on this bathtubs or back style wise, five years ago, if you would ask me, Eric, is it okay to remove that bathtub and just have a shower only house?

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[00:08:24] Eric Goranson: But. Bathtubs are back. And I think people after COVID are chilling out a little bit more and want to just go soak and relax, Netflix, whatever, catch up on their shows, soak their body. I think what we're seeing is we're seeing that trend come back. So I'm seeing a lot less showers getting removed. And having shower only when you have that tub shower combination.

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[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Dixie Dania and Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to Around the House with Eric G. Yeah. We love Eric G and you should too.

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[00:10:45] Eric Goranson: We're on Instagram. We're on, uh, I'm on LinkedIn as Eric Goranson. You can find me there. You can find me. We've got our Facebook group around the house nation. Where you can share up your pictures, your projects, all that different [00:11:00] stuff that you're working on. And we've got a great group of experts, some of which you have seen on home and garden TV and DIY network that love to post stuff up and comment there.

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[00:11:33] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about here. Top 10 mistakes people make when designing their bathroom in 2024. Little recap here, not hiring a bath designer, not waterproofing tile correctly. bathtubs are back. So be careful taking them out, not installing all the blocking or insulation, towel bars, that kind of stuff, not planning ahead for that.

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[00:12:15] Eric Goranson: You're like, it's a bathroom What kind of technology can there be? Ah, you could do a tv mounted in there I've got a tv in my bathroom because i'm taking a steam shower. Do you want a steam shower? Explore the things you might want on it So I put in on my little side note here during covid was my big project for my bathroom My master bathroom teamed up with and did their total wellness package.

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[00:13:22] Eric Goranson: It's an air jet system putting your car wash, right? You take through the auto car wash and there's jets going every direction. You mount these through your shower wall and there's an offsite location close to there that you put in and it basically pumps air in there into that shower cavity and dries it.

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[00:13:58] Eric Goranson: Smart toilets with [00:14:00] bidets where auto opens got the nightlight. That's all great. Towel warmers. Oh my gosh. I love towel warmers. And I did one a couple of years ago here and I'll tell you what. Awesome stuff. Towel warmers are the bomb and talk about save you money on laundry. And we'll have those guys back on again here to tell you what, that's a great discussion with that.

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[00:14:44] Eric Goranson: It was really hard to get the way my house was framed from that switch up there to put another set of wires into control. I went to BroNewTone, they have a remote switch that runs Bluetooth. And then you basically just run the power up there. So you don't have to, you can have all those controls without running extra control wires.

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[00:15:34] Eric Goranson: The outlet and the lighter on the same circuit, you'd have a GFCI. If you're going to run one circuit, you might as well run two and put in some heated tile floors. What you can do with heated tile floors these days in a bathroom is absolutely amazing. And it is amazing luxury and it's not that expensive.

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[00:16:16] Eric Goranson: So think about those things. Heated floors are absolutely amazing and they keep it healthier in there too. Cause they dry the floor out so quickly. You jump out of the bathtub, you dry out of the shower, it really warms things up and it gives you just a warm glow in there. It's like having a soft heat and it radiates off the floor up.

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[00:16:52] Eric Goranson: So it's really not that hard to do in the scheme of the project. It's something to consider. So think about that. Now, [00:17:00] speaking of showers, we're gonna talk about this here in this segment and we're gonna talk about the next one as well, I think, 'cause this is a little more detailed. Here's one of the things that style wise you're seeing in all the magazines and you're seeing 'em online.

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[00:17:32] Eric Goranson: And that's all within the space. Now tell you why this doesn't work. First off, The amount of steam you have to be in there. So you're not freezing to death in the shower. I mean, it reminds me of being in the shower in a high school on a December day in Eastern Washington, where you're standing in this big open space and it is cold as all cold, unless you're under the water, the rest of that space gets so miserable and so many times I'll design it and [00:18:00] not put a shower door on it.

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[00:18:23] Eric Goranson: I think you've just got too many floor penetrations to work with as well as cleaning that. Oh my gosh. I don't want to be cleaning soap scum off the back around the backside of my toilet or getting the mold off of that. Cause it's in this steamy area around the house. We'll be right back. Don't change that.

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[00:19:01] Eric Goranson: this is Ron Kiel, the metal cowboy from Kiel, the Ron Kiel band and stealer. We are rocking around the house with Eric G. Welcome back to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today. Hey, make sure you're following us on all our social media channels.

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[00:19:40] Eric Goranson: We can share up your pictures, your projects, all that different stuff that you're working on. And we've got a great group of experts, some of which you have seen on home and garden TV and DIY network that love to post stuff up and comment there. And you can jump over there. It's a closed group. So you can get in there.

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[00:20:17] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about here. Top 10 mistakes people make when designing their bathroom in 2024. Little recap here, not hiring a bath designer, not waterproofing towel, correctly, bathtubs are back. So be careful taking them out, not installing all the blocking or insulation, towel bars, that kind of stuff, not planning ahead for that.

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[00:20:55] Eric Goranson: And what is that explore technology for your bathroom? You're like, it's a [00:21:00] bathroom. What kind of technology can there be? Ah, you could do a TV mounted in there. I've got a TV in my bathroom. Cause I've taken a steam shower. Do you want a steam shower? Explore the things that you might want on it. So I put in on my little side note here during COVID was my big project for my bathroom.

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[00:21:38] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, that steam shower has been a savior for my beat up body. When I had COVID, that was awesome because it really cleared up my head. It made things go so much quicker as far as trying to get rid of that. And it's really been good there. And then. I installed an AirMata drying system, and if you've got a shower, and you don't want to have to [00:22:00] squeegee it, when you're thinking about doing the next shower, look at AirMata, these guys do a great job, it's an AirJet system, put it in your car wash, right, you can take it through the auto car wash, and there's jets going every direction, you mount these through your shower wall, and And there's an offsite location close to there that you put in and it basically pumps air in there into that shower cavity and dries it.

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[00:22:46] Eric Goranson: That's all great. Towel warmers. Oh my gosh. I love towel warmers. And I did one a couple of years ago here. And I tell you what, awesome stuff. Towel warmers are the bomb and talk about save you money on [00:23:00] laundry. And we'll have those guys back on again here, because I'll tell you what, that's a great discussion with that.

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[00:23:27] Eric Goranson: It's really hard to get the way my house is framed from that switch up there to put another set of wires into control. I went to bro new tone. They have a remote switch that runs Bluetooth. And then you basically just run the power up there. So you don't have to, you could have all those controls without running extra control wires.

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[00:24:12] Eric Goranson: Cause so many times, if you've got a seventies or sixties or fifties house, There's not enough power in there. The, the outlet and the lighter on the same circuit, you'd have a GFCI. If you're going to run one circuit, you might as well run two and put in some heated tile floors. What you can do with heated tile floors.

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[00:25:00] Eric Goranson: So think about those things. Heated floors are absolutely amazing, and they keep it healthier in there, too, because they dry the floor out so quickly. You jump out of the bathtub, you dry out of the shower, it really warms things up, and it gives you just a warm glow in there. It's like having a soft heat, and it radiates off the floor up.

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[00:25:35] Eric Goranson: So it's really not that hard to do in the scheme of the project. It's something to consider. So think about that. Now, speaking of showers, we're going to talk about this here in this segment. And then we're going to talk about the next one as well. I think, cause this is a little more detailed. Here's one of the things that are style wise you're seeing in all the magazines and you're seeing them online, but I think they're a really poor design because almost everybody that I've designed these of where they've [00:26:00] demanded, I've had clients go, I want this and I go, okay, cool.

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[00:26:19] Eric Goranson: First off, the amount of steam you have to be in there so you're not freezing to death in the shower. I mean it reminds me of being in the shower in a high school on a December day in eastern Washington. Where you're stand in this big open space and it is cold. It's all cold unless you're under the water.

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[00:26:59] Eric Goranson: I think it [00:27:00] makes it much more expensive to waterproof it because now you have to waterproof around the base of the tub when the shower is in that and the toilet. I think you've just got too many floor penetrations to work with as well as cleaning that. Oh my gosh. I don't want to be cleaning soap scum off the back around the backside of my toilet or getting the mold off of that.

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[00:27:39] Eric Goranson: So it's something to consider. Keep that shower nice, good size, the size you want, but when you get too big, the bigger it gets, the colder it gets, the more uncomfortable you are. So be really careful. This can burn you really good. I've seen it happen to a lot of people and all of a sudden they got to go spend [00:28:00] another grand or two to put a shower door on.

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[00:28:20] Eric Goranson: com. You can track me down there. And if you want to give us a call here in the studio with a home improvement question, this phone, uh, leave a message. If I'm not here that I will call you back myself. 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. That's 833 239 4144. Round the House will be right back to wrap up our top 10 mistakes people make when designing their bathrooms in 2024 after these important messages.

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[00:28:57] Eric Goranson: to the Round the House show, the next [00:29:00] generation of home improvement. I'm Aaron G, thanks for joining me. This last segment today, I really want to talk about some of my top pet peeves here on the top 10 mistakes people make when designing their bathrooms in 2024. Now, here's the thing. If you want to find out more about us, or if you've got a comment on these, you want to argue it out, love to hear it.

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[00:29:36] Eric Goranson: Make sure you check that out. That goes through July 3rd. It's the generator giveaway. So if you're looking to win a generator, there's details over there on the page. And the link is right there at around the house, online. com. So we've been talking about these top 10 mistakes people make. And one of these here is an important one.

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[00:30:26] Eric Goranson: So here's what I'm looking for in a tile installer. And this is not a be all end all, but it's an important one. And even though I'm not a tile installer, nor do I pretend to be one, I have a lot of friends that are international experts on laying tile. And so I've spent around, spent a long time with those.

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[00:31:21] Eric Goranson: So I want to make sure our new audience out there catches this as well. And this was a battle that we just talked about, but I just want to make sure we talk about it again. A couple of years ago, we had the contractor in Colorado that was ripping off a homeowner and I'll say ripping off because he was convicted and, you know, had a felony on his record for this one, but he was doing, and I saw the pictures and I know where, I know who was there to fix it afterwards.

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[00:32:17] Eric Goranson: This is how bad this was. So you can look this guy up because him and his wife made an absolute fool out of themselves. They rolled in, decided when the homeowner, Amber, went this is not going well, they're trying to pressure me for paying them early. And they kept saying, Hey, I'm going to come over and she goes, I'm not even home.

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[00:33:02] Eric Goranson: Here's what was interesting and i'm gonna call out a few contractors out there not by name You But when this post goes up, I see it go up every year or so. And there's a lot of guys out there that, uh, puffed their chest. I'm going, yeah, I should have paid them. What do you expect? That's what I would have done.

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[00:33:42] Eric Goranson: But the guys over at a global tile posse Facebook group went over there, William white and all those guys over there went over there to Colorado and fixed it for her and did a great job [00:34:00] of it. So put it back together, did a beautiful job. It was a handful of contractors. I'm not going to name everybody off because they did a great job.

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[00:34:30] Eric Goranson: So make sure you have somebody That knows what they're doing and they're really good at it. Ask questions, do some research yourself, find out the different tile certifications, Google it up, go through that. There's all these different certifications out there for them. And if they have that certification number, you can call and check it up yourself and make sure that's what it is.

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[00:35:09] Eric Goranson: So make sure when it comes to the bathroom work that you've got somebody that is a tile expert putting that in. So that way they're putting the right waterproofing system, they're using the right grout. If they're using the right grout, they're not getting the stuff off the shelf at Home Depot or Lowe's.

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[00:35:51] Eric Goranson: And here's one thing in the big box stores have their place. And I'm not going to sit here and bash on home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, whatever. That's [00:36:00] not my job here. But what I want you to know is that when you think about those big box stores, that is the entry level to mid price point of materials across the board for your home.

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[00:36:36] Eric Goranson: That's going to make your job easier installing this stuff. So that's where that big one is. And I want you to make sure. You understand that. So make sure that you got that. And one of the other tips to hear before we go out to break here too, and we talked about this a little bit, but I want to wrap a nice bow about it.

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[00:37:23] Eric Goranson: My favorite still, as far as reliability, quietness is still Panasonic. I have put, I have Panasonic in my house here. I replaced it with one of the new Bro new tone ones, and I like the Panasonic better. I do now the Bro new tone one has that system where I can sit there and control the fan. Next time I'm tearing into that bathroom a little bit, I'm going to probably run some wire down there, do that drywall work, take care of it.

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[00:38:17] Eric Goranson: Small bathrooms. I think building codes is 40 or 50 CFM, which is not near enough because again, that's at the fan, not at, if you've got a 10 or 12 foot run and it has to go out a sidewall or up into the attic, that fan should vent all the way out of the building, all the way out, not into a roof vent, it should go through it and do its own vent outside.

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[00:39:03] Eric Goranson: So it's going to be a much more comfortable bathroom. And if you get that humidity out of there, it's so much easier to clean. All right everybody. I'm Eric t and thanks for tuning into Around the House. We'll see you next Wednesday on the podcast. Thanks for listening.