There
are plenty of resources online where you can find tips about remodeling your
bathroom. But sometimes when your budget doesn't allow you to, your bathroom
gets neglected and you'd think, "Ah, it still could work after a
year," or "no one cares if some tiles gets a few cracks.”
Well,
this is actually what happened to our own bathroom where our last bathroom
remodel or at least our last bathroom renovation (major or minor) was more than
5 years ago. Currently, there are holes
in grouts along the shower area and we just neglected it. We thought what harm
could it do.
According
to thekitchenmaster.com, if you see stains, cracked tile, peeling paint, and
missing grout in your bathroom, then it’s time for a renovation and this is
listed as their number one sign. Peeling paint is quite easy to fix because you
can just scrap the chipped paint, check for any holes/cracks, and then repaint
them. Well, at least that’s what we did
and it works.
Missing grout |
So
in our bathroom, there’s plenty of missing grout in certain areas that we chose
to ignore before. Now, we choose the opposite and thought it’s time to fix
those missing grouts. Do you want to know why? Because of drain flies!
At
first I didn’t know what they were called, but when I searched Google for
insects that live in bathrooms, a number of pictures popped up and one certain
picture hits the jackpot. According to Wikipedia, they are called drain flies. They tend to live in moist areas and I think
they really love laying eggs in grout holes. Now we’ve got plenty of them
flying around in the shower area which is pretty disgusting if you’re not used
to them. So far they’re pretty harmless and they’ll leave you alone, but it
just doesn’t look sanitary when they’re around. They also multiply fast so
their numbers doubled in just a couple of weeks.
An actual pic of a drain fly in our bathroom wall just hanging around |
So
that answers the question the “why” question about the grout holes needing to
be fixed right away. It’s for sanitary reasons and for some, it’s for safety
reasons, too.
Leaky
faucets. This is a must because water bill is expensive and you can’t afford
having faucets leaking and waste water. This should probably be first in the
list because the moment there’s a leak, we immediately call a plumber.
Another sign that you need to renovate your bathroom is when
you treat your bathroom like a locker. When I was visiting a relative in New
Orleans and used their bathroom, it was literally like a locker because all
their wet clothes are hanged inside and it has poor ventilation. Plus the
lights are so dim that I’d be scared to stay inside for more than 5 minutes. That’s
something I don’t want to happen in our bathroom. If it has turned into a room
that you don’t want to stay in, then a remodeling is needed. If you don't have time to renovate it yourselves, there are plenty of businesses offering bathroom remodel in New Orleans.
We have to face it, a bathroom is as important as any other rooms in a house. It’s a place of privacy where we bathe every day and sometimes a
place to relax and enjoy the silence, so we should treat it like our sanctuary.