What the Huntsville/Madison station records
The NOAA station named as nearest to Decatur is Huntsville/Madison, at an elevation of 643 feet and about 15 miles east of Decatur. For Huntsville/Madison, NOAA's engineering weather data lists a 1% summer design temperature of 92°F, with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 75°F, and a 99% winter design temperature of 20°F. NOAA also counts, in an average year at that station, about 935 hours with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F and about 2,509 hours above 67°F.
Those are the station's figures, recorded at Huntsville/Madison. The rest of this page leaves the weather behind.
Decatur Utilities and the river
A local fact about drinking water: the Decatur Utilities water treatment plant draws from the Tennessee River. It can treat 68 million gallons a day, and its daily average is 27 million gallons.
How far should this project go?
Before anyone gives you a number, decide which of three kinds of job you are asking for. Bidders price them very differently, and mixing them up is how two quotes end up a world apart.
- A refresh. The layout stays. You swap the vanity, faucet, toilet, mirror, light and maybe the floor, and paint the walls. The tub or shower may get new trim but keeps its shell.
- A rebuild. The room is taken down to the studs and subfloor, and the shower or tub is rebuilt with new waterproofing, but every fixture goes back where it was.
- A reconfiguration. Something moves: a tub becomes a walk-in shower, the toilet shifts to a new wall, a linen closet is folded into the room or a second sink is added.
Write the kind of job at the top of the sheet you hand each bidder. If you are torn between two, ask for both prices.
The first walk-through
A remodeler who prices a bathroom from the doorway is guessing. On the first visit, expect them to look at more than the tile. Ask whether they plan to:
- check the floor near the toilet and the tub for soft spots or movement;
- look at the space under the bathroom, whether that is a crawlspace, a basement or a finished ceiling below;
- open the access panel behind the tub, if there is one, and look at the valve and drain;
- find the main water shutoff and the electrical panel, and note the bathroom's circuit;
- follow the fan duct, if the room has one, to see where it actually ends.
Write down what they found and ask for it to be repeated in the bid. A contractor who saw a soft subfloor and left it out of the price has told you something.
Tub, shower or both
Decide who bathes and who showers. A soaking tub that no one fills takes floor space from a roomier shower, while a household with small children may want a tub above all else. A few points to settle:
- If the tub goes, ask what the new shower base will be: a molded pan, a tiled floor over a sloped bed or a foam tray with a bonded membrane.
- Ask how the waterproofing ties into the drain and how high it runs on the walls.
- Ask whether the shower floor will be flood-tested before tile, and whether you can see it or get a dated photo.
- If you want a bench, niche or curbless entry, raise it now. Each changes the framing and the waterproofing.
The vanity wall
Picture a weekday morning at the sink wall. Think about drawers versus doors, how tall the counter should be for the people using it, and where the hair dryer and toothbrush charger will live. Lighting at the mirror from both sides cuts the shadows a single overhead fixture throws. Ask the electrician which protection the outlets near the sink will have and where new ones can go. If a heated floor or a heated towel bar is on your list, decide before the walls close.
Getting air out of the room
General advice for any bathroom: the fan matters only if the air it moves leaves the house. Ask each bidder for the fan's airflow and sound ratings, the route and length of the duct, and where it ends outdoors, through a roof or wall cap rather than into an attic. Ask too what control will run it after you leave the room, such as a timer or a humidity switch.
Alabama's Home Builders Licensure Board rule
The board's newsletter puts it this way: in Alabama, building, remodeling or repairing a residence when the job costs more than $10,000 needs a license from the Home Builders Licensure Board. A limited license, which needs no exam, covers only a single-trade job contracted directly with the homeowner that does not affect the home's structural integrity; other jobs need an unlimited license, which requires passing skill and business-and-law exams.
Questions to put to each bidder:
- What Home Builders Licensure Board license, if any, covers this job, and what is the number?
- Which city permits does the work need, and who pulls them?
- Who does the plumbing and the electrical, and are they on your payroll or subcontractors?
- Can you show proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation?
If you have questions about your own homeowner's policy while the room is torn open, call your insurer.
A scope sheet every bidder answers
Give each remodeler the same written sheet and ask that the price follow its order:
- the kind of job (refresh, rebuild or reconfiguration) and what stays;
- tear-out, disposal and how the hall and stairs will be covered;
- any drain or supply line that moves, fixture by fixture;
- the shower base, the waterproofing product by name and the flood test;
- tile or panels by product and size, the area covered and the grout;
- vanity, top, faucet, toilet, valve and trim with model numbers;
- fan, duct and control;
- lighting, outlets and any heated floor;
- permits, inspections, cleanup and the written warranty.
Ask how long the room will be unusable, how a hidden problem will be photographed and priced before anyone fixes it, and how each payment lines up with a stage of finished work.