A bathroom renovation is mostly decided before anyone sees tile. The expensive mistakes happen at rough-in, when the pipes go in the open walls, and they get buried behind drywall and found later.
If you are planning a bathroom or kitchen renovation in Kelowna this winter, these are the decisions your plumber needs from you before the walls close.
1. Where every fixture sits, to the inch
Moving a toilet a foot on paper is free. Moving it after the drain is set in a concrete slab is not. Settle the vanity width, the toilet position and the shower size first, and give your plumber the actual model numbers. Rough-in heights differ between a wall-hung vanity and a floor-standing one, and between shower valves from different makers.
2. The shower valve, chosen before framing is done
The valve body goes inside the wall and the trim you see later has to match it. Pick the trim first and buy the valve that belongs to it. Decide now whether you want a handheld, a rain head or body sprays, because each needs its own line.
3. What the old pipe is made of
Open walls are the one chance to see what the house is plumbed with. If the renovation exposes grey Poly-B pipe, which is common in Okanagan houses built from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, this is the cheapest moment you will ever get to replace it in that room. Insurers in BC increasingly ask about it.
4. Hot water capacity
A bigger shower or a soaker tub can outrun an old tank. Ask whether your current water heater can fill the new tub, and whether an on-demand unit makes sense for how your household uses hot water. It does not always, and a good plumber will say so.
5. Shutoffs and access
Every fixture gets its own shutoff, and every valve you might need to service gets an access panel. It costs little at rough-in and saves cutting tile later.
6. Venting and drainage slope
You will never see the vent pipe, but it is why a drain gurgles or does not. This is code work and the reason rough-in plumbing is inspected before the walls close. Make sure a permit is pulled and the inspection is booked into the schedule, not squeezed in after the drywaller arrives.
7. Gas, if the renovation touches it
A new range, a fireplace or a moved dryer means gas fitting, which in BC must be done by a licensed gas fitter. Bring it up at the planning stage so it is one visit.
The order that keeps a renovation on schedule
Demolition, framing, plumbing rough-in, inspection, then insulation and drywall. When the plumber is called after the drywaller, everyone pays for it.
Next Level Plumbing is a family-owned Kelowna company that takes on renovation plumbing alongside service work, with gas fitting, Poly-B repiping and on-demand water heaters in house. They serve Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and Vernon and hold a 5.0 rating across 192 Google reviews.
See Next Level Plumbing on the Okanagan Trade Directory or nextlevelplumbingltd.com.