Bathroom Moisture Control

Moisture is an unavoidable issue that must be dealt with when designing a bathroom. It is the wetness that accumulates in the wall cavity, floor and or attic space day after day that turns to rot, mold and overall degradation of your bathroom. It is our responsibility as builders and designers to follow strict guidelines to prevent this undermining of your newly remodeled bathroom.

There is a very useful article at (http://www.finehomebuilding.com/PDF/Free/021151052.pdf) which illustrates proper subsurface preparations, ventilation and plumbing concepts. Nearly every bathroom that we have remodeled has had underlying water issues. I cannot think of a single instance where the subfloor wasn’t stained by moisture, or had water penetrating behind the shower walls, or the toilet wasn’t sealed to the flange properly.

If the subsurface and moisture preventative solutions are overlooked when remodeling there will be problems, it’s only a matter of time. It’s worth taking the steps to prepare for moisture so that your new finishes will last their proper lifetime.

Make sure and bring any questions to our upcoming bathroom design seminar on August 13^th at Mountainland in Salt Lake City.

Image credit: finehomebuilding.com ; Jo Peterson

Next Coffee Talk Seminar on Saturday, August 13!

Join us on Saturday, August 13, at Mountainland Design!

This seminar will be fun and informative.  And it's free!  It's a great chance to learn about bathroom design and remodeling.  Bring your questions, photos, and drawings, and take this opportunity to discuss your future projects with industry professionals.

RSVP to coffeetalkslc@gmail.com.

Please share this with anyone you know who is considering a remodeling project!

Dynamic Space Planning in Kitchen Layouts

If you came to our first seminar, you are already familiar with the concept of Kitchen Zones as the new way of kitchen space planning.

The kitchen zone concept is focused on in Blum's Dynamic Space planning principles.  

The kitchen is essentially divided into 5 zones:

1.  Consumables

2.  Non-Consumables

3.  Cleaning

4.  Preparation

5.  Cooking

Each zone is task-oriented.  The goal is to have everything you need nearby when performing various tasks.  For example, food prep often involves chopping vegetables, rolling dough, cleaning produce, discarding waste, measuring ingredients, etc.  So you would want to have cutting boards, knives, a wastebasket (or compost bin), measuring cups, and ideally a prep sink nearby.

Thinking about your kitchen in terms of how you perform each task is a great way to get started with the layout planning.

It is also important to consider the connection of one zone to another.  For example, to begin prepping food you need to get the food from the storage area (Consumables), so it's important for the Consumables and Preparations zones to be close to each other.  After prepping food you typically would head to the cooktop or oven, so the Cooking Zone is nearby.  And once you are done with prep, the dishes used need to go to the Cleaning zone.  From what I am describing here, it becomes apparent that the Preparation Zone is actually a central zone that needs to be convenient to all the other zones.  

For more information on Blum's Dynamic Space planning guidelines, see their website.

What We Are All About

To learn a little bit more about Coffee Talk and to see what we aim to accomplish, watch this video:

Welcome to Coffee Talk!

Our first event on May 12 was a great success!  We had a good turnout of both homeowners and trades related to the industry, which led to some great discussions among the group.  Special thanks to Roth Distributing for sponsoring and hosting the event!

Nicole Zeigler discussed kitchen layout guidelines and design trends, and Michael Elliott discussed the remodeling process, including building permits, inspections, and the importance of working with professionals.

Due to the success of the event, we are now announcing quarterly Coffee Talk meetings.  Our next meeting will be on Saturday, August 13, 2011 from 10am until noon at Mountainland Design.  This seminar will address Bathroom Design.  Please email coffeetalkSLC@gmail.com for more information.