Repair or Replace – When is it Time to Upgrade?

When you’re calling around for a company to take a look at your home, you’ll almost always run into the call center agents that will tell you any small dent or crack means you need to replace the whole thing. This goes for roofing, bathroom remodels, kitchen cabinets, and any other project you can think of. We want to help you determine which category your home project falls into.

For bathrooms, our main concern is that your wet area is watertight. If you have a crack or gap in any part of your shower or bath, that is a reason to get your shower or bath replaced. I know it’s tempting to hire a handyman to patch up the cracks, but you need to trust us when we tell you those patches will not be foolproof. Think about filling a plastic bag with water. When you have a brand-new plastic bag, it shouldn’t have any problems with leaking. Over time, that bag will start to leak after using it over and over and will no longer be able to effectively hold water. Even if you had the best water-proof tape to mend the bag, water will still slowly leak out shortly after the fix. Similarly, when it comes to water-proofing a space, a repair will not hold up for a long time and we recommend replacing.

At this point you’re probably thinking, ‘Dang it sounds like any small bit of damage is going to make me replace everything’. When it comes to kitchen cabinets, we finally have some good news for you. Unless your cabinet boxes have damage, you will likely not need to have your entire cabinets replaced during a kitchen remodel. You’ve probably seen those pictures of kitchen remodels where there’s pieces of wood showing the outline of the cabinets with all the drawers and tops taken off. Those are the cabinet boxes! If your cabinet boxes are in good shape, that’s what your project will look like as well. Simply replacing the doors and tops will make your cabinets look brand new and won’t cost you as much money as a full replacement.  

We know there’s many other projects we could cover here, but we’d rather answer your questions directly and give you advice on whether to repair or replace. We’ll answer honestly if a repair will solve your dilemma and may even be able to recommend how to repair over the phone.