Homeowner Thread

Thanks for starting this!

could you cover the edges of the deck with a tarp or something while you work on the rail? after it's at least partially dried, anyway? I have never sealed a deck either.

That sounds like the right idea. I should cover the vinyl siding with something too, even though the sealer will be transparent.

No way, a new roof can't possibly cost that much. I had a great deal from my contractor, but even at double the price it was thousands cheaper. My upper level is ~1100 sq. ft.

paging Liz n Dicksgiving


Re: cosmetically renovating our kitchen with new floors/counters/cabinets ...

I have a few friends in town I can/should ask.

My FIL owns a glass company (mirrors, shower doors, etc) that does a lot of work with other contractors, as well as finishing his whole basement more or less by  himself, and he totally has "a cabinet guy" and "a countertop guy" and "a floor guy" but we really want one person to manage it all, help make sure the colors all work together, etc. I think he's been ruminating on it but I really just want to sit down with someone and go over options and get a ballpark price!

When we did our first kitchen job, I got a recommendation for a designer (to oversee the whole project and make things cohesive) from a coworker who had previously been an interior designer.  So seriously, finding a coworker who used to be a designer is a great option!    But you can also check Yelp.  That's how we found the contractor doing our gym renovation -- he was one of about five home renovation dudes listed in our area on Yelp, and was the only one to answer the phone and/or actually be willing to come to our town for a job.

I will say, if you guys aren't changing any kind of layout in your kitchen, you might save some money by just working with the various "guys" your FIL is suggesting.  You'd mentioned your job was going to be mostly just replacing the existing stuff, so if that's the case you could cut out the middle man.  Of course, there's the question of how much your own time is worth to you, measured against the cost of a designer/contractor, and there's much to be said about the one-stop-shopping appeal of just going to a kitchen designer showroom and making all your picks in one fell swoop.  (Our kitchen designer had just such a showroom, but we still ended up having to make separate trips to far-flung construction-y wholesale places to pick out countertops and floors.)

If you're concerned about overspray, do what we did when I was on a painting crew: buy a canvas dropsheet and have an accomplice hold it up behind the railing as you spray it. 

ganews Our deck is small enough that we usually brush it, but the idea someone with a drop cloth to block the overspray sounds good.
Baron von Costume Brown Recluse Spiders  Also, if you don't immediately need the shelving, I'd suggest watching for public auctions that list commercial shelving (often from businesses closing or renovating). If you can be patient, you can often find top quality stuff going really reasonable, and can often buy more than you immediately need, giving yourself spare components.
GumTurkeyles I have  done some work on my house and on the house/warehouse/office I bought, and some friends and I once put together a steel building (over about six drunken weekends) which is still standing 30+ years later, but I have not, as yet, ever sold a building, so my opinions on this are based on my buying experience, rather than any selling experience. Further disclaimer: all my opinions are from my experiences living in an area where I have never once in my life seen, or knew of the existence of, any form of building inspector. We here are free to design, wire, plumb. and build to our hearts content, without interference, inspections, or permits, living with the consequences of out own actions. I suspect most places are not like this. Any advice I give may be impractical for most locations.
   When I bought my place, I was impressed by the landscaping, although it's not something I took much thought about after the fact. I bought the place knowing the roof would soon need replaced, and I would never, never do that again. If i was buying, a solid roof would be a top priority for me. $20K is about what it took to replace the roof on my office/warehouse/house, but it is 6000 sq. ft. and it was a commercial flat roof. That sounds a bit high to me for an average house, depending on the materials and square footage.
  Unless the tree is likely to fall on the house (or something else valuable) , I would look for someone who wants to cut it for firewood. I would probably patch holes in the driveway, but probably wouldn't do a major resurface. 
  For cosmetic items like the wallpaper, screens, and fence, I would spend a moderate amount to make them presentable and functional, but since a purchaser may want to make changes in any or all of these, I wouldn't commit major funds to them.
Liz n Dicksgiving The only thing I can think of to mention about kitchen renovation is that my folks found someone who renovated their cabinets (stripped and stained, and add a couple new ones) rather than replacing all of them. They were pleased with their results, and saved quite a bit compared to a total replacement. They were not changing the overall layout, though.

My god, I would love to get rid of a tree in my backyard. It's an Indian bean tree, and it drops these super wide leaves and dry 10" bean pods, the latter of which harden into almost wood. The tree is in the most inconvenient spot possible, within 15 feet of all of the following: my house, shed, another tree, a picket fence dividing the back and front yards, and the chain link fence separating off my neighbor's yard. I can use a chainsaw, but there is no way I'm risking it. The thought of paying to have it removed pains me.

The front of my house still looks great. I need to trim some bushes down and do some weeding, but that's about it. It's the back yard that's bad. But thanks, I'll put some more effort into the front when I'm ready to put it on the market. 

The fence is something like 20 years old. I only got the house 3 years ago, and it was something on my list to replace. It's broken off in places where I've grabbed it from, so it's definitely not doing well. I can power wash it to at least make it look nicer, but it's only got a few years left at most. 

Horsehair plaster throughout the house (built in 1902). I'll remove the existing wallpaper, but if it looks like it's going to fall apart, I'll need to put something else up. I don't think this'll be a big issue to fix, though. I hope not. 

...soooo, why former pet pig?




......did you eat her?

GumTurkeyles, I agree with Floyd Diabolical Barber that you really shouldn't go too crazy fixing up the cosmetic interior finishes and whatnot.  Because, yeah -- whoever buys from you is totally going to be doing their own decorating anyway.  And moimoi is right that no one looking at the house is likely to notice the fence is falling apart, assuming you can use enough spit and polish to make it seem outwardly fine.  Something you could do with the roof is accommodate the cost of repair in your selling price, if you really don't want to deal with it now yourself.  That's how the septic tank issues and the replacement garage door with my house were handled when we bought it.

This was me, actually?

And yes, we're totally going to investigate refacing/refinishing the cabinets. No layout changes. It's a) too expensive and b) not really practical given our first-floor layout.

Sooooo not gonna do any of this myself.

Ahhh, my preferred method of home improvements, from major all the way down to exceedingly minor.  "Is there someone else I can pay to do this for me?"