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Home-owners...What are your current projects? (1 Viewer)

Looking for some advice.  I have an upstairs bedroom that was my oldest son’s.  He had a puppy who did some light damage in the room with the carpet - enough where the carpet probably needs to be replaced.  My son moved out recently and we want to turn the room in to a spare room/workout area.  It’s a large enough room to hold the bed a couple pieces of furniture and then a treadmill and some other workout stuff (could even have a bench).

So, I’m trying to figure out what to do with the flooring.  Options seem to be:

- Repair the carpet - probably by far the easiest and cheapest if I can find a small bit of carpet to match.

- Hardwood - this seems like it would be the option I’d like the most aesthetically but would be the most expensive.  Concern is also damaging the hardwoods with work out area

- workout flooring - this would maybe be temporary but I’d like to pursue option here because long term once another kid moves out I would think we would make it a full workout room and convert other bedroom to guest room.  But we’d want something that still looks ok.
A coworker put that vinyl flooring in most of his house that gets a lot of wear, and said he & his family love it (they have pets and a zillion kids). He got it at Lowes, I believe. I can ask him for the brand, if you're interested. He's also a cheap SOB, so I know it can't be expensive :lol:

 
Looking for some advice.  I have an upstairs bedroom that was my oldest son’s.  He had a puppy who did some light damage in the room with the carpet - enough where the carpet probably needs to be replaced.  My son moved out recently and we want to turn the room in to a spare room/workout area.  It’s a large enough room to hold the bed a couple pieces of furniture and then a treadmill and some other workout stuff (could even have a bench).

So, I’m trying to figure out what to do with the flooring.  Options seem to be:

- Repair the carpet - probably by far the easiest and cheapest if I can find a small bit of carpet to match.

- Hardwood - this seems like it would be the option I’d like the most aesthetically but would be the most expensive.  Concern is also damaging the hardwoods with work out area

- workout flooring - this would maybe be temporary but I’d like to pursue option here because long term once another kid moves out I would think we would make it a full workout room and convert other bedroom to guest room.  But we’d want something that still looks ok.
For one room and what you plan, pergo

 
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Still waiting on countertops,  its still gonna be 2 more weeks.  :wall:

We recently dumped the countertop company we had because I found the exact same stone at a place down the road for $22 less per square foot than the original company was charging us. Bah bye. Luckily, I was able to get a full refund minus the templating cost.  The downside is the timeline from templating to install had to start over since we brought in a new company.

Been without a kitchen sink for almost 2 months now, and I don't recommend anyone try it. It will drive you bonkers.

 
Chadstroma said:
I have a wall that I need to patch the drywall for (basement leaking that needed repair). 

I am looking at a 22" x 30" needed. I can only find 23" x 23" or 4' x 8', I rather not buy a full sheet of 4' x 8' to cut the piece I need and then waste the rest. Any good ideas? Is there a special place that might sell 4' x 4' at least? 
The Home Depots and Menards around here sell the half sheets and one of them has quarter sheets.

 
I was in a similar situation and used a sheet of plywood to mount a temporary sink and provide counter space 


Eh, we're switching from a double basin sink to a huge single basin farmhouse sink, so the pipes need to be rearranged/rerouted in the sink cabinet, and that's above my DIY paygrade.

 
Did some light landscaping today in the front yard around the oak tree. Added some Malanga, Liriope and Wart Ferns. Put some Green Island Ficus on the outside of the fence that had some empty space. About 5 minutes after cleaning up and cracking open my celebratory beer, the skies opened up and liquid sunshine came raining down. Good timing I say.

Landscape 1

Landscape 2

Landscape 3

Need to get some mulch tomorrow to pretty things up and we'll be good to go. 

 
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Finished up our attic renovation. Did a lot of the work myself, subbed out a lot of it too. Two rooms: a rec room and an exercise room. Weren't much to speak of beforehand; storage mostly.

It's been a game-changer for me and the family. 

Pics
Damn, that looks fresh. 

Keep buying those yellow and black tools please. 

 
Did some light landscaping today in the front yard around the oak tree. Added some Malanga, Liriope and Wart Ferns. Put some Green Island Ficus on the outside of the fence that had some empty space. About 5 minutes after cleaning up and cracking open my celebratory beer, the skies opened up and liquid sunshine came raining down. Good timing I say.

Landscape 1

Landscape 2

Landscape 3

Need to get some mulch tomorrow to pretty things up and we'll be good to go. 
I like that fence. Local company or what? 

 
We are at the stage our old wood windows with storm windows starting to get some rot in areas so I feel obligated to price the replacement vinyl windows but honestly our energy bill stays low as is and the grids on our existing windows look so much better than the cheap vinyl. Our home price point doesn’t justify overspending on Anderson or that range. Anyone get a good looking vinyl window they are happy with?

 
We are at the stage our old wood windows with storm windows starting to get some rot in areas so I feel obligated to price the replacement vinyl windows but honestly our energy bill stays low as is and the grids on our existing windows look so much better than the cheap vinyl. Our home price point doesn’t justify overspending on Anderson or that range. Anyone get a good looking vinyl window they are happy with?
Caveat: It's been 25 years since I sold windows, so I'm not sure where the market is these days.

However, I still have many friends and former coworkers still schlepping glass and can try to help if I had a little more info. There are several really technical questions I won't ask because they require boots-on-the-ground investigation.

1. How old are your existing windows? How old is the house? Are your windows original to the house?

2. Do you know the brand? Are they custom or standard size

3. Can you take a picture of what you have already?

4. Obviously, rot ain't good so - regardless of how cheap you think your energy bill is - it's gotta come out.

5. What part of the country do you live in?

 
Caveat: It's been 25 years since I sold windows, so I'm not sure where the market is these days.

However, I still have many friends and former coworkers still schlepping glass and can try to help if I had a little more info. There are several really technical questions I won't ask because they require boots-on-the-ground investigation.

1. How old are your existing windows? How old is the house? Are your windows original to the house?

2. Do you know the brand? Are they custom or standard size

3. Can you take a picture of what you have already?

4. Obviously, rot ain't good so - regardless of how cheap you think your energy bill is - it's gotta come out.

5. What part of the country do you live in?
Hey appreciate it buddy, nome was built mid 80’s and appear to be pretty standard sizes though I’m not sure what brand. We are mid Atlantic region, recently I was looking at Wincore but really trying to find the affordability of vinyl with the SDL/grids to keep with the architectural style of our home. I’ve looked at the nicer Andersen/Marvin option but we would never get that level of cost back in a sale or close. Thanks for the help! 

 
We are at the stage our old wood windows with storm windows starting to get some rot in areas so I feel obligated to price the replacement vinyl windows but honestly our energy bill stays low as is and the grids on our existing windows look so much better than the cheap vinyl. Our home price point doesn’t justify overspending on Anderson or that range. Anyone get a good looking vinyl window they are happy with?
We’re getting all the windows in the house replaced by Window World. Prices are good and their warranty is solid. Not cheap, but not Anderson/Pella pricey either.  

 
We’re getting all the windows in the house replaced by Window World. Prices are good and their warranty is solid. Not cheap, but not Anderson/Pella pricey either.  
We have them here as well, what brand window did they sell you or do they just carry their own line? I’ll check them out online, appreciate it! 

 
We have them here as well, what brand window did they sell you or do they just carry their own line? I’ll check them out online, appreciate it! 
Own line. 175 mph impact resistant triple pane windows. 
 

ETA: Keep in mind materials are harder to get these days so installation will be way out. I’m looking at late June.

 
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My neighbor, across the street from me, was having an electrical issue.  In the past, I would have jumped to the rescue but the older I get, the less comfortable I am with messing with electrical, especially when it's not my own.  I put up light fixtures, ceiling fans, outlets, light switches, etc. but beyond that, I keep my hands off.

I stumbled upon an independent electrician a few years ago, this guy is everything you want.  He's fast, he's quiet, he's very detailed oriented, he shows you the work he's done, he discusses your options, why he chooses to use a particular item and he's extremely affordable.  So I recommended this guy to my neighbor and I said "hey, if you have him out, let me know b/c I wanna make it worth his trip so I can have him install a whole home surge protector."  

This is what I had in mind and, amazingly (in my mind), this is exactly what he installed which was $350 installed.   Which, to me, was totally worth it because I've gotten quotes (over the phone) for over $1,000 to install one of these and I've spent a ton (over the years) on surge protectors which have kinda worked.  The reason I wanted to this is because we got a lot lightning strikes near our house, we've had a lot of brown outs, lots of surges in my area and I've wanted to do this for a long time.

Next project, I kinda feel like a failure on this one b/c I had to call in the electrician to help me out.  So, our kitchen has recessed lighting everywhere expect for over the island.  Over the island it had an outdated, old fashioned, pretty ugly fluorescent tube fixture.  So, I purchased a replacement, led, flush mounted disc to match the recessed lights. 

So my new fixture comes in, I go out to the garage to turn off the breaker to begin the installation but the breaker won't shut all the way off.  It won't go back on though either so it's borked. . . arrrgghhh!  So I call the electrician, he comes out, I show him what's going on and he confirms the circuit breaker is toast.  He yanks off the panel cover and gets it replaced in like 10 minutes. . .he said "I'm going to check the others while I'm here okay?"  "Oh hell yes please!"  And he finds another one that just popped itself and won't return.  He replaced that one, in like 5 minutes.  Then he said, well, you're paying for an hour of my time, you got anything else for me?  I said, okay, since you mentioned it, let me show you this light fixture. . . 

He took the old one down and he said "okay, well, you're supposed to have a box up in the ceiling here and you don't have one, how about if I do that since I'm here?  Done and he installed the fixture as well.  $150 later and everything was done.  Again, I know this is a DIY thread but there you go.

 
My neighbor, across the street from me, was having an electrical issue.  In the past, I would have jumped to the rescue but the older I get, the less comfortable I am with messing with electrical, especially when it's not my own.  I put up light fixtures, ceiling fans, outlets, light switches, etc. but beyond that, I keep my hands off.

I stumbled upon an independent electrician a few years ago, this guy is everything you want.  He's fast, he's quiet, he's very detailed oriented, he shows you the work he's done, he discusses your options, why he chooses to use a particular item and he's extremely affordable.  So I recommended this guy to my neighbor and I said "hey, if you have him out, let me know b/c I wanna make it worth his trip so I can have him install a whole home surge protector."  

This is what I had in mind and, amazingly (in my mind), this is exactly what he installed which was $350 installed.   Which, to me, was totally worth it because I've gotten quotes (over the phone) for over $1,000 to install one of these and I've spent a ton (over the years) on surge protectors which have kinda worked.  The reason I wanted to this is because we got a lot lightning strikes near our house, we've had a lot of brown outs, lots of surges in my area and I've wanted to do this for a long time.

Next project, I kinda feel like a failure on this one b/c I had to call in the electrician to help me out.  So, our kitchen has recessed lighting everywhere expect for over the island.  Over the island it had an outdated, old fashioned, pretty ugly fluorescent tube fixture.  So, I purchased a replacement, led, flush mounted disc to match the recessed lights. 

So my new fixture comes in, I go out to the garage to turn off the breaker to begin the installation but the breaker won't shut all the way off.  It won't go back on though either so it's borked. . . arrrgghhh!  So I call the electrician, he comes out, I show him what's going on and he confirms the circuit breaker is toast.  He yanks off the panel cover and gets it replaced in like 10 minutes. . .he said "I'm going to check the others while I'm here okay?"  "Oh hell yes please!"  And he finds another one that just popped itself and won't return.  He replaced that one, in like 5 minutes.  Then he said, well, you're paying for an hour of my time, you got anything else for me?  I said, okay, since you mentioned it, let me show you this light fixture. . . 

He took the old one down and he said "okay, well, you're supposed to have a box up in the ceiling here and you don't have one, how about if I do that since I'm here?  Done and he installed the fixture as well.  $150 later and everything was done.  Again, I know this is a DIY thread but there you go.
What state are you in?!? 

 
Dammit!!! 
 

lol. I paid $420 to my electrician just to put in a bathroom ceiling fan. That was with a $70 “good customer credit”. 
 

I just had him install a new breaker for my hot tub. I dis all the hard work and ran the wire, mounted the box and supplied the material but we shall see what he charges me this time. 

 
Hi in the event of radioactive fallout quickly descending on my home, how could I quickly seal up my home from the inside to insure that nothing bad comes in. 

Wouldn't I want to turn off my furnace and stuff it up to block any air going through? Also I have a fireplace with no chimney but it vents to an outside wall. I don't think there is a flue to seal off the outside. 

Anything else I'm not thinking of please share. 

 
Hi in the event of radioactive fallout quickly descending on my home, how could I quickly seal up my home from the inside to insure that nothing bad comes in. 

Wouldn't I want to turn off my furnace and stuff it up to block any air going through? Also I have a fireplace with no chimney but it vents to an outside wall. I don't think there is a flue to seal off the outside. 

Anything else I'm not thinking of please share. 
well i just saw this today :shrug:   Why potassium iodide pills are suddenly in high demand

Im guessing if we have radioactive fallout we may have bigger issues to address? 

 
My neighbor, across the street from me, was having an electrical issue.  In the past, I would have jumped to the rescue but the older I get, the less comfortable I am with messing with electrical, especially when it's not my own.  I put up light fixtures, ceiling fans, outlets, light switches, etc. but beyond that, I keep my hands off.

I stumbled upon an independent electrician a few years ago, this guy is everything you want.  He's fast, he's quiet, he's very detailed oriented, he shows you the work he's done, he discusses your options, why he chooses to use a particular item and he's extremely affordable.  So I recommended this guy to my neighbor and I said "hey, if you have him out, let me know b/c I wanna make it worth his trip so I can have him install a whole home surge protector."  

This is what I had in mind and, amazingly (in my mind), this is exactly what he installed which was $350 installed.   Which, to me, was totally worth it because I've gotten quotes (over the phone) for over $1,000 to install one of these and I've spent a ton (over the years) on surge protectors which have kinda worked.  The reason I wanted to this is because we got a lot lightning strikes near our house, we've had a lot of brown outs, lots of surges in my area and I've wanted to do this for a long time.

Next project, I kinda feel like a failure on this one b/c I had to call in the electrician to help me out.  So, our kitchen has recessed lighting everywhere expect for over the island.  Over the island it had an outdated, old fashioned, pretty ugly fluorescent tube fixture.  So, I purchased a replacement, led, flush mounted disc to match the recessed lights. 

So my new fixture comes in, I go out to the garage to turn off the breaker to begin the installation but the breaker won't shut all the way off.  It won't go back on though either so it's borked. . . arrrgghhh!  So I call the electrician, he comes out, I show him what's going on and he confirms the circuit breaker is toast.  He yanks off the panel cover and gets it replaced in like 10 minutes. . .he said "I'm going to check the others while I'm here okay?"  "Oh hell yes please!"  And he finds another one that just popped itself and won't return.  He replaced that one, in like 5 minutes.  Then he said, well, you're paying for an hour of my time, you got anything else for me?  I said, okay, since you mentioned it, let me show you this light fixture. . . 

He took the old one down and he said "okay, well, you're supposed to have a box up in the ceiling here and you don't have one, how about if I do that since I'm here?  Done and he installed the fixture as well.  $150 later and everything was done.  Again, I know this is a DIY thread but there you go.
Nice!

just an observation, but if you’ve got two bad breakers I’d assume there will be others. Time to plan ahead to upgrade the whole panel. Are you 100amp or 200? Any thoughts on buying an EV? If/when you do, that’d be the time to upgrade I think 

 
Nice!

just an observation, but if you’ve got two bad breakers I’d assume there will be others. Time to plan ahead to upgrade the whole panel. Are you 100amp or 200? Any thoughts on buying an EV? If/when you do, that’d be the time to upgrade I think 
Yeah, maybe, maybe not, we'll see I guess, I'm not terribly concerned about it.  I trust my electrician and if he says it all needs to be replaced, I'll let him have at it, he's a very honest guy and he's pretty affordable.  I have some projects lined up for him later on this year, we'll discuss the panel replacement then.  I actually brought it up and he looked it over and his suggestion was kind of the same. He asked about plans for a future EV purchase and perhaps before that EV purchase would be the right time to rip and replace the panel, until then, just play it by ear.  So, right now, I have a 200 amp service and I have no plans to jump on the EV bandwagon any time soon, hopefully never if I'm being 100% honest. 

 
My gas stove was taking forever to preheat so I did a little  research and watched a YouTube video and determined what part I needed.  Local parts store had it in stock, picked it up and installed it.  Total time spent about one hour.  
Sometimes it’s the little victories that bring the greatest joy.  

 
Having some trees removed - had a guy who works for a tree service come out and give me a quote for him to do it on the side.  Incredible rate - almost too good to be true.  He did a couple trees for my neighbor and two houses over so not too concerned but want to make sure I don't get screwed.

1. He doesn't have insurance - I get assuming the risk if he damages anything in my hard - my fence or deck, etc.  but I'm worried about what happens if he injures himself.  Could he sue me?  Could I have him sign a waiver

2. Would an HOA approving the trees to be removed be assuming this guy has insurance?

 
Just got a Navien tankless water heater installed. Did I overpay at $5100?

ETA: looks like it's a 210A2 if that's relevant.

 
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My gas stove was taking forever to preheat so I did a little  research and watched a YouTube video and determined what part I needed.  Local parts store had it in stock, picked it up and installed it.  Total time spent about one hour.  
Sometimes it’s the little victories that bring the greatest joy.  
igniter?

 
Just got a Navien tankless water heater installed. Did I overpay at $5100?

ETA: looks like it's a 210A2 if that's relevant.
$2K for the heater itself.  

Install, need to:

1) Mount it.  Depends on where you mount it for how easy it is

2) Install vent to outdoors

3) Bring a gas line over to it, potentially modify gas piping if line size is not big enough

4) Bring water line over to it, demo out old water tank, clean up water lines

Looks like two full days to me of work to me, maybe a third day needed depending.  20 hrs at $100/hr, another $2K in labor.  Add in $200 of materials, I have it at $4200.  

 
$2K for the heater itself.  

Install, need to:

1) Mount it.  Depends on where you mount it for how easy it is

2) Install vent to outdoors

3) Bring a gas line over to it, potentially modify gas piping if line size is not big enough

4) Bring water line over to it, demo out old water tank, clean up water lines

Looks like two full days to me of work to me, maybe a third day needed depending.  20 hrs at $100/hr, another $2K in labor.  Add in $200 of materials, I have it at $4200.  
Thanks. Ouch. Two guys did it in about 4 hours. Only thing beyond your list was a recirculating line going to the bathroom at the opposite end of the house. Not sure that accounts for an extra $900 but, hey, happy wife happy life.

1) Mount it.  Depends on where you mount it for how easy it is.

Garage, easy.

2) Install vent to outdoors

Yes

3) Bring a gas line over to it, potentially modify gas piping if line size is not big enough

Yes, and yes.

4) Bring water line over to it, demo out old water tank, clean up water lines

A minimal amount of new piping. Installed in same spot as old hot water tank.

 
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They get it inspected same day? 

They also would have had to pull the permit, so a few hours for that. But ya, they probably ended up with 12 hrs labor for a $2500 profit.  Not bad work if you can get it...

 
They get it inspected same day? 

They also would have had to pull the permit, so a few hours for that. But ya, they probably ended up with 12 hrs labor for a $2500 profit.  Not bad work if you can get it...
I am not aware of anyone pulling a permit. No inspection. Hopefully that's just something my area doesn't require.

 
We are at the stage our old wood windows with storm windows starting to get some rot in areas so I feel obligated to price the replacement vinyl windows but honestly our energy bill stays low as is and the grids on our existing windows look so much better than the cheap vinyl. Our home price point doesn’t justify overspending on Anderson or that range. Anyone get a good looking vinyl window they are happy with?


Caveat: It's been 25 years since I sold windows, so I'm not sure where the market is these days.

However, I still have many friends and former coworkers still schlepping glass and can try to help if I had a little more info. There are several really technical questions I won't ask because they require boots-on-the-ground investigation.

1. How old are your existing windows? How old is the house? Are your windows original to the house?

2. Do you know the brand? Are they custom or standard size

3. Can you take a picture of what you have already?

4. Obviously, rot ain't good so - regardless of how cheap you think your energy bill is - it's gotta come out.

5. What part of the country do you live in?


Hey appreciate it buddy, nome was built mid 80’s and appear to be pretty standard sizes though I’m not sure what brand. We are mid Atlantic region, recently I was looking at Wincore but really trying to find the affordability of vinyl with the SDL/grids to keep with the architectural style of our home. I’ve looked at the nicer Andersen/Marvin option but we would never get that level of cost back in a sale or close. Thanks for the help! 


Just got an estimate for 2 Double windows replacement (4 total), 1 in Bathroom over tub required to be "Tempered Glass" by code.  Total install price > $7.1K     We were also looking at Sliding Glass Door ...  $4.5K quote

4 windows @ $1k each & $800 install was not really what I expected since we budgeted only $3.5K 

Is that the going rate today?  

Local / Family operated company / well reviewed and well respected / I like the product and due to the Southern Sun exposure on 1 part of my house, I need the "Silver layer reflection" ... $$

Any advice? 

 
Having some trees removed - had a guy who works for a tree service come out and give me a quote for him to do it on the side.  Incredible rate - almost too good to be true.  He did a couple trees for my neighbor and two houses over so not too concerned but want to make sure I don't get screwed.

1. He doesn't have insurance - I get assuming the risk if he damages anything in my hard - my fence or deck, etc.  but I'm worried about what happens if he injures himself.  Could he sue me?  Could I have him sign a waiver

2. Would an HOA approving the trees to be removed be assuming this guy has insurance?
 My suggestion is BUYER BEWARE.  Some are in just for a buck and not concerned with any of your assets.

My neighbor tried this.  Tree limb fell onto his deck, did ~$4K damage.  With no insurance, all he could do was "discount" the service work ($1200).  Neighbor had to pay for repair .  When he called Insurance company (State Farm), they said it was not covered since it was "uncontracted service" ...  never heard term before. 

I used "local big name Tree Service"...  work was great.  There was some minor scratches on side of house from removing trees out limited gate/pathway.  I estimated $80 in paint to repair.  They dropped $150 from price quote to make up for it. 

 
I'm having the concrete courtyard replaced in front of my Brooklyn brownstone.  The contractor asked me if I wanted a "mark" or pattern in the concrete. He doesn't have a firm grasp of English but he said some people put circles or something in it?  Does anyone have thoughts/advice on this?  @ChiefD@El Floppo

 
I'm having the concrete courtyard replaced in front of my Brooklyn brownstone.  The contractor asked me if I wanted a "mark" or pattern in the concrete. He doesn't have a firm grasp of English but he said some people put circles or something in it?  Does anyone have thoughts/advice on this?  @ChiefD@El Floppo
Sounds like concrete stamping. Just adds some texture to an otherwise flat concrete patio.

They take a big stamp and lay it down over the wet concrete. Then repeat until the whole patio is stamped. Just google concrete stamping and you can see some examples.

I'd want to take a look at the stamp before you agree to do this just so you know what it's gonna look like.

 
Yeah stamping is the "cheap way"  to make it look like stones sometimes.....

Its very common but definitely need to see the pattern

 
I don't generally like that kind of thing- and front yard is going to be a small pour, I'd think? IMO, just leave it concrete and make sure he has expansion joints as needed.

 
Windows have been built way ahead of expected time so installation should be within the next month. I need to order some new blinds ASAP

 

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