Home-owners...What are your current projects?

[Uruk-Hai]

Just now, wilked said:

permit for a ground-level deck???
 

Unless your neighbors are at risk of dropping a dime on you, skip it.  Absolutely for an elevated one, but waste of time for ground level.  Getting the codes is a good idea tho

Disagree, but to each his/her own. Some localities require it. 

And I can tell you this from personal experience for resale - when your selling agent can note the improvements made to the property AND whip out permits to prove they were done to approval - it helps. Permits cost a little bit of nothing, plus they stamp that the work was done right.

[B Maverick]

24 minutes ago, wilked said:

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Deck-Expert-Advice-Tauntons/dp/1561584797

thanks ill check that out

22 minutes ago, Uruk-Hai said:

You gonna build it yourself? If so.......

First, check your local jurisdiction's codes.

Second, get a permit (if necessary; I would even if it wasn't required just for my own peace-of-mind and resale optics).

 

6 minutes ago, wilked said:

permit for a ground-level deck???
 

Unless your neighbors are at risk of dropping a dime on you, skip it.  Absolutely for an elevated one, but waste of time for ground level.  Getting the codes is a good idea tho

Thanks guys.  hoping to build it myself... considered permits and will look into it.  No neighbors will cause any issues and its in the backyard behind a fence.  The front one later maybe but not this one.

[Uruk-Hai]

34 minutes ago, B Maverick said:

Can any of you suggest a resource for helping to plan building a deck?  Have home depot books and found some sites that show how too, but having trouble trying to figure out what materials and how much I need to do this.  

Basically want to put a ground level 6' x 22' rectangle deck.  Nothing fancy,  Will be on the side of the house for seating and entertaining.  Have the outdoor heater and BBQ and just want something nice in conjunction with the garage that is slowly becoming a mancave....  

How high off of the ground will it be?

[B Maverick]

5 minutes ago, Uruk-Hai said:

How high off of the ground will it be?

Basically the height of the wood used to frame it.  a small step above ground level maybe?

[tonydead]

50 minutes ago, proninja said:

extra information: We have lots of huge evergreen trees that shed pine needles constantly. No leaves to worry about, but pine needles aplenty. 

And sap and cones that get in the grass.  I only have a few firs left that are far away from the house.  I'll take ceder trees over fir trees any day.

[rascal]

18 minutes ago, tonydead said:

And sap and cones that get in the grass.  I only have a few firs left that are far away from the house.  I'll take ceder trees over fir trees any day.

cedar trees kill everything under them and leave needles themselves.  Plus the allergen issue for a lot of people.

[rascal]

44 minutes ago, Uruk-Hai said:

Yeah. I only did about 1/3 of the surface you're doing. I can tell you that the quartz (surfacing over the cut out for the sink) was about $130/sq ft installed. Granite wasn't that much cheaper, but required maintenance. I didn't price the laminates because my area was so small that I could deal with going top-end. Your amount of area would've required much more thought on my part.

I've received some estimates for $55/sqft for granite installed.  No way could I afford $130/sqft.  That's 10000 not including the backsplash tile (i'll be installing).

[Uruk-Hai]

Just now, rascal said:

I've received some estimates for $55/sqft for granite installed.  No way could I afford $130/sqft.  That's 10000 not including the backsplash tile (i'll be installing).

Keep in mind, mine was a tiny area (unit price goes way higher) plus - as far from DC as I am - the "city" pricing bleeds over to here.

[Johnny Rock]

47 minutes ago, Uruk-Hai said:

I've seen that spray crap break glass. I've also seen it split an oak door. As SWC says, use a putty knife or something similar and cram the gaps full of fiberglass

Closed cell sprayfoam insulation is the cats meow. I believe it should be required on all new home construction. If it's breaking windows you're either using the wrong product or doing it wrong. 

[Uruk-Hai]

32 minutes ago, johnnyrock62000 said:

Closed cell sprayfoam insulation is the cats meow. I believe it should be required on all new home construction. If it's breaking windows you're either using the wrong product or doing it wrong. 

My experience is from way back - 80s & 90s when I sold building materials - but I'll defer to someone who's used it more recently.

That #### in the old days would blow up 6 or 7 times the sprayed size.

[snore]

On March 30, 2017 at 5:39 PM, proninja said:

I have a deck off the upstairs of my house, and I'd really like to figure out a way to make it so it doesn't allow rainfall to drip through. It's just a regular deck with beams and a half inch or so between them. So far my options seem to be put some sort of corrugated metal below the deck (which is sub-optimal because there's a few beams and whatnot that would be in the way) or to put some sort of solid flooring on top of the deck that is designed for that. Any ideas? 

This looks like a good approach to consider.  

 

https://www.familyhandyman.com/decks/building-a-deck/under-deck-roof/view-all

[Dan Lambskin]

6 hours ago, rascal said:

I've received some estimates for $55/sqft for granite installed.  No way could I afford $130/sqft.  That's 10000 not including the backsplash tile (i'll be installing).

We did our kitchen a few years ago and I think it was in the $30-$50/sqft range depending on what granite pattern (I guess some are more rare or something) and what kind of edge finish you wanted

[Borden]

I came here to share a cool find. Concrete for counter tops. DO JUST SCROLL PAST! I thought the same thing (maybe) of "I don't want my kitchen to look like a driveway thanks." A quick Google search and you'll see they actually look really good and there's lots of "styles" you can make. It's also fairly cheap and easy enough to do yourself. I put quotes on styles because it's not just colors or abstract patterns there's some that even look like hard wood and marble. 

[Borden]

@B Maverick Make sure you don't cheap out on your deck piles. If you get someone to come in and they don't go deep enough, you could have they settle and sink. Which is obvious bad. Also, I would recommend going a bit bigger than 6 feet. At that width you're looking at more of a porch than a deck. Which is still fun but if you're going to be BBQing, eating, hanging out on the deck it's going to be pretty tight. Even just a chair with someone's feet in front will make it a tight squeeze going by. 

Edited April 5, 2017 by Borden

[Borden]

@Quez and @rascal Is there any chance that I can talk you out of granite/quartz countertops? I'm going to try anyways. 

There's a few problems. First, the pattern that you pick out might look amazing on it's own but it might not match as well once you see it in your own kitchen. Next if you have pieces that need to be jointed (maybe the 45 degree angles in the corner) you're likely going to have to get someone to install it because you need a special machine/tool and, I think, a special gel. Then there's the "resale value" it adds. It doesn't add much. This is a myth. It only adds value if the other people have the exact same taste as you but even then it's negligible because of the cost you put into it. And you can get get something very close to the same look at a fraction of the price. Then the selling point is "beautiful new countertops". 

Even if you don't care about any of the stuff I mentioned, think of the next time you reno the kitchen. This is the biggest thing, IMO. At some point you're going to want to update it again. Everything looks dated at some point and for most of us it happens quicker than we think. Probably because The Boss has decided "we" need to redo the kitchen. That's a lot of money (and heavy lifting) if you decide to change them. Or it's really going to really limit your options for everything else. 

Edited April 5, 2017 by Borden

[Chaka]

30 minutes ago, Borden said:

I came here to share a cool find. Concrete for counter tops. DO JUST SCROLL PAST! I thought the same thing (maybe) of "I don't want my kitchen to look like a driveway thanks." A quick Google search and you'll see they actually look really good and there's lots of "styles" you can make. It's also fairly cheap and easy enough to do yourself. I put quotes on styles because it's not just colors or abstract patterns there's some that even look like hard wood and marble. 

Concrete isn't exactly cheap.

[Penguin]

Adding a second toilet to the master bathroom so we can advertize it as 1 and a 1/2

[Binky The Doormat]

maybe a nice formica.

[rascal]

3 hours ago, Borden said:

@Quez and @rascal Is there any chance that I can talk you out of granite/quartz countertops? I'm going to try anyways. 

There's a few problems. First, the pattern that you pick out might look amazing on it's own but it might not match as well once you see it in your own kitchen. Next if you have pieces that need to be jointed (maybe the 45 degree angles in the corner) you're likely going to have to get someone to install it because you need a special machine/tool and, I think, a special gel. Then there's the "resale value" it adds. It doesn't add much. This is a myth. It only adds value if the other people have the exact same taste as you but even then it's negligible because of the cost you put into it. And you can get get something very close to the same look at a fraction of the price. Then the selling point is "beautiful new countertops". 

Even if you don't care about any of the stuff I mentioned, think of the next time you reno the kitchen. This is the biggest thing, IMO. At some point you're going to want to update it again. Everything looks dated at some point and for most of us it happens quicker than we think. Probably because The Boss has decided "we" need to redo the kitchen. That's a lot of money (and heavy lifting) if you decide to change them. Or it's really going to really limit your options for everything else. 

I'm open to ideas, but the current set up is fugly.  The morons used the same 12x12 tile on the floor as well as the countertops.  It's the same in the bathrooms as well.  I've take it out in two baths, but master and half bath (along with kitchen) remain.

[jon_mx]

6 hours ago, Borden said:

@Quez and @rascal Is there any chance that I can talk you out of granite/quartz countertops? I'm going to try anyways. 

There's a few problems. First, the pattern that you pick out might look amazing on it's own but it might not match as well once you see it in your own kitchen. Next if you have pieces that need to be jointed (maybe the 45 degree angles in the corner) you're likely going to have to get someone to install it because you need a special machine/tool and, I think, a special gel. Then there's the "resale value" it adds. It doesn't add much. This is a myth. It only adds value if the other people have the exact same taste as you but even then it's negligible because of the cost you put into it. And you can get get something very close to the same look at a fraction of the price. Then the selling point is "beautiful new countertops". 

Even if you don't care about any of the stuff I mentioned, think of the next time you reno the kitchen. This is the biggest thing, IMO. At some point you're going to want to update it again. Everything looks dated at some point and for most of us it happens quicker than we think. Probably because The Boss has decided "we" need to redo the kitchen. That's a lot of money (and heavy lifting) if you decide to change them. Or it's really going to really limit your options for everything else. 

What are you suggesting laminates?  Laminates can look fine, but granite/quartz or even a solid surface tops will be a huge selling feature when it is time to sell.  You get into homes which are above the median price, laminate tops would turn off buyers. 

[Osaurus]

HD laminate is  

 

 

ETA:  jk

Edited April 5, 2017 by Osaurus

[NutterButter]

8 hours ago, Borden said:

I came here to share a cool find. Concrete for counter tops. DO JUST SCROLL PAST! I thought the same thing (maybe) of "I don't want my kitchen to look like a driveway thanks." A quick Google search and you'll see they actually look really good and there's lots of "styles" you can make. It's also fairly cheap and easy enough to do yourself. I put quotes on styles because it's not just colors or abstract patterns there's some that even look like hard wood and marble. 

Watched a good video a few weeks back on this.   Looks really nice, fairly easy to do and certainly affordable.   I might just build a small test setup in my garage to see if its as straightforward as it seems.   Here's where you can find all the forms to set up the edging as well as stains.   Some of the stain colors look really nice.

[bleachercreacher]

I decided to update a finished room in my basement.  It was probably refinished in the early 70's and hasn't been touched since.  It has an old drop ceiling and fake wood paneling, so I'm completely ripping everything out.  We're going to put a bar down there with 4 or 5 TVs and maybe even a projector.  After I finish demo, probably this week depending on how much time I have, I'll get rolling on the rest.  I think I'm going to buff the concrete floor and stain it.  I've been looing for something different to do on the ceiling and walls, but I haven't found anything I love yet.  My dad has an old barn he is going to tear down, I thought about using the old barn wood on one wall and the metal barn roof on the ceiling.  I definitely don't want to have drywall on 4 walls and the ceiling.  Any ideas? 

[VA703]

I have some piece of my fence bending and the lattice fell off on one section. tried to fit the lattice back on and of course it wont fit

should I try cutting the lattice or just goto home depot and have one cut to fit my needs?

[Fat Nick]

1 hour ago, bleachercreacher said:

I decided to update a finished room in my basement.  It was probably refinished in the early 70's and hasn't been touched since.  It has an old drop ceiling and fake wood paneling, so I'm completely ripping everything out.  We're going to put a bar down there with 4 or 5 TVs and maybe even a projector.  After I finish demo, probably this week depending on how much time I have, I'll get rolling on the rest.  I think I'm going to buff the concrete floor and stain it.  I've been looing for something different to do on the ceiling and walls, but I haven't found anything I love yet.  My dad has an old barn he is going to tear down, I thought about using the old barn wood on one wall and the metal barn roof on the ceiling.  I definitely don't want to have drywall on 4 walls and the ceiling.  Any ideas? 

Go big or go home.  Just cover all the walls with TV's. 

In all seriousness - one barnwood wall would look cool, but unless it's an above-ground basement, dark walls all-around will make it feel very gloomy.  I like the barn roof ceiling idea, but I think that'd be a good bit of work to get it done right/safely.  You could always go with just the corrugated steel panels.

[Fat Nick]

1 minute ago, VA703 said:

I have some piece of my fence bending and the lattice fell off on one section. tried to fit the lattice back on and of course it wont fit

should I try cutting the lattice or just goto home depot and have one cut to fit my needs?

If you're going to end up not using the existing lattice if you go to home depot and get a new piece, why not try to cut the existing one first?  No harm in trying before you spend add'l money.

[Borden]

8 hours ago, Chaka said:

Concrete isn't exactly cheap.

I've yet to concrete countertops so, I can't speak to the exact price. There's also a few options to consider. Are you doing it yourself? Are doing a concrete overlay or making a preformed slab and installing it? Are you comparing price too lament or quartz and granite? I can't see it being close to the same price range as the latter 2. 

[lumpy19]

1 hour ago, bleachercreacher said:

I decided to update a finished room in my basement.  It was probably refinished in the early 70's and hasn't been touched since.  It has an old drop ceiling and fake wood paneling, so I'm completely ripping everything out.  We're going to put a bar down there with 4 or 5 TVs and maybe even a projector.  After I finish demo, probably this week depending on how much time I have, I'll get rolling on the rest.  I think I'm going to buff the concrete floor and stain it.  I've been looing for something different to do on the ceiling and walls, but I haven't found anything I love yet.  My dad has an old barn he is going to tear down, I thought about using the old barn wood on one wall and the metal barn roof on the ceiling.  I definitely don't want to have drywall on 4 walls and the ceiling.  Any ideas? 

I just reduced my basement tv wall from 5 TV's to 1 TV.  I finished the basement in 2010 and that year and probably the next 2 I used all the TV's but after that the novelty kind of wore off and it's expensive to keep a cable feed for 5 TV's.  3 TV's is the sweet spot in my opinion.

[Borden]

5 hours ago, rascal said:

I'm open to ideas, but the current set up is fugly.  The morons used the same 12x12 tile on the floor as well as the countertops.  It's the same in the bathrooms as well.  I've take it out in two baths, but master and half bath (along with kitchen) remain.

There's some nice laments out there. Also, the concrete options. @NutterButter has nice post for concrete. There's also wood. I used bamboo recently with a clear high temp coating. Unfortunately, if you Google search it too many people used a darker finish or too much wood in the their kitchen and it doesn't look that great to me. Also, when you're describing it to people instead of calling it "wood counters" you're supposed to say "butcher block countertops".  I went with the bamboo counter tops because they were on sale at Home Depot for $120ish for a 5' x 32" (or 34", whatever the counter top standard is). Plus the couple cans of the coating I put in 15' of new counters for about $500. For me it worked because of the colors (white and stainless steel) I used for the kitchen. 

[Chaka]

39 minutes ago, Borden said:

I've yet to concrete countertops so, I can't speak to the exact price. There's also a few options to consider. Are you doing it yourself? Are doing a concrete overlay or making a preformed slab and installing it? Are you comparing price too lament or quartz and granite? I can't see it being close to the same price range as the latter 2. 

Unless you have professional experience you're not pouring your own slab so get that out of your head (again unless you have the professional experience). 

If you had been looking at quartz or granite and want your concrete to have the same high quality look, then the price difference is going to be minimal, particularly if you want a pattern or veining in the concrete to emulate the others in which case concrete can be more expensive. To be fair "minimal" to one person may be more significant to another.

If you want it to look like your sidewalk then it may be cheap enough to make a difference.

[Chaka]

All i am saying is that the level of customization, for which concrete has extensive options, will dramatically impact pricing.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Chaka

[Borden]

2 hours ago, jon_mx said:

What are you suggesting laminates?  Laminates can look fine, but granite/quartz or even a solid surface tops will be a huge selling feature when it is time to sell.  You get into homes which are above the median price, laminate tops would turn off buyers. 

Yeah lament or concrete or butcher block. 

The countertops are not a "huge" selling feature. It's a positive but that's about it. And if it's dated or buyers don't like it the pattern then it's a visual negative. Same as any other material. 

You can put in new lament and get a selling point for "new countertops" and with the money you saved put in new lights, faucets, cabinets door handles, fresh paint, hood fan, etc. Nobody is going to schedule or avoid a viewing based on kitchen countertops. Location, price, square footage, lay out and total appearance are way more important. 

[B Maverick]

11 hours ago, Borden said:

@B Maverick Make sure you don't cheap out on your deck piles. If you get someone to come in and they don't go deep enough, you could have they settle and sink. Which is obvious bad. Also, I would recommend going a bit bigger than 6 feet. At that width you're looking at more of a porch than a deck. Which is still fun but if you're going to be BBQing, eating, hanging out on the deck it's going to be pretty tight. Even just a chair with someone's feet in front will make it a tight squeeze going by. 

Thanks.  Unfortunately there is not much room to work with.  A porch is probably a better description.  Seating area maybe?  Thanks for the suggestions though.  

[matttyl]

10 hours ago, Penguin said:

Adding a second toilet to the master bathroom so we can advertize it as 1 and a 1/2

Wait, does the current master bathroom not have a toilet?

[matttyl]

3 hours ago, bleachercreacher said:

I decided to update a finished room in my basement.  It was probably refinished in the early 70's and hasn't been touched since.  It has an old drop ceiling and fake wood paneling, so I'm completely ripping everything out.  We're going to put a bar down there with 4 or 5 TVs and maybe even a projector.  After I finish demo, probably this week depending on how much time I have, I'll get rolling on the rest.  I think I'm going to buff the concrete floor and stain it.  I've been looing for something different to do on the ceiling and walls, but I haven't found anything I love yet.  My dad has an old barn he is going to tear down, I thought about using the old barn wood on one wall and the metal barn roof on the ceiling.  I definitely don't want to have drywall on 4 walls and the ceiling.  Any ideas? 

Acoustically speaking, those two ideas won't play nice together.  The metal will just be hell on your sound-stage.

Also, plan to run 2x as much low voltage wiring as you think is needed with that kinda of set up.  I'll be going to a 3x TV set up, with a 7.1 surround system, and the amount of coax, speakerwire, and CAT5e cable needed at all locations and back to the main "hub" is quite impressive. 

[NutterButter]

1 hour ago, Chaka said:

Unless you have professional experience you're not pouring your own slab so get that out of your head (again unless you have the professional experience). 

If you had been looking at quartz or granite and want your concrete to have the same high quality look, then the price difference is going to be minimal, particularly if you want a pattern or veining in the concrete to emulate the others in which case concrete can be more expensive. To be fair "minimal" to one person may be more significant to another.

If you want it to look like your sidewalk then it may be cheap enough to make a difference.

i'm going to pour a test section in my garage in the new few weeks b/c i'm just too damn curious how something like this looks.   i'll report back.   

Since everyone has different standards, is something like this what you're talking about when you say looking like your sidewalk?

Edited April 5, 2017 by NutterButter

[bleachercreacher]

2 hours ago, lumpy19 said:

I just reduced my basement tv wall from 5 TV's to 1 TV.  I finished the basement in 2010 and that year and probably the next 2 I used all the TV's but after that the novelty kind of wore off and it's expensive to keep a cable feed for 5 TV's.  3 TV's is the sweet spot in my opinion.

I only plan on having 2 permanent boxes down there.  I'll move the other 2 from bedrooms when needed, which will generally only be Saturdays and Sundays during football season and the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.  My brother is a cable guy and has already wired this for me.  I have a box in the back of my pantry with all the wires, I just have to switch 2 wires to connect it to the basement.  You're right though, I may get tired of having more than 2 TVs, but other than buying the TVs the cost won't be too bad.

[berndog]

8 hours ago, rascal said:

I'm open to ideas, but the current set up is fugly.  The morons used the same 12x12 tile on the floor as well as the countertops.  It's the same in the bathrooms as well.  I've take it out in two baths, but master and half bath (along with kitchen) remain.

The same morons must have done my house. 

It was one of the first things I replaced when I bought the house.  I chose to remove it in big sections and it was freakiing heavy.

[bleachercreacher]

43 minutes ago, matttyl said:

Acoustically speaking, those two ideas won't play nice together.  The metal will just be hell on your sound-stage.

Also, plan to run 2x as much low voltage wiring as you think is needed with that kinda of set up.  I'll be going to a 3x TV set up, with a 7.1 surround system, and the amount of coax, speakerwire, and CAT5e cable needed at all locations and back to the main "hub" is quite impressive. 

I had not thought about acoustics with metal.  Looks like I'm back to the drawing board as far as ceiling is concerned. 

 

The room is directly below our cable modem, and the breaker box is in a closet in the next room.  Wiring shouldn't be too big of a pain in the ### as far as getting to everything.  As I said above, the Coax was already ran by my brother, and only cost me a case of beer.  I also need to have someone run electrical for me.  We've got 2 wire romex down there, so that will definitely need to be updated.  I'm not running CAT5 everywhere, I'm going to use a MOCA extender instead I think.

[matttyl]

CAT5 is cheap.  Really, really cheap, and does so many things.  If you're going to have multiple TVs, I'd run 2x lines to each current, and even possible future location.  Just for hardwiring a Roku or similar to stream content.  That's what I'll be doing with my 3 TV set up - only the middle one will be directly connected to a cable box.  The smaller two will be connected to a home theatre computer and "raspberry PIs" to stream content.  You can even stream from your cable box like this. 

Yeah, I think you'd be upset with a metal ceiling.  Why not the barn boards there?  You can tack them all up high, and then run "fake" beams under them to make it look like it's the floor of the main level, more "man-cavey" if you will - if that's what you're going for.  Also, nothing wrong with drywall with a different paint color on it.

Edited April 5, 2017 by matttyl

[offdee]

Never understood the big appeal of having multiple TVs.   I'm only ever really concentrating on one anyways, so don't dampen that experience with a bunch of other "noise".  Just make that one TV setup amazing and that blows 5 smaller, less perfect setups out of the water.

[bigmarc27]

My wife has a really old dresser from her grandmother. It's been sitting in a guest room forever and on our last move the drawers were damaged. She gave me permission to repurpose it into a tv stand for our bedroom. 

I've started sanding this down because I'm going to stain it really dark, but this is taking forever. There are years and years of lacquer on this thing and I've spent hours sanding already. It's very frustrating. 

[matttyl]

1 minute ago, bigmarc27 said:

My wife has a really old dresser from her grandmother. It's been sitting in a guest room forever and on our last move the drawers were damaged. She gave me permission to repurpose it into a tv stand for our bedroom. 

I've started sanding this down because I'm going to stain it really dark, but this is taking forever. There are years and years of lacquer on this thing and I've spent hours sanding already. It's very frustrating. 

Isn't there stuff you can put on and then "scrape" all that lacquer off?  Or am I thinking of something else?  Saw it on HGTV.

[bigmarc27]

1 minute ago, matttyl said:

Isn't there stuff you can put on and then "scrape" all that lacquer off?  Or am I thinking of something else?  Saw it on HGTV.

I bought a spray on remover and it works, but there are layers of stuff that I'm going through and it hasn't made it to the bottom of it yet. This thing has been redone so many times over the years, I swear there's an inch between the surface and the wood. 

[matttyl]

6 minutes ago, offdee said:

Never understood the big appeal of having multiple TVs.   I'm only ever really concentrating on one anyways, so don't dampen that experience with a bunch of other "noise".  Just make that one TV setup amazing and that blows 5 smaller, less perfect setups out of the water.

They have to be done right.  I've got a primary 55" (though may later upgrade to 60-65"), soon to be flanked by a pair of 42s".  I'm hoping to find some that are very, very, very thin.  Thin enough that I can "build" something to go over them when they aren't in use - like a framed movie poster, or a framed football jersey or something.  Would only have the 2nd and 3rd screen on for sporting events - not for movies or TV shows. 

[matttyl]

Just now, bigmarc27 said:

I bought a spray on remover and it works, but there are layers of stuff that I'm going through and it hasn't made it to the bottom of it yet. This thing has been redone so many times over the years, I swear there's an inch between the surface and the wood. 

Go buy a TV stand.  Donate the piece and get a tax write off.

[bigmarc27]

1 minute ago, matttyl said:

Go buy a TV stand.  Donate the piece and get a tax write off.

Would if I could, sentmental value. We have a tv stand already, just looking to get some use out of this piece and it's the only thing my wife has from that generation.  I'm just happy she agreed to the repurpose. Originally she wanted me to fix it which wasn't going to happen. 

[Thorn]

 

[Fat Nick]

29 minutes ago, matttyl said:

CAT5 is cheap.  Really, really cheap, and does so many things.  If you're going to have multiple TVs, I'd run 2x lines to each current, and even possible future location.  Just for hardwiring a Roku or similar to stream content.  That's what I'll be doing with my 3 TV set up - only the middle one will be directly connected to a cable box.  The smaller two will be connected to a home theatre computer and "raspberry PIs" to stream content.  You can even stream from your cable box like this. 

Yeah, I think you'd be upset with a metal ceiling.  Why not the barn boards there?  You can tack them all up high, and then run "fake" beams under them to make it look like it's the floor of the main level, more "man-cavey" if you will - if that's what you're going for.  Also, nothing wrong with drywall with a different paint color on it.

THIS.  Oh, and go Cat6 if you can...The higher-bandwidth 4K stuff often requires Cat6 for the baluns that support them.  The baluns are expensive now, but prices are coming down....Cat6 is only marginally more expensive than Cat5. 

When I did my basement build last summer, I did the same thing you did - I ran 2-4 Cat6 runs to each point, ran double-speaker wire, and ran speaker wire to alternate locations for future use too (in-wall speaker setup).  I did a projector and a TV, so I had to run to multiple locations...Basically, you can NEVER have to much Cat6.  I also find Cat6 to be the most versatile because you can buy things that transmit over it, so it's largely upgradeable. 

[NutterButter]

21 minutes ago, bigmarc27 said:

My wife has a really old dresser from her grandmother. It's been sitting in a guest room forever and on our last move the drawers were damaged. She gave me permission to repurpose it into a tv stand for our bedroom. 

I've started sanding this down because I'm going to stain it really dark, but this is taking forever. There are years and years of lacquer on this thing and I've spent hours sanding already. It's very frustrating. 

You using a belt sander?