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Skim-coat Plaster is so far superior to drywall. I grew up in a drywall house, moved to MA into a 50/50 plaster/drywall. The main house is all plaster, but the garage and apartment are drywall. It's only about 10% more expensive to have plaster done, and it looks and wears a lot better. Good choice on doing plaster.
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Mar 14, 2017 18:11
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sharkytm posted:Skim-coat Plaster is so far superior to drywall. I grew up in a drywall house, moved to MA into a 50/50 plaster/drywall. The main house is all plaster, but the garage and apartment are drywall. It's only about 10% more expensive to have plaster done, and it looks and wears a lot better. Good choice on doing plaster. The two major (ok fine minor) downsides: * Putting in nails make plaster go everywhere, and can chip off big holes (good news it's easy to fix). * WiFi Reception takes a huge beating with plaster.
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Mar 14, 2017 18:34
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What are the issues with drywall?
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Mar 14, 2017 18:58
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Nitrox posted:What are the issues with drywall? Makes for a louder house. Quite a bit more fragile (put a knee into drywall you'll crack it, do it to plaster, and it might crack, but you probably will bust your knee instead). Textures aren't as cool 
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Mar 14, 2017 20:24
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Nitrox posted:What are the issues with drywall? You have an outer coating of paper exposed aside from paint (or a skim coat of joint compound if you spent a lot of money). Paper tears easily, can't handle moisture well, and doesn't strengthen the already-weak drywall board. If you spent the $$$ to have the entire wall skimmed, you have a compound that's designed to be easily sanded on the outside. Again, it doesn't wear well, absorbs moisture, and doesn't add strength. It also looks really sterile, because it's sanded completely flat on the joints and the middle of the boards are either A) paper that's mechanically rolled onto the drywall, or B) sanded joint compound. Plaster means your walls are skimmed with literal concrete. Carrying a box and bump the corner into the wall? Drywall will either tear or deform, leaving a dent. Plaster might show a mark, but it won't crack or deform unless you SLAM into it. I'm not talking about old-skool horsehair plaster and lathe, but rather modern greenboard and plaster, like that shown in the pictures. The ceiling textures are really nice, and don't show seams like drywall, while being cleanable unlike popcorn. If you know what you're doing with plaster, nails don't leave a big hole and you can cut it with an OMT without it caving in. Hell, we hang pictures on simple nails, no need for drywall anchors or Gorilla hooks unless it's something heavy or in a high-traffic area. Yeah, WiFi reception, especially 5GHz is pretty bad, but that's easy enough to handle. I cover my entire house with a single Ubiquiti Unifi AP-Pro on the second floor. No 5GHz except on the second floor, but w/e.
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Mar 14, 2017 20:31
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I didn't even ask for plaster, it just kind of got put in all three bids I got so I didn't question it.
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Mar 14, 2017 20:36
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Gounads posted:I didn't even ask for plaster, it just kind of got put in all three bids I got so I didn't question it. It's highly regional. Where I am (Cape Cod, MA), plaster is about 75% of what's on the walls of any house pre-1990. Contractors usually offer both options, it's just a matter of what material gets hung by the first crew (blueboard vs drywall), and who comes in to do the finishing (plasterer or a drywall crew).
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Mar 14, 2017 21:07
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sharkytm posted:It's highly regional. Where I am (Cape Cod, MA), plaster is about 75% of what's on the walls of any house pre-1990. Contractors usually offer both options, it's just a matter of what material gets hung by the first crew (blueboard vs drywall), and who comes in to do the finishing (plasterer or a drywall crew). Would you characterize plaster as being more or less effort to finish compared to drywall mudding?
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Mar 14, 2017 21:33
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Would you characterize plaster as being more or less effort to finish compared to drywall mudding? Im my experience it's quite a bit more work. Sometimes they also will do a two coats, bottom smooth layer, then come back a week or so later and do the top texture coat. Our house isn't huge, and there was a crew of 3-4 plasterers and it took them about 3-4 days for each coat, plus an extra day in the garage (that just got one coat). One nice benefit is there isn't any sanding that happens, so it's mostly your house just smelling like plaster (i think it smells amazing) for a week or so. I'd imagine a (smaller) drywall crew could have mudded the joints and sanded in a couple of days, plus another day or so to spray.
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Mar 14, 2017 22:01
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We did an entire side of our basement. Three man crew to hang the sheets and strapping in three hours, followed by one man doing the plaster. He was here for a half day doing the first two coats, then came back the next to do the veneer, maybe fourteen gotta total. No dust, but a lot of humidity. It also has to be dried somewhat slowly, over 72 hours. It is slightly more work, but the lack of dust and lack of sanding means it's different work. A third of his time is mixing and cleaning tools.
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Mar 15, 2017 04:27
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I love plaster. My house was built in 1914 to Rich Industrialist Spec and all the original plaster has survived except for a few spots that had to be cut open for access. It looks loving awesome, even with random pock marks and other blemishes. It's just so smooth. Like a nice high end concours pant job on a classic car vs some poo poo orange peel factory paint on a Kia. Agree on the wifi though. Cell too, I lose almost 20db of gain on my iPhone between outside and inside.
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Mar 15, 2017 06:15
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Isn't it harder to find studs through plaster?
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Mar 15, 2017 14:11
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:Isn't it harder to find studs through plaster? Oh yeah
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Mar 15, 2017 15:37
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:Isn't it harder to find studs through plaster?
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Mar 15, 2017 16:14
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Remember the finance anxiety? Company I'm contracting for just had layoffs! I was spared, but it doesn't help state of mind. So this wifi/cell thing... is that true of modern plaster, or mostly the older super thick stuff? I won't even consider the chicken-wire stuff.
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Mar 15, 2017 16:57
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Plaster is complete Wood stove/Chimney/Stonework install starts tomorrow. Woodwork/Trim starts tomorrow
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Mar 15, 2017 20:50
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Gounads posted:So this wifi/cell thing... is that true of modern plaster, or mostly the older super thick stuff? I won't even consider the chicken-wire stuff. Old plaster would be much worse, but essentially anything that is dense eats radio waves (and sound waves so yay). Our house has two coats of plaster. Bonus room that's connected to the 2nd floor, and I have to have an AP in there and one out in the main part of the house, without that it wouldn't reach very well. Up/Down isn't as bad since it seems to travel through the open staircase and such as well. I do have a ceiling mounted Ubiquiti AP in the bonus room, and the one on each floor, and I get good coverage. The one on the main floor doesn't really do much though, i put it on the wrong side of the house, and in a hallway area that has lots of walls, so the signal doesn't seem to make it out.
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Mar 15, 2017 20:56
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12 days, no money from bank. Loan officer is out until Monday. His backup won't return calls. wtf guys. Guess I'm paying builder out of my tax fund and Uncle Sam can wait for their money.
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Mar 17, 2017 19:27
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Is the bank obligated to pay on a schedule or actually respond in a timely manner to your applications? I mean, you probably don't need the stress of a lawsuit, but if it causes you any legal or tax trouble, you may want to check on what they are obligated to do (if anything). Also, I work in accounting for a construction company, albeit a large public-works one, and I don't know if this makes you feel better, but the GC should be able to float payments to subs AND subs should be able to deal with slightly late payments and cover payroll anyway. GCs are expected to have a good deal of working capital for precisely this reason, subs as well. We are legally required to make sure our subs have insurance, are paying union rates, etc because we do government contracts, which means I've seen checks that were released YEARS after the work is finished because the subs refused to provide paperwork that was contractually required. On the other side, if we don't have a requirement fulfilled (a permit, a report, etc) the owner can and will withhold payment from us and we'll need to pay any subs who have fulfilled their requirements anyway. Uh, that was a ramble, but essentially, everyone in construction pays late and is expecting to be paid late (though they are always happy to be paid on time). You can probably work something out with the builder. (Also, I just caught up on this thread. As someone who is thinking of building eventually, it's been extremely informative. Please keep posting!)
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Mar 17, 2017 22:06
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I'll need to go through my bank paperwork. I know it was "usually 5 days" when I asked during the process, but not sure if there's an actual hard deadline. The issue is less about paying bills and more that this next payment is required before ordering cabinets so it holds things up if it's late. For the most part, we've been paying for work long after it's completed without issue. Stopped by today, and surprise, builder was there on a Saturday working on stairs.  Stove hearth area looking nice too  Bad news... plaster is still drying. Gounads fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Mar 18, 2017 |
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Mar 18, 2017 17:47
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Gounads posted:
I was about to lament how hard it would be to clean that shower but then read a little closer.
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Mar 18, 2017 19:39
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Gounads posted:Stove hearth area looking nice too Hey, that looks nice. Is that a pre-fabricated top on the platform?
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Mar 18, 2017 21:31
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One Day Fish Sale posted:Hey, that looks nice. Is that a pre-fabricated top on the platform? The entire platform is prefab. We picked dimensions & tile, some company somewhere spits them out, installer just plops it down.
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Mar 20, 2017 21:27
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Some progress...  Interior doors being delivered soon. Bank told me they'll get disbursement done by "end of week" wtf. Met with builder for a half hour this morning going over a bunch of small details.
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Mar 21, 2017 16:19
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Bank payment came through, yay! WEIRD thing... it was for $240k when I asked for $102k. Can't wait to find out what they thought was done. edit: From bank: There seems to be a clerical error, that is in the processor of being reversed- $132,000.00 and some change is the disbursement amount. Gounads fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Mar 21, 2017 |
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Mar 21, 2017 18:31
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Gounads posted:Bank payment came through, yay! Someone I know is in the middle of something ~$50k sized with a bank, and every time I update my mother on the latest bumblefuckery, she doesn't believe me.
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Mar 22, 2017 01:57
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Gounads posted:Some progress... Seeing that bottom step open like that makes me want to have a hidden button installed that lets you lift the step to get at a hidden cache below.
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Mar 24, 2017 00:51
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Gromit posted:Seeing that bottom step open like that makes me want to have a hidden button installed that lets you lift the step to get at a hidden cache below. Hopefully not a cache of insulation, or a hidden dungeon-like game room. 
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Mar 24, 2017 00:53
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Over the weekend I assembled the bookshelf door so it's ready to be installed. hosed it up pretty good by putting a piece on backwards in an early step and having to take it apart and redo it, but some glue and ample clamping and I think it's good to go now. Not a lot got done last week. The trim around the windows is mostly in. A little progress on the main stairwell. Some of the gutters on the exterior are on. 
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Mar 27, 2017 12:42
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Went through the topic in a day. Bureaucracy sure is fun. Looking forward to seeing the finished place.
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Mar 27, 2017 14:28
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Gounads, these review very well and are made to mesh together if you get 2, so one upstairs should cover the house pretty well in 2.4ghz, and one upstairs and one downstairs would bathe you in 5.0ghz all over. Get a PoE switch and call it good.
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Mar 27, 2017 20:35
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They come with PoE injectors. I just installed one last week and have significantly better coverage over all. I'm probably going to add a second to have better coverage in the garage in the next month.
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Mar 27, 2017 22:21
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th vwls hv scpd posted:They come with PoE injectors. I just installed one last week and have significantly better coverage over all. I'm probably going to add a second to have better coverage in the garage in the next month. I'd just get a PoE switch (also from Ubiquiti). They're like a hundred bucks. It's well worth it for the easier management alone.
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Mar 27, 2017 23:10
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Jeoh posted:I'd just get a PoE switch (also from Ubiquiti). They're like a hundred bucks. It's well worth it for the easier management alone. For the 5 port switch, that is true. The 16 port is $200.
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Mar 28, 2017 00:09
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I've got an electrician friend who does a lot of high end A/V installs and he swears by Ubiquiti
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Mar 28, 2017 00:20
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Did we ever see a floorplan of the second floor, with the office and the hidden door? I'm curious to see how well the structure of the house betrays the existence of the room itself.
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Mar 28, 2017 04:43
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Cool, will look at those routers. Floorplan:  It's the door towards the top of the stairs into the big closet. e: Speaking of routers. See the little closet outside bedroom #2? That's where all the network cables terminate. So one router there should easily cover those three rooms. Another router in the giant room to the left. And if up/down connectivity sucks we'll put another downstairs in the playroom, which would be directly below bedroom #3. Gounads fucked around with this message at 13:31 on Mar 28, 2017 |
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Mar 28, 2017 13:08
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Ill toss in another recommendation for Ubiquity. I replaced my old Apple Airport Extreme with 2 Ubiquiti Unify AP AC Lites, and I have been super happy with them. They are small and inconspicuous, looks like sleeker smoke detectors basically. The LED can be easily turned off. They mount onto the ceiling super easy and since they use PoE and thus do not need line voltage it allows for ideal placement. I've been running mine for like 8 months or so now and its been completely and totally bulletproof throughout my entire 3400 sqf house.
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Mar 28, 2017 14:03
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Ars Technica did a decent review on home wireless solutions a few months ago: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/12/review-comparing-google-wifi-to-other-mesh-networking-heavyweights/ Ubiquiti is also cool if you're planning to be outside a lot, their outdoors APs are tremendous. Troy Hunt (of Have I Been Pwned fame) did a good write-up: https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-finally-fixed-my-dodgy-wifi/
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Mar 28, 2017 14:31
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Jeoh posted:Ubiquiti is also cool if you're planning to be outside a lot, their outdoors APs are tremendous. Troy Hunt (of Have I Been Pwned fame) did a good write-up: https://www.troyhunt.com/ubiquiti-all-the-things-how-i-finally-fixed-my-dodgy-wifi/ This is a cool write up, but you should know that the setup he did there is way more intense (and expensive) than you likely need. Meaning, don't get put off by his reported cost or the more complex looking stuff. Unify setup in my house dead simple I spent a total of like $250.
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Mar 28, 2017 14:39
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