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Ugh, fine I'll hire someone. Any idea what a decent quote would be for just the mailbox, not the pathway? Some guy on FB quoted me $1k which seems outlandish.
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May 17, 2019 19:31
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Ghostnuke posted:Ugh, fine I'll hire someone. Any idea what a decent quote would be for just the mailbox, not the pathway? Some guy on FB quoted me $1k which seems outlandish. You're probably in "minimum bid" territory. Get 3 bids. They're going to spend as much time prepping the area and talking to you as they are laying those bricks. Does anyone else in your neighborhood have them? The city or postmaster could get mad you.
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May 17, 2019 19:38
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H110Hawk posted:You're probably in "minimum bid" territory. Get 3 bids. They're going to spend as much time prepping the area and talking to you as they are laying those bricks. Does anyone else in your neighborhood have them? The city or postmaster could get mad you. Yeah, that photo is from a guy up the street. And honestly I'd stick an i-beam in there if I could. My house is on a downhill curve and I'm pretty sure a car went through the neighbor's front door at least once.
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May 17, 2019 19:41
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Ghostnuke posted:Yeah, that photo is from a guy up the street. And honestly I'd stick an i-beam in there if I could. My house is on a downhill curve and I'm pretty sure a car went through the neighbor's front door at least once. Consider a artful boulder before this. And if you can, also plant a hardwood tree in the most likely path. Get something a few years old to start you off on the right foot. As someone else said, it may be actually illegal to do what you are proposing, whereas other things may just be bad luck. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.119027,-118.1391908,3a,75y,104.55h,84.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxhhqRfpfiNkLdFQ8-b2xcg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
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May 17, 2019 19:51
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MUUUULLLLCH 2 yards of undyed twice milled brown for under the swing set (to do with the 2 yards already there) and 3 yards of black for around the bushes, trees and plants in the front yard.
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May 17, 2019 19:57
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Ghostnuke posted:Ugh, fine I'll hire someone. Any idea what a decent quote would be for just the mailbox, not the pathway? Some guy on FB quoted me $1k which seems outlandish. That doesn't strike me as a crazy quote. Bricks/blocks are relatively cheap, but you'll need quite a few of them, and it's not like Amazon is going to deliver 400+ pounds of masonry materials to your door with Prime. Add in a concrete footing and the couple hours of backbreaking work from a skilled mason, and that sounds like a bargain. I could see it being done for less if you wanted the walkway or other work and they were there already, but if I was a mason, there's no way I'm spending a few hours schlepping a load of bricks to some dude's house, cutting, and stacking them for less than $700 in labor costs.
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May 17, 2019 20:00
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I was quoted £500 for filling in a few missing bricks and a fireplace, and that was with me providing all the materials. It was too steep a cost for me but still.
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May 17, 2019 20:18
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Anyone would, if at all possible, design that mailbox column so it didn’t involve cutting any/many bricks. In that picture, at a glance it looks like they’ve done that (minus maybe the top). For info, our local brick place will cut any brick you bring in, for $1/cut. If you have that kind of service handy, the job isn’t really that hard — it’s just a lot of work. Same for the walkway, it’s not difficult and doesn’t require an insane amount of precision, you’ll just bust your rear end doing it.
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May 17, 2019 21:18
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It didn't help that the only brickwork I've done so far has been replacing bricks in an existing wall, which is a right old pain in the rear end.
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May 17, 2019 21:22
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My mailbox gets hit a couple of times a winter. Instead of going more sturdy, I just filled an old-fashioned milk can with sand and stuck a post in that. Now most people even set it back up when they hit it.
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May 17, 2019 21:39
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We closed on our house a week ago and I've spent every spare hour since last Friday removing wallpaper. I do not like wallpaper. That is all.
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May 18, 2019 06:14
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wallpaper is some dumb bullshit i'm glad that it's not popular now but I know that it will be popular again some day, because we (the human race) are so terribly stupid. Or maybe it was only popular because everyone was huffing shitloads of lead in the air? One can hope.
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May 18, 2019 08:35
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It is decidedly difficult to get anything other than flat colours on a wall with paint so I'm not sure wallpaper will ever go away.
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May 18, 2019 10:17
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We're replacing a few deck boards but need to cut the new pressure treated boards down a bit, is there anything specific I should use to treat the cut ends?
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May 19, 2019 13:26
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two_beer_bishes posted:We're replacing a few deck boards but need to cut the new pressure treated boards down a bit, is there anything specific I should use to treat the cut ends? No. Pressure treating isn’t a coating; the chemicals are squeezed all the way through the lumber.
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May 19, 2019 14:56
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The Wonder Weapon posted:We closed on our house a week ago and I've spent every spare hour since last Friday removing wallpaper. We had like 5 rooms with wallpaper in the house we got 2 months ago. In the dining room, it peeled right off without any sort of spray or prep. Easiest drat thing in the world. Then came our bedroom. We discovered there two layers of it, the bottom layer being some sort of vinyl paper? After doing about half of a wall with scoring and spraying, we ended up buying a wallpaper steamer. It still sucked, but at least it went a little faster. gently caress wallpaper.
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May 19, 2019 15:55
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eddiewalker posted:No. Pressure treating isn’t a coating; the chemicals are squeezed all the way through the lumber. Ok thanks! I had read a few old articles about having to seal cut ends since the pressure treatment doesn't go all the way through the wood, but it sounds like the methods and chemicals have changed at some point so I guess it may not be necessary anymore.
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May 19, 2019 16:37
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If you feel/find that it is necessary, I've seen stuff sold specifically targeted at people doing decking: https://www.ronseal.com/for-garden/decking/decking-restorer/decking-end-grain-protector/
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May 19, 2019 16:53
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Jaded Burnout posted:If you feel/find that it is necessary, I've seen stuff sold specifically targeted at people doing decking: Thanks! I'll probably pick some of that up if I can find it locally
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May 19, 2019 18:41
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two_beer_bishes posted:Ok thanks! I had read a few old articles about having to seal cut ends since the pressure treatment doesn't go all the way through the wood, but it sounds like the methods and chemicals have changed at some point so I guess it may not be necessary anymore. This is true, but it applies more to your 4x4/6x6 beams than decking boards.
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May 20, 2019 02:31
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Hey guys, would it be advisable to put interior wood stain on treated but otherwise unfinished exterior decking? Backstory is that I got several free cans of pecan wood stain that our friends across the street ended up not using (wasn't quite the right color). The exterior decking is the flooring for both our porches and it looks kinda cheap and out of place on our Victorian. Eventually, we'll redo the porches with proper tongue and groove porch flooring, but until then, I figure I can at least try to make the porch floor look slightly less like a regular deck.
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May 20, 2019 18:21
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H110Hawk posted:Consider a artful boulder before this. And if you can, also plant a hardwood tree in the most likely path. Get something a few years old to start you off on the right foot. As someone else said, it may be actually illegal to do what you are proposing, whereas other things may just be bad luck. FWIW I talked to a lawyer buddy of mine about my liability on this and he pretty much laughed at me and said, "no, that's ridiculous".
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May 20, 2019 18:54
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Ghostnuke posted:FWIW I talked to a lawyer buddy of mine about my liability on this and he pretty much laughed at me and said, "no, that's ridiculous". https://www.masson.us/blog/ct-of-appeals-upholds-drivers-right-to-leave-the-road-strike-a-mailbox-and-sue-mailbox-owners-for-injuries/ https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2015/07/stone_mailbox_structure_enforc.html I'm with you on this - if something isn't actually intentionally dangerous (spikes, metal I-beam in a plastic/wood look post, hidden holes) but the courts sometimes disagree. It's well above my pay grade to understand it but I think it has to do with people getting away with the latter traps at the expense of people with brick mailboxes. It also is likely also that you can repair a post but humans aren't so fungible.
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May 20, 2019 19:10
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Yesterday after mowing my new lawn for the first time (and my first time on a riding lawnmower, a sequence which felt deserving of having been humorously portrayed by Tom Hanks in an 80s-era comedy), I was chatting with my neighbor. He asked how I was planning on taking care of the lawn "past the bushes," and recommended I just let it go, since it was so far away, and why bother. I responded that that wasn't our yard, and that it belonged to the city, as it adjoins a public baseball diamond/park. He insisted it was ours. We went inside to investigate, and it turns out, we had received the search & survey that very day, and just hadn't opened the mail yet. Lo and behold, it turns out he was right. Our neighbor casually mentioned our yard is 200 feet longer than we were told by the real estate agent, bringing the total length of our backyard to something like 95 meters. (Just under 80 feet wide.) I have absolutely no idea what to do with this space. This isn't the country for pete's sake, we're in Buffalo! Considerations so far have been building a giant wooden fort for future children, or putting in a stable and giving pony rides on the weekend. I've also considered building a massive trebuchet to try and shoot things at the houses across the river.
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May 22, 2019 20:07
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I'd be slightly annoyed at the realtor for not knowing or informing me of that extra chunk of land because lot sizes here have a decent affect on your property taxes. Enjoy your extra lawn though!
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May 22, 2019 20:19
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couldcareless posted:I'd be slightly annoyed at the realtor for not knowing or informing me of that extra chunk of land because lot sizes here have a decent affect on your property taxes. Enjoy your extra lawn though! We already knew the taxes, so it's not like this changes that. It makes a bit more sense why they're as high as they are though.
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May 22, 2019 21:05
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Second house for your descendants, or ancestors. Vegetable garden (or sunflower field!) Pumpkin patch!!
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May 22, 2019 22:22
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The Wonder Weapon posted:Yesterday after mowing my new lawn for the first time (and my first time on a riding lawnmower, a sequence which felt deserving of having been humorously portrayed by Tom Hanks in an 80s-era comedy), I was chatting with my neighbor. He asked how I was planning on taking care of the lawn "past the bushes," and recommended I just let it go, since it was so far away, and why bother. I responded that that wasn't our yard, and that it belonged to the city, as it adjoins a public baseball diamond/park. He insisted it was ours. We went inside to investigate, and it turns out, we had received the search & survey that very day, and just hadn't opened the mail yet. Lo and behold, it turns out he was right. If you mow it it’s going to make your neighbor feel like poo poo cause he probably lets his wasteland get weedy.
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May 22, 2019 23:34
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peanut posted:Second house for your descendants, or ancestors. Vegetable garden (or sunflower field!) Pumpkin patch!! Where I live in the UK, the done thing is apparently to get planning permission for 2 or 3 more houses on a plot that size, build them, and sell them. Don’t do that though it’s lovely. I’d put in a nice wood cabin at the other end of the garden, maybe with a Sauna hut too
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May 23, 2019 08:35
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wooger posted:Where I live in the UK, the done thing is apparently to get planning permission for 2 or 3 more houses on a plot that size, build them, and sell them. Don’t do that though it’s lovely. This: a tiny house with a tiny sauna next to it!
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May 23, 2019 18:34
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All good ideas. Gardens of any variety are a decent place to start discussions. The challenge there is choosing plants that we'd like to grow, but that are wildlife-resistant, as there's quite a bit of deer and assorted smaller creatures that pass through the area. I was thinking about some shortish trees, perhaps when mature with the lowest branches at four to eight feet, that grow well in very wet soil. It does feel like we should do something more substantial with it though, since it's so much space. On another topic, I've gotten all the wallpaper down in my house. I'm now running through with a hand sander and smoothing out all the chipped paint, marks in the plaster, etc. My next steps will be to apply joint compound where appropriate, sand that down, apply primer, and then paint. My question is about where joint compound is appropriate. You'll see in the photo and album below the type of damage I'm looking at. Obviously any visible cracks or missing plaster is going to get covered. I'm not sure about the rest of the damage though. For instance, how about where the paint has chipped off, but the plaster underneath is smooth? Or where the the paint has worn down to the outer paper, but not through to the plaster underneath? Do I apply compound to all these places, or does slapping down the primer do all the necessary prep work?  https://imgur.com/a/dg1mylO The Wonder Weapon fucked around with this message at 19:58 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 19:56
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Pigsfeet on Rye posted:This: a tiny house with a tiny sauna next to it!  I think this might actually be larger than a tiny house however
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May 27, 2019 21:14
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cakesmith handyman posted:
OMG 
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May 28, 2019 12:49
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Hey we build those. Well not that exact one, but that style.
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May 28, 2019 13:18
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We'd like to install a fence across our driveway. We got a quote from a local fence installer for something like $1,500, and I'm wondering if I can beat that doing it myself. Our driveway is ten feet wide concrete slabs, which I have no intention of changing or ruining the edges of. The guy that gave us the quote said they would custom make two 5' 2" chain link frames that would span the driveway, and put the posts in the ground next to the driveway without modifying the existing concrete slabs. I did some light googling and it seems like people install their own fences all the time. Shove a pressure treated 4x4 or 6x6 or a steal beam that won't melt a foot or two into the ground, anchor with concrete, then hang the gates from them. Since the gates would need to be at least 5' 2", and possibly up to 6', I'd mostly be worried about constructing all of this strong enough to support the weight of hanging those gates. As for the material and design of the gates, I'm not especially picky. They only need to be three or four feet tall, as the primary purpose of the gate is to keep our small dogs from running out into traffic. Wood would be totally fine, but if that's going to be too heavy, I'd be fine with aluminum slats, or vinyl, or whatever. I'd probably want them to look something like this, but again, I'm not married to it:  How difficult would it be to build something like this myself? Mount the posts, build the gate frames, put it all up aligned correctly, and make sure it's strong enough to not rip the hinges off in a month?
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Jun 4, 2019 17:11
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cakesmith handyman posted:
I want my own walk-in whiskey barrel!
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Jun 4, 2019 17:27
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The Wonder Weapon posted:We'd like to install a fence across our driveway. We got a quote from a local fence installer for something like $1,500, and I'm wondering if I can beat that doing it myself. You said the $1500 quote was for chainlink? Do you have an existing chainlink fence to match? There's plenty of premade gate panels you could probably hang without much problem. Minimal searching: https://www.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-9-1-2-ft-W-x-4-ft-H-Metal-Steel-Drive-Through-Chain-Link-Fence-Gate-2-Panels-328402A/100322527 Wood easy-hang kits are quite a bit more, plus the cost of wood. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Adjust-A-Gate-3-Rail-60-in-H-60-in-96-in-W-Kit-Contractor-Series-Double-Drive-Kit-AG60-3-DD/301148570 Anything metal like you linked is going to be considerably more than $1500, even DIYed.
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Jun 4, 2019 17:35
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My ex and I split, and I'm keeping the house. It's a three bed, and so now I've got a spare bedroom which used to be her office - it's basically empty apart from a pair of white ikea wardrobes that are half full (and probably could be completely gone) and lime green walls. The floor (as the rest of the house) is bare boards varnished and walnut-stained. Do I just take it on the chin and paint the room grey or some muted pastel and fill it with white bedroom furniture? The house is alot bigger than I need, and it seems bananas to spend £5-600 to furnish a room that would get used maybe twice per year. My thought is to move my office (which is currently in the smallest 'box room' bedroom) into the spare bedroom so I have a bigger space to work with, but it would only leave room for a single bed for a guest. I don't know if this is even a problem, just generally have no idea what to do
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Jun 4, 2019 19:08
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Southern Heel posted:My ex and I split I'm sorry to hear that
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Jun 4, 2019 19:20
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Southern Heel posted:My ex and I split, and I'm keeping the house. It's a three bed, and so now I've got a spare bedroom which used to be her office - it's basically empty apart from a pair of white ikea wardrobes that are half full (and probably could be completely gone) and lime green walls. The floor (as the rest of the house) is bare boards varnished and walnut-stained. Take a few months and think about it. Close the door and ignore it until then. We don't know specifically what you need or want in an office or guest room. It will probably happen in an ah-hah moment one morning in the shower.
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Jun 4, 2019 19:46
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