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Good news on the insulation front. Bought a camera, took photos of my house and returned it (thank you, generous consumer protections). Insulation company is coming over friday to fix the problems I did discover. Also found out I really need to insulate the base of the house and probably the basement too.
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Dec 18, 2019 08:20
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Has anyone gotten a designer to do a kitchen layout, then proceeded to pick out the tile/backsplash/countertop/paint color themselves? We paid a designer to come up with a layout for our kitchen remodeling, and we liked what we saw. She's getting esitmates for the cabinetry and after that, we have to decide if we want to pay her to be a project manager/general contractor (at anywhere between $7500-$10,000, which she says would allow us access to her discounts) or if we want to pay hourly for her to help us shop for the materials. We could also just pick them ourselves. We already know that we want natural or honey maple shaker cabinets, so I'm thinking after we pick the right contractor to do the work and advise us on any other extra materials we should get, it's just down to picking stuff out. We get a sample of the cabinet wood with the stains, then pick the countertop, get a sample of that, pick the floor tile, etc. We redid our bathroom a few years back and did okay on our own with the people at the bath renovation store helping. Has anyone done that for their kitchen? Any gotchas/things to know/warnings/cautions/advisories?
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Dec 26, 2019 18:22
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MJP posted:Has anyone gotten a designer to do a kitchen layout, then proceeded to pick out the tile/backsplash/countertop/paint color themselves? The latter is what we did. The designers wanted designer prices to keep helping us ($40,000/ea bathroom gut-and-redo's, I assume well north of 6 figures for the kitchen. We didn't have them estimate that one once we saw $80k in bathroom remodels.) As long as you have basic sense of design, colors which work together, and a GC who will guide you along the way, you're not going to go wrong. The discounts this person it pitching aren't going to be worth it as they're going to guide you towards expensive/luxury things anyways. The above mentioned designers would only quote miele appliances, for example.
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Dec 26, 2019 19:36
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Envious of those low prices. Light remodel master bathrooms are $60-80k in Portland Gut and redo are $100k-$125k Master baths and kitchens cost exactly the same. (All prices assume mid to high end features, nothing truly luxury and definitely nothing like heated floors or a separate shower and tub)
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Dec 26, 2019 19:44
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Envious of those low prices. Yes but did you consider getting a quote without the M2 in the driveway?
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Dec 26, 2019 19:52
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H110Hawk posted:The latter is what we did. The designers wanted designer prices to keep helping us ($40,000/ea bathroom gut-and-redo's, I assume well north of 6 figures for the kitchen. We didn't have them estimate that one once we saw $80k in bathroom remodels.) As long as you have basic sense of design, colors which work together, and a GC who will guide you along the way, you're not going to go wrong. The discounts this person it pitching aren't going to be worth it as they're going to guide you towards expensive/luxury things anyways. The above mentioned designers would only quote miele appliances, for example. Dumb question - by "the latter" did you mean just paying hourly for choosing stuff or picking things yourself?
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Dec 26, 2019 20:23
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MJP posted:Dumb question - by "the latter" did you mean just paying hourly for choosing stuff or picking things yourself? Oh right, I worded that poorly. Sleep is hard. We had a GC who was willing to work with us on fixtures-and-finishes sort of stuff as just part of their price. She would give us a bit of direction on it ("most people paint plain walls 'swiss coffee' in 'eggshell' what do you think?") but deferred to us for a lot of things. She brought over a big box of trims for doors/windows where she even knew all the right words for what I call trim/molding, and helped us choose them. We asked her which stores/brands to shop at, and she would pick it up for us. It wasn't as nice as someone picking it out for us, but my wife has a pretty good eye for what works well together, and we both understand complementary colors (the color wheel), warm vs cold colors, modern vs classic designs, timeless vs gimmick, etc. I'm reasonably confident we're making a majority of decisions that aren't going to lead to a future owner swearing at us. Are either of you artsy but not in a, forgive the term, basic bitch sorta way? If neither of you have ever been tempted by a live/laugh/love anything you're probably pretty safe. Is that worth $10,000 to you?
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Dec 26, 2019 20:41
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Envious of those low prices. I got a quote for a kitchen and bath light remodel for like $35k right outside of Portland. You are either getting the "location means we can soak him" or the "this guy's gonna be a pain in the rear end" pricing. It could also be that or your definitions of "light remodeling" and "mid grade materials" are way, way out of spec with what most people would think.
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Dec 26, 2019 20:43
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therobit posted:I got a quote for a kitchen and bath light remodel for like $35k right outside of Portland. You are either getting the "location means we can soak him" or the "this guy's gonna be a pain in the rear end" pricing. It could also be that or your definitions of "light remodeling" and "mid grade materials" are way, way out of spec with what most people would think. 5 places have given me a warning before I've even described the project or given my zip code that a light model bathroom with mid range components will start around 60k Is it your GC that you PMd me that got you those numbers? I got the impression that Portland has too many newly minted computer touchers and not enough contractors and it's causing a ridiculous renovation boom
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Dec 26, 2019 20:46
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I got the impression that Portland has too many newly minted computer touchers and not enough contractors and it's causing a ridiculous renovation boom This is very likely true. My town has a decent amount of very rich people in it who support the $40k small-bathroom GC's around here, thankfully there are also normal people GC's too. Ironically in high school I did basic computer-toucher work for one of them, and now as people "grow up" in that company they've spun off their own. It's up to 3 off-shoot companies at this point and all 4 are doing really amazing work.
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Dec 26, 2019 21:03
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:5 places have given me a warning before I've even described the project or given my zip code that a light model bathroom with mid range components will start around 60k Yes. That was the bottom of the range, but included moving cabinets around in the kitchen, along with new countertops and backsplash. Did not include tile work in the bath as we already redid the shower a few years ago, but does include new flooring in both rooms (LVT, nothing fancy). I still think he could save you some money.
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Dec 26, 2019 21:13
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H110Hawk posted:Oh right, I worded that poorly. Sleep is hard. The $10k included actually managing the project - scheduling contractors, responding to issues, doing the shopping, etc. Design-wise, we're sticking to shaker cabinets, slate gray appliances, granite or quartzite countertop, and recessed lighting. We already have a full layout that the designer provided, so we know exactly what we need. I understand most of the color wheel/warm vs. cold/etc. and I have a graphic designer friend who'd probably be a darn good resource. Since my wife and I can alternate working remote when the work is happening and contractors are onsite, I lean more towards "let's leave it to the professional so we get it right" but my wife rightfully points out that it constitutes a 20% increase in costs. We've factored out appliances and the designer's fees so far. To be honest, I lean more towards the hourly for her picking stuff out with us and we take it from there. We might use her contractor, we might not, but we're doing $40k cash out and I'm willing to sell $10k-$15k worth of stock in our generic long-term brokerage account (not including extra to cover capital gains tax) to top things off. Anything more and I'd have to really think long and hard about it.
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Dec 27, 2019 16:14
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MJP posted:The $10k included actually managing the project - scheduling contractors, responding to issues, doing the shopping, etc. I would not self-GC this project. It will take twice as long.
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Dec 27, 2019 16:45
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H110Hawk posted:I would not self-GC this project. It will take twice as long. Could I get some insight as to why you say this? I don't want to be contrarian, I just want to get an understanding of the neutral case for the designer as GC. I do get the merits of a pro as the coordinator but it's a pretty big line item in terms of cost.
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Dec 27, 2019 20:03
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MJP posted:Could I get some insight as to why you say this? I don't want to be contrarian, I just want to get an understanding of the neutral case for the designer as GC. I do get the merits of a pro as the coordinator but it's a pretty big line item in terms of cost. Doesn't need to be the designer, but I do think you need a gc. Otherwise you're small potatoes to each individual contractor. You want someone to yell at when some random trade blows you off for a week because they got higher paying jobs elsewhere.
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Dec 27, 2019 20:16
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We're planning an addition to add a second bathroom, and I'd also like to get a second garage as part of it. We have some constraints though, there's a drainage easement under the driveway that means I can't expand to the right anymore. I think we can expand the existing garage and add another garage door on the side of the house. It'll be a little weird, because to park a second car in there you'd have to back in and turn a bunch... I think it's doable without too much effort though. Is it weird to have garage doors on two different walls of the house? Without the second door, we'd have to shuffle the cars around every night, which sounds pretty irritating.  Street is on the bottom, and there's no real room on the left. There's plenty of backyard space, but I don't really want an even bigger driveway.
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Dec 30, 2019 01:39
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I have a second-story dryer that vents out the side of my house near the attic. I can see the vent cover starting to get clogged, so I was attempting to clean it out this weekend. My 21' Little Giant ladder didn't get me quite high enough to clean the vent exhaust out, and my attempts at raking out the lint balls was in vain (and very stupid in hindsight). I was looking into buying a proper tall extension ladder (28' or 32'), but am not sure how to get it home with my minivan, as it definitely wouldn't fit. Should I just do what my wife says and hire someone to clean the vent thoroughly from the outside-in every other year (keeping the vent pipe connected to my dryer maintained regularly myself)? Or should I rent a UHaul to transport a big boy ladder that I'll use once in a blue moon?
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Dec 30, 2019 03:20
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Good-Natured Filth posted:I was looking into buying a proper tall extension ladder (28' or 32'), but am not sure how to get it home with my minivan, as it definitely wouldn't fit. How doesn't it fit? Tie the tailgate down and hang a flag on the ladder sticking out the back.
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Dec 30, 2019 03:35
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Have we forgotten the ancient art of tying poo poo to the top of our cars?
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Dec 30, 2019 03:52
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H110Hawk posted:How doesn't it fit? Tie the tailgate down and hang a flag on the ladder sticking out the back. It doesn't fit because I'd have to tie the tailgate down and have it stick out ~8ft? Apologies for not knowing the legality of doing something like that. And appreciate your response in clarifying that it's probably fine. I see it all the time with construction vehicles and pickups. But never with a minivan. So I'm clearly just an idiot here.
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Dec 30, 2019 04:47
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Good-Natured Filth posted:I see it all the time with construction vehicles and pickups. But never with a minivan. Construction vehicles and pickups are not a special class of vehicle with special dispensations to do this. You're fine. Tie everything down properly and securely and make sure it's flagged. You probably also want to crack a window up front since at speed exhaust gases will get drawn in at speed on a typical rear exhaust vehicle with the back open if you have everything closed up in the front.
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Dec 30, 2019 05:37
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Good-Natured Filth posted:It doesn't fit because I'd have to tie the tailgate down and have it stick out ~8ft? Apologies for not knowing the legality of doing something like that. And appreciate your response in clarifying that it's probably fine. Have you ever truly lived until you do something mildly dangerous to others in your car? How many miles are we talking here? Definitely had 16' 2x6's sticking up out of a shorty f150 bed for a 15 minute drive home and a u-turn. Shame the flag flew off. CA law is 2/3 the length of the wheelbase. That's 6.5' out the back of a Honda odyssey. 8' no one is going to bat an eye at with a flag and driving slow on side streets so long as it's properly tied off. Make sure it's alllllll the way to the dash. That sucker should be riding shotgun with you.
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Dec 30, 2019 05:39
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To be practical too, you can rent a truck at home depot for what, $30 or so? Last one I did had a 10' bed on it. Definitely worthwhile if you had more to pick up too and could make one great trip. Otherwise just a tax on long items. Plus a huge ladder is already like $300-400, what's another 10%?
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Dec 30, 2019 05:44
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Can you not access the dryer vent from the inside?
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Dec 30, 2019 07:54
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When I bought a 28' ladder I just bit the bullet and paid $75 for Lowes to deliver it along with another big item that would've required renting a U-Haul. Not the cheapest option but if you just want it done with no fuss it works.
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Dec 30, 2019 08:05
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Elem7 posted:When I bought a 28' ladder I just bit the bullet and paid $75 for Lowes to deliver it along with another big item that would've required renting a U-Haul. You see, this is why your daily driver should be a Ford F150 at the minimum. Who knows how many times a year you may get a 28' ladder delivered?
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Dec 30, 2019 11:12
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Just put the top down and put it in the passenger seat. Miata is always the answer.
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Dec 30, 2019 14:33
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H110Hawk posted:Doesn't need to be the designer, but I do think you need a gc. Otherwise you're small potatoes to each individual contractor. You want someone to yell at when some random trade blows you off for a week because they got higher paying jobs elsewhere. More dumb questions, because I've never done this before - if I have one contractor who can do tile, electrical, cabinets, plumbing, painting, and permits, and the countertop fabricators install the countertops + sink, is there a need for a GC in that case? Or am I hoping for too much in having that one contractor who can do all those things?
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Dec 30, 2019 14:46
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MJP posted:More dumb questions, because I've never done this before - if I have one contractor who can do tile, electrical, cabinets, plumbing, painting, and permits, and the countertop fabricators install the countertops + sink, is there a need for a GC in that case? Or am I hoping for too much in having that one contractor who can do all those things? Amusingly that's the kind of contractor I have. Their license is a gc one and one of the people who work there is our estimator, project manager, and gc. In that case no I don't think so assuming they are qualified to do all those things. In my personal experience it worked out great. I am signing for them to do another $40k in work here any day now.
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Dec 30, 2019 16:06
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This is kind of an overlap with the house buying thread, but I think it probably fits better here. We're considering making an offer on a home that we really like and fits a lot of what we're looking for, but it doesn't have everything - the 3rd bedroom is so small it's more like 2.5 bedrooms, for instance. It'll work for our current set up, but could (likely will) be a problem if we decide to have a kid down the road. Ideally, we'd want 4 bedrooms - extending the small one and adding one more. So, we want to make an offer knowing that we could extend the house or build an addition later, and that's where we're not sure if it can be done. Basically the previous owners beat us to the punch, and added a sunroom and outdoor patio off the back of the house, making it L-shaped. The area we would need to add on to is on the opposite end of the back side of the house, which would turn it into a U-shape. Concerns about making the house look terrible aside, that would basically block the sightline (and sunlight) from a good bit of the sunroom. Here are some options we've considered: * Aforementioned addition * Moving the wall out a modest amount, but not full-on addition amount (wouldn't impact the sunroom too much, but it's questionable we'd get enough for the expense) * Moving the entire back out, including the sunroom (keeping the same flow in back, which we really like, but we worry this starts to eat up too much yard) Is moving a wall out ever a good idea over just building an addition? Is any of this worth it? I might just be suffering from a failure of imagination on this one, but we really like this house and it'd be a bummer if we couldn't find a way to make it work.
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Jan 6, 2020 18:02
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Why would you buy a house that’s already too small for you? Remodeling is a huge pain in the rear end, especially if you’ve never done it before. Are there not any 4 bedroom houses available in your market/price range?
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Jan 6, 2020 18:08
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Knowing nothing else, I'd tell you to either buy this house with the thought that you're going to buy another house later on when you need to expand or don't buy it at all.
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Jan 6, 2020 18:22
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TheWevel posted:Why would you buy a house that’s already too small for you? Remodeling is a huge pain in the rear end, especially if you’ve never done it before. There are, but we feel like we'd have to do a lot of work on those as well (NoVA area, so lots of old colonials that need walls busted out and kitchens remodeled), and generally they're not at the overall quality of this one. We're willing to pass on it, but we're trying to get a feel for what's possible before we do, since otherwise it's a really great fit with price and location and the previous owners already made the internal changes we would have made.
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Jan 6, 2020 18:23
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So you want to take the "overall quality" of this house that is too small and jank it all up with an addition that sounds like there's no good place to put? Unless you personally are in construction/a contractor you should buy the house you need now and in the next 5 years at least. Then buy a different house if those needs change.
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Jan 6, 2020 18:32
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Also your kids can share a room. I did, and look how I turned out!
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Jan 6, 2020 19:02
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Or plan on knocking down the sunroom + patio. When you say "too small" for the kid can you quantify that?
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Jan 6, 2020 19:09
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H110Hawk posted:Or plan on knocking down the sunroom + patio. I left some info out since it I didn't think it was really relevant to the "is this possible/a good idea" question, but the reason for the crunch is that my mom's going to be living with us - the basement is perfect for giving her a mother-in-law suite. That leaves 2 bedrooms, and right now the fiancee thinks she'll resent it later if we have to give up a guest room to turn it into a baby room. So for our household, rather than me personally, I'd say a 4th bedroom is a more pressing concern than a bigger 3rd if we do end up having a kid, and obviously we don't want to buy a place where that's impossible to do, addition or no. I appreciate everyone's thoughts so far, and it's helping confirm that we probably should pass on this one.
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Jan 6, 2020 19:40
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zynga dot com posted:I left some info out since it I didn't think it was really relevant to the "is this possible/a good idea" question, but the reason for the crunch is that my mom's going to be living with us - the basement is perfect for giving her a mother-in-law suite. That leaves 2 bedrooms, and right now the fiancee thinks she'll resent it later if we have to give up a guest room to turn it into a baby room. So for our household, rather than me personally, I'd say a 4th bedroom is a more pressing concern than a bigger 3rd if we do end up having a kid, and obviously we don't want to buy a place where that's impossible to do, addition or no. You know what I love about hotels? My house has 100 guest rooms I don't have to clean.
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Jan 6, 2020 19:54
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and if you don't think the baby will be OK alone in a hotel room, you can get the mother in law to stay there with it!
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Jan 6, 2020 19:58
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Just something to think about, older people often have mobility issues, so a basement MIL suite might make sense now, but would it make sense farther down the line? I know when I built my current house it was a deal breaker not to have a guest room on the main floor. My MIL doesn't live with us right now, but probably will be moving in, in the next couple of years, so we bought this house thinking about accommodating her living with us. I planned my current house for what we need 5 years from now, not what we currently needed, as I'm not planning on moving again until my kids are out of the house in the next 12 to 15 years. I'd just be wary of going into a home purchase already making tons of compromises. I understand the NoVA housing market is difficult though.
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Jan 6, 2020 20:05
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