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Colonel Whitey posted:I'm a bit hesitant though, I can't shake the feeling that somehow they will not be any good since they are about 10K lower than the others for the kitchen. Is this bit of conventional wisdom bad or good? I'm really not sure what to look for in a contractor other than a feeling of confidence in them. Did you specify everything already? I am a residential remodeler and I could swing a kitchen renovation $10k easily by just tweaking the cab and countertop allowance. If there are unknown selections in the scope that $10k difference is just noise. Go with the contractor that has good references and plan on spending an additional $10k anyways.
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Aug 12, 2020 22:55
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Sirotan posted:I got this recently to replace a 15+ year old DeWalt cordless drill and it is insanely great, the difference in torque over my old Especially since I know I'm going to have other projects going on like a door that's sagging and a jet tub that needs fixing. Let me vent about this stupid jet tub. For some reason, they caulked all around the little jets, making it really hard to remove and replace.  The tile is all grouted off so there's no access for repairs. I don't even see a name brand anywhere, so I can't even look up the parts.What a royal pain in the rear end. I would have preferred a soaker tub, but I wasn't about to turn down a house because it had a jacuzzi tub in the master bath.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:02
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Tezer posted:Did you specify everything already? I am a residential remodeler and I could swing a kitchen renovation $10k easily by just tweaking the cab and countertop allowance. If there are unknown selections in the scope that $10k difference is just noise. Nope, at this point everything's just placeholder because we don't have strong design sensibilities. You're saying that I should budget for an additional 10k above the estimates because I'll end up wanting more expensive options than what they've allowed for in their quotes?
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Aug 12, 2020 23:11
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Colonel Whitey posted:Not sure if this is the thread for this but it's the closest I could find. Wife and I are embarking on our first major renovation project (kitchen and we also want to do a bathroom if in budget) after refinancing and getting some cash out. We got three quotes from established contractors, and one came in significantly lower than the others. I've heard the wisdom that you get three quotes and throw out the lowest, but I've seen nothing but good things about that company online and they're the only one that gave bids that will allow us to do both projects without waiting on one of them and saving up for a few years. I'm a bit hesitant though, I can't shake the feeling that somehow they will not be any good since they are about 10K lower than the others for the kitchen. Is this bit of conventional wisdom bad or good? I'm really not sure what to look for in a contractor other than a feeling of confidence in them. Get personal references. Talk to those people. Find one who had a problem. Ask how that problem was resolved. All renovation work that involves seeing the studs has a problem SOMEWHERE. We wound up going with the cheaper company here because we liked their vibe and we got to see them do a major to-he-studs repair at a friends house. It wound up being a bit headachey for some of it but it was absolutely worth it. When you see "throw out the cheapest" it's generally "all things being equal, this one is suspiciously cheaper" not just "This one is 10% cheaper than the rest." For example, some bathroom reno's we were looking at were coming in at like $65k with others, were more like $25-35k with this GC. We realized those others were too fancy for our taste and what we were having done and this one was the first one that had realistic pricing. With the lower priced vendor, assuming all things are equal, you're likely going to see change orders for every little thing that needs to happen. With the more expensive one you can more reasonably expect them to absorb certain small dollar changes. We wound up getting change orders through their portal for like $120 here and there for minor things like additional lumber or whatever. Minor headache, but saved a huge amount of money overall. As with all things, read the contracts carefully and make sure things are spelled out clearly and completely. Don't be afraid to mark it up a bit or demand a specific thing be written out for you. In the end if it all goes sideways if your contract says one thing and your verbal agreement says another and you wind up in small claims court, the contract is going to win every time. Especially spelled out should be progress payments, and make sure that the final one is more than just the Overhead & Profit amount summed up. Final should be final - clean space, final permit inspection signed off on, punch list complete, full release of all mechanics liens filed, in exchange for a check.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:12
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^^Thanks, that's all really great advice.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:17
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Colonel Whitey posted:Nope, at this point everything's just placeholder because we don't have strong design sensibilities. You're saying that I should budget for an additional 10k above the estimates because I'll end up wanting more expensive options than what they've allowed for in their quotes? That is usually the way it goes. If I know someone is getting multiple quotes and selections haven't been made, it would be silly to put expensive finishes in my quote since I know you are probably going to being doing exactly what you are doing - finding a way to justify going with the lowest number. I might as well be the lowest number. If you need to stick with a particular budget you need to select everything before starting so you can get a real number. This is what I do with all of our design-build clients and it results in very accurate pricing. If you don't do this, you should at least ask your selected contractor what materials you need to install to remain in budget (ie - what their allowance was based on). If you just go to a showroom without this information it's very unlikely you will be able to stick to your budget.
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Aug 12, 2020 23:31
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LloydDobler posted:You can get a super long blade for the sawzall (I have an awesome 12" long one that works for a huge variety of things) and bend it to lay flat on the concrete to get a mostly flush cut, then grind to finish if you even need to at that point.  So that's what this flush cut blade I got in the multi-pack does. I couldnt figure it exactly what made it flush. For real there's a little picture of what you're describing on it, and my thought was "oh boy they're using that wrong!"
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Aug 13, 2020 01:22
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Dumb question, how difficult is it to re-stain kitchen cabinets? I always heard new kitchen cabinets cost quite a bit. Rather than buy new cabinets, I rather just re-use the existing ones. (They're not bad.) My cabinets are those medium stained oak cabinets popular from the late 1990s to early 2000s. This color Is sanding it and adding a darker coat or lighter coat do-able?
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Aug 13, 2020 02:31
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Senor P. posted:Dumb question, how difficult is it to re-stain kitchen cabinets? Just hang onto them as they are for like 10 more years and they'll be on trend again.
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Aug 13, 2020 03:44
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It takes a lot of time and usually a lot of room. Sanding into dozens of tight concave curved areas can be unpleasant. But it’s not a complex task. If you do it, do yourself a huge favor and mark which hinges go on which cabinets (assuming you’re going to keep the hinges).
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Aug 13, 2020 05:26
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Is this a place I could ask for robot lawn mower recommendations? I'm looking at buying a house with a pretty huge lawn and I'd like to automate mowing assuming it works decently.
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Aug 13, 2020 13:26
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Can you quantify "pretty huge"?
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Aug 13, 2020 13:33
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It's hard to say, the grounds are 1.5 hectares. It's not all lawn and I don't necessarily want to keep it all lawn-like anyway. Perhaps 3-5000 sqm?
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Aug 13, 2020 13:52
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gently caress everything about moving. How the hell did I accumulate so much stuff in a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 people? Also, the sellers told me they hired a company to appeal the property tax and they got the results from the hearing. The appraised value dropped. Do I need any kind of documentation to confirm this or is this already in the system now?
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Aug 13, 2020 14:28
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Home ownership has been crazy lately. My refrigerator, dryer, toaster oven, and radio all broke within the span of a week. And it was extremely stressful because I had to replace all this stuff before going into quarantine leading up to my wife's surgery, and there's apparently a national appliance shortage. I think I can fix the dryer, though. I did a series of voltage tests and it appears the problem is the heating element. Let's hope that this $60 part saves me from spending upwards of $900.
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Aug 13, 2020 15:34
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Bioshuffle posted:gently caress everything about moving. It's the other person's fault. I'm moving too. I'm pretty good about living simply, but even then I've thrown out a tremendous amount of "stuff" that I was hanging on to just to hang on to it. Most of it was my daughter's stuff who I never taught to purge as she got older. We just went through it together and had two large boxes full of trash, with another large box of stuff too nice to throw away, so we'll donate it. Someone at work told me about that "do you need it, do you use it, does it bring you joy?" quiz that you can do to all your things and it really does work wonders on clearing out clutter. If the answer to all 3 is no, get rid of it.
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Aug 13, 2020 17:05
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I moved from a 1,350 SF two bedroom to a 2,900 SF four bedroom and despite Marie Kondo-ing like half of my belongings I feel like the new house is already full Never move, just sell the house as furnished and buy new poo poo IMHO Also never move
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Aug 13, 2020 17:07
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I moved from a 1,350 SF two bedroom to a 2,900 SF four bedroom and despite Marie Kondo-ing like half of my belongings I feel like the new house is already full 50 SF - king sized bed 30 SF - sofa 20 SF - Dining room table 2800 SF - candles 8 SF - fridge please help my family is being crushed
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Aug 13, 2020 17:21
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My wife grew up very poor in Brazil. As a result, she is chronically unable to throw anything out, ever, if it still has any use whatsoever. I was hoping that moving would make her realize how much crap we have we didn't even notice we still had, but nope. In the 2000s I had severe sinus issues, so we had a steam vaporizer I would use to help me with it. But in 2012 I had surgery that fixes my issues, so I hadn't used it in at least 8 years. She insisted that we take it with us in the move just in case, and only allowed me to donate it when she saw that we were running out of room (we moved from a 1400 sqft rental to a 1270 condo). I understand why she is like that, but still...
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Aug 13, 2020 17:43
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My dad grew up in an upper class household and until the dementia set in last year refused to throw away even boxes in the attic from electronics in the 90s. You know, just in case we need to return that Sega Genesis, or Panasonic CRT Television.
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Aug 13, 2020 18:01
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I bought my current 55" Samsung TV in 2008, and I expected it to be long dead by now but it still has a fantastic picture and works great. I'm finding of all the boxes I kept, I really wish I'd kept that one, because it'll probably get wrecked in the move. Then again, excuse to get a new TV. hmmm....
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Aug 13, 2020 21:13
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LloydDobler posted:I bought my current 55" Samsung TV in 2008, and I expected it to be long dead by now but it still has a fantastic picture and works great. I'm finding of all the boxes I kept, I really wish I'd kept that one, because it'll probably get wrecked in the move.
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Aug 13, 2020 21:32
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The wife insisted we throw out the burgandy red faux leather couch that we inherited from her roommate. Now we get to couchless until mid September. I don't know how I'm going to survive. Also, I thought I was getting my dryer just in the nick of time before the sale ended at Lowe's, but they keep extending the sale over and over again. The mover guys wrapped the tv like a burrito and it was good to go.
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Aug 13, 2020 22:16
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I'm still waiting for a deep freezer from when I moved in April..... It'll be here on the 25th I'm so excite
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Aug 13, 2020 23:38
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Can you parge over a polyurethane concrete sealant?
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Aug 14, 2020 00:55
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I've never owned hardwood floor homes before Do I need to lay down a rug or padding under the dining table? How about the tv console?
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Aug 14, 2020 13:27
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Bioshuffle posted:I've never owned hardwood floor homes before Rug under the table. Pulling chairs in and out will scratch it all to hell (ask me how I found out). Anything that doesn't generally get touched should be fine (bookcases, tv stands, etc.), but there's way less friction on hardwood so anything that gets sat on will be prone to scooting around (couches/chairs/etc.), even if it's not intentional.
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Aug 14, 2020 13:33
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you dont NEEED to for the big stuff but you shoudl be protecting your floor from scratching up your floor on yoru TV stand (and possibly table if you plan on extending it with an extra leaf) when you move it around to get to your cables or whatever. I would make sure you have in tact pads on the bottom of your chairs if they're going to move around etc. becuase they'll scratch the poo poo out of your floors. you can get felt pads Something like this bad boy can go on chair bottoms / maybe 3 on each side of your TV stand https://www.lowes.com/pd/Scotch-78-Pack-Assorted-Beige-Assorted-Felt-Pad/1000328143 My table has some wheels on it so I just use these because they're small and dont' get in the way and have cups to hold the wheels in. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Scotch-Scotch-8482-Felt-Pad-Cup-SP671-NA-Reusable-3-in-4-pk/1002690284 tater_salad fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 14, 2020 13:38
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The PO at our place loved orange peel texture (he left a spray can of it along with some paint for the house). For hanging pictures and things, can we use the 3M Velcro stuff over orange peel or does the uneven texture mean we should use a nail-in thing like the ook hooks above?
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Aug 14, 2020 15:02
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Hawkeye posted:The PO at our place loved orange peel texture (he left a spray can of it along with some paint for the house). the 3m velcro stuff is pretty decent and should hold the picture
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Aug 14, 2020 15:03
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Who stayed up until 4:00am? This guy. Who isn't spending $900? Also this guy.
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Aug 14, 2020 15:45
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Halloween Jack posted:Who stayed up until 4:00am? This guy. Who isn't spending $900? Also this guy. someone has a working dryer though.
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Aug 14, 2020 16:07
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tater_salad posted:someone has a working dryer though. I mean, not him, but let's not dwell on specifics.
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Aug 14, 2020 16:13
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The other thing with hardwood floors and dining chairs, is even if you put nice nylon slider pads on like my parents did, you ABSOLUTELY have to keep up with the sweeping. My mom as she got older couldn't keep up with the housework, and people tracked in tiny rocks from the gravel in the back yard driveway. Once those fuckers get embedded in a nylon chair slider they tear the floor up hard. We couldn't figure it out for a while because only two chairs were doing it, and they'd get moved around. So we'd see scratches but the chair over them would slide just fine. I finally found a scratching chair and flipped it over, picked a few rocks out of the slider. My mom was super embarrassed. But then again, she's the one who stained the entire floor herself back in the 80's so we cut her a break. I never thought of putting a rug under the dining table, but maybe we should. I already have a massive dust mop in my amazon wish list for when I move in there. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Aug 14, 2020 |
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Aug 14, 2020 17:31
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H110Hawk posted:I mean, not him, but let's not dwell on specifics.
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Aug 14, 2020 17:37
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The bi-fold doors on our laundry closet fell off yesterday. I went and bought a hardware set and was like "yeah no big deal. This is easy." I turned the door over to check the bottom pivot. Not only is it missing, the wood is missing. The bottom of the door has rotted out and fallen into the hollow area inside the door.  All that's left is the obvious, insufficient wood glue remaining from someone's previous repair. At least they're cheap doors.
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Aug 14, 2020 18:41
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LloydDobler posted:The other thing with hardwood floors and dining chairs, is even if you put nice nylon slider pads on like my parents did, you ABSOLUTELY have to keep up with the sweeping. My mom as she got older couldn't keep up with the housework, and people tracked in tiny rocks from the gravel in the back yard driveway. Once those fuckers get embedded in a nylon chair slider they tear the floor up hard. We couldn't figure it out for a while because only two chairs were doing it, and they'd get moved around. So we'd see scratches but the chair over them would slide just fine. I finally found a scratching chair and flipped it over, picked a few rocks out of the slider. My mom was super embarrassed. But then again, she's the one who stained the entire floor herself back in the 80's so we cut her a break. Well this is terrifying. I have cats. Will the cat hairs maybe counteract the specs of dust? What kind of mops are the best? Isn't that what home ownership is all about? Talking about mops.
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Aug 14, 2020 22:46
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Sirotan posted:I got this recently to replace a 15+ year old DeWalt cordless drill and it is insanely great, the difference in torque over my old I don't know anything about drills or impact drivers. Is this basically the same thing? I don't understand why there are so many different versions with different price points. https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-...283D2/206524075
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Aug 15, 2020 03:45
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Bioshuffle posted:I don't know anything about drills or impact drivers. Is this basically the same thing? I don't understand why there are so many different versions with different price points. The ones he posted are brushless, the ones you posted have brushes. Supposedly brushless last longer, are quiter, and deliver more power more intelligently. You need to decide if that's worth the extra hundred bucks to you (50% more in terms of price). I have the Milwaukee M18 brushed drill and driver combo and it's been reliable and strong and I"ve never really felt like I was missing anything. I prefer Milwaukee to DeWalt and supposedly the 18v Milwaukie is more powerful that the 20v DeWalt, but if I were you I would look at the other tools offered that run off the same batteries and make my decision off of that, because when you buy a drill you are really buying a battery system.
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Aug 15, 2020 04:36
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therobit posted:The ones he posted are brushless, the ones you posted have brushes. Supposedly brushless last longer, are quiter, and deliver more power more intelligently. You need to decide if that's worth the extra hundred bucks to you (50% more in terms of price). I have the Milwaukee M18 brushed drill and driver combo and it's been reliable and strong and I"ve never really felt like I was missing anything. I prefer Milwaukee to DeWalt and supposedly the 18v Milwaukie is more powerful that the 20v DeWalt, but if I were you I would look at the other tools offered that run off the same batteries and make my decision off of that, because when you buy a drill you are really buying a battery system. The 20v/18v thing is a misnomer. They are both the same number of cells. The 18 versus 20 volt labeling is just usual vs peak power, of which they have the same. Any power difference between the tools is based on the tools themselves and not really the batteries. With that said I'm a Milwaukee user and my experience is the Milwaukee stuff is by-and-large better than the DeWalt equivalents. But not by much, and the DeWalt's are cheaper. E: Actually both sets linked to are brushless according to their title. To me it looks like the big difference is the more expensive set comes with 5 AH batteries instead of 2AH, and a hard case instead of a soft one.Also the drill is different in the more expensive kit. It's the DCD996 instead of the DCD791. I'm not sure of what that means, but the 996 comes with an additional handle so I assume it's more powerful. The impact driver is the same in both, DCF887. I had this decision to make in the past and I decided to splurge and get the best drill/impact combo I could, because those two tools are the ones you use the most, for the most jobs. It makes sense to splurge on them. SpartanIvy fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Aug 15, 2020 |
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Aug 15, 2020 04:56
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