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We scraped it off with a shop vac when I was teenager. Somehow I don't have mesothelioma. There were 2 layers of it up there in a 1960's house. The second layer was so poorly applied (even considering it was the second layer) it would just crumble off if you shut a door too hard. We found out that around 1/3 of a trash bag was the weight limit, and a couple bags per week in the usual city trash.
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Sep 28, 2020 01:22
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my place was built in 2005, but removing it still sounds like a mess
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Sep 28, 2020 02:03
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I’ve heard scraping only works if the ceiling hasn’t been painted, so ymmv. But as for the drywall, yes. Someone (or yourself) hangs, tapes, and muds the ceiling with 1/4 drywall. This gives you a nice clean slate to work with. As far as labor goes it probably less time than paying someone to scrape it.
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Sep 28, 2020 03:57
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:I’ve heard scraping only works if the ceiling hasn’t been painted, so ymmv. You can definitely scrape it with paint, maybe not to 100% off but definitely to what almost looks like orange peel texture, which I know is a trigger word.
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Sep 28, 2020 04:12
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Fill a sprayer with water and give the ceiling a spray before you scrape. Stuff comes right off. 1/4" drywall works too--but is a better option if you are doing lots of work in the ceiling too--like cutting out old boxes and putting in new fixtures, fan boxes, etc.. i.e. if you are needing to make holes in the ceiling--go hog wild, cover it all with 1/4". But 1/4" over top is a lot of work--just getting the boards in place is work. Then you have to tape and mud everything...and don't forget the sanding.
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Sep 28, 2020 04:30
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yeah I wouldn't do any of that I'd hire someone either way my popcorn ceiling is painted, but I assume that after you scraped that off the whole thing needs to be repainted anyway
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Sep 28, 2020 04:59
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This is a repost of a repost from the Crappy Construction thread and I will also put it in the OP here. some goon posted: Old construction is better than new construction because older homes were usually overbuilt in structural terms. They'll also usually be in better parts of town, in more established neighborhoods, and closer to city centers and services because they were built before everyone drove everywhere. Old houses were built by tradespeople who treated construction as a career and took pride in their work. They were built to last forever. You'll have a yard and a sidewalk that leads somewhere you want to go. You'll have a cozy fireplace and a formal living room. New construction is better than old construction because it follows modern building codes. You'll have outlets every six feet, laundry connections, a two car garage, cable in multiple rooms, and more than one light in any given room. You'll have a living room built with a TV in mind and a kitchen built with a microwave and dishwasher in mind. You'll have a media room rather than a formal living room. You'll have insulation in the walls and the ceiling, efficient appliances, a complete HVAC system, double-paned windows, and insulation-wrapped hot water pipes. You'll have bedrooms that fit king size beds, an eat-in kitchen, and a bathroom that's wider than a bathtub. You'll have special foundation reinforcement (where applicable) or storm-proof roofing. You won't have to worry about your roof for 20 years. Old construction is worse than new construction because the walls hide horrible problems, like support beams cut in half, old wiring, leaky pipes with lead solder, and asbestos-lined heating ducts. There are never enough outlets and if you use the hair dryer and the microwave at the same time you'll have a brownout. Your drainage to the sewer, if it's present, will be clay pipes full of roots. You'll have tiny rooms with low ceilings and a tiny kitchen that doesn't have a dishwasher. You'll have the most inefficient heating system possible, and if there's air conditioning it will triple your electrical expenses and drop the temperature by 5 degrees and drip water down the inside of your wall. You'll have single-pane aluminum windows and no insulation in the walls. Your roof will have three layers of shingles on it or will be leaking or both. New construction is worse than old construction because it was built by people hired that morning in a Home Depot parking lot, using the minimum amount of material in order to meet the too-lax building codes, designed to last through the three year warranty and not a day more. New construction sometimes employs new techniques in an incorrect manner, which often ends up trapping moisture somewhere in the walls and causing horrific mold or rot problems. New construction is all about the finishes and not about the structure or mechanicals. You'll get a yard that funnels water into your foundation covered in some sod and maybe a 2-year-old tree. Your brand new roof was flashed incorrectly and water's running underneath all of it. All of the above is true, simultaneously. Home ownership is awesome
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Sep 28, 2020 08:33
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And somehow having a 114 year old house in a major city that was owned by a finish carpenter for 20 years before that means you have literally all of those problems but the only place you could fit a king size bed is in the alley
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Sep 28, 2020 08:57
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ayyyyyy lmao
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Sep 28, 2020 11:34
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have any of you guys had your kitchen cabinets repainted? how much did it cost? I have a small place, but would like to get my maple cabinets painted and hardware added first email I got quote:I’ll be happy to talking to you about painting your cabinets. would you say this is typical? The 4k-6k range was higher than I expected. But most people have much bigger kitchens than mine. It looks like the satin impervo oil is pretty standard, there's also a water based option https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/interior-exterior-paints-stains/product-catalog/siallp/satin-impervo https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/interior-exterior-paints-stains/product-catalog/wsip/waterborne-satin-impervo The main difference seems to be that if after it's put on, with the oil one you don't really want to be in the home while it dries for 24 hours. They obviously do the drawers/doors elsewhere, but you still have the outer shell being painted. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Sep 28, 2020 |
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Sep 28, 2020 17:38
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Looking for garage door opener recommendations. It's just a single bay, 7' door, nothing wonky. I don't need it to have any kind of smarthome/app connectivity, but if it can do it without having to buy anything extra, that's a plus. (I have a Google home mini, but don't want to have to buy a special hub or app subscription, which I think I read Chamerlain brand needs?)
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Sep 28, 2020 21:24
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I can't remember the exact model we have, but we have one of the base model Chamberlain's with the smart app connectivity (via MyQ) and it's great. It was like $175. I didn't think I'd really use the smart app, but I use it quite frequently. When I'm not near the button, or forget to close it when I leave for the day. It also has the ability to set reminders for "oops you left the door open longer than 30 minutes... that supposed to be the case?" etc.
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Sep 28, 2020 21:35
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Should I call the locator service to make sure I don't hit anything important before I dig a shallow grave for my husband in the back yard?
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Sep 28, 2020 23:45
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DrBouvenstein posted:Looking for garage door opener recommendations.
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Sep 29, 2020 00:26
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BonerGhost posted:Should I call the locator service to make sure I don't hit anything important before I dig a shallow grave for my husband in the back yard? Can you make him do it? That way if something is hit it's his fault.
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Sep 29, 2020 00:55
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Today I got to hear two great sentences back to back from my wife. "The sink isn't draining but I fixed it" and "the sink is leaking everywhere." We had a drain on the bathroom sink that used one of the pull things on the faucet. Apparently it detached (no big deal, just reconnect it) but instead of doing that my wife somehow twisted the drain plug and broke that, the rod, and somehow caused it to start leaking where the drain was connected to the p trap. So I pulled everything apart and made sure everything was out back together right. Turn on the water and it starts coming out around the ball and washer the rod goes in to and the top of the p trap. So one emergency trip to the hardware store later we now have a new push button drain, and new connections for the p trap. At some point I'll replace the faucet to match.
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Sep 29, 2020 01:14
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Motronic posted:Can you make him do it? That way if something is hit it's his fault. That's a great idea, you're such a good resource
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Sep 29, 2020 01:33
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actionjackson posted:have any of you guys had your kitchen cabinets repainted? how much did it cost? I have a small place, but would like to get my maple cabinets painted and hardware added Just want to throw in that I gutted and got new custom cabinets for a small kitchen maybe 5 years ago and the total for the brand new cabinets was $5k. I did the install myself to save on that cost, and of course the counter was extra. That seems a lot for a fresh coat of paint (even with all the prep required for cabinets) especially if it’s really a small kitchen.
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Sep 29, 2020 02:03
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:Just want to throw in that I gutted and got new custom cabinets for a small kitchen maybe 5 years ago and the total for the brand new cabinets was $5k. I did the install myself to save on that cost, and of course the counter was extra. yeah, I'm going to get estimates from a few other places just to compare. I'm wondering if it's cheaper to literally just buy new cabinet doors and drawers, but keep the existing "frame." https://www.cabinetdoordepot.com/10200_series_square_867prod.html Using this site I found, the high gloss white is 26/sf, so that's about $81 for a standard upper cabinet door (15 x 30 in). is replacing the doors and drawers considered "refacing" as opposed to repainting them? actionjackson fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 02:21
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FWIW, I painted my small kitchen of godawful 70s cabinets myself for the cost of a $90 can of cabinet enamel and some hours of disassembling, cleaning, and sanding. Nobody is going to think a pro did it, but they look a lot better than they did. Only thing I would change is I wish I would have gotten a spray gun to do them with.
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Sep 29, 2020 04:18
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We also painted all our kitchen cabinets ourselves but I totally understand wanting to just outsource that poo poo. That price may or may not be fair but I'd never pay it because yeesh there are lots of other things on my list I'd rather use that money for. It seems really expensive to me.
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Sep 29, 2020 04:55
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I also found this site which seems better, you can buy a shaker (in this example), already sanded and painted https://www.cabinetdoors.com/products/Shaker_Cabinet_Doors_Finished_Unfinished-67-45.html (in my case, I'd do the high reflective white) actionjackson fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 05:13
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$5000 for all the labor of disassembling, painting and prep, and reassembly of everything doesn't sound unreasonable, it's a lot of work. Our kitchen is about 6x8. It's an open plan MCM on the small side so it depends what you consider kitchen, but that's the footprint of all the kitchen cabinets. We're doing all the work ourselves for the first time and in around 7k for new ikea cabinets, new sink and disposal, HD butcher block countertops, demoing a 2x2 wall & reframing & large tile backsplash/wall. We also bought cabinets to make a sideboard/pantry in our dining room and went with I think the most expensive doors and the most expensive drawers in every cabinet, so it could certainly be done for cheaper.
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Sep 29, 2020 05:41
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BonerGhost posted:Should I call the locator service to make sure I don't hit anything important before I dig a shallow grave for my husband in the back yard? How shallow is are you thinking? You should be good up to 36 inches. Maybe some sprinklers, nbd.
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Sep 29, 2020 07:24
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BonerGhost posted:$5000 for all the labor of disassembling, painting and prep, and reassembly of everything doesn't sound unreasonable, it's a lot of work. The internet seems to think this is within the normal range for an average sized kitchen—it's quite a bit more work to repaint the cabinets (uninstall, disassemble, sand, paint, sand, paint, etc) than to put in new ones. Unless you have really nice cabinets I can't imagine paying that much and not replacing them.
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Sep 29, 2020 13:55
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Painting kitchen cabinets is definitely a massive pain that takes way longer than you would expect. That still might be an "I don't wanna do it" price depending on the size, not sure. I can't imagine spending that much money on it even though it's such a pain to DIY. So I'd probably still end up DIY.
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Sep 29, 2020 14:18
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My current kitchen cabinets were repainted at some point in the past and the paint they used on the doors is failing around the knobs/areas where they are frequently touched. Not sure what the gently caress the PO had on their hands all the time but I’m currently going door by door and giving them a fresh coat. If you do go that route I could advise getting them to use a clear coat of some type like polycrylic.
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Sep 29, 2020 14:25
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Can I just say how annoying it is that we’ve had to do things like replace the furnace and front porch rather than getting to do cool things like pick the updates we want for the kitchen and bathroom. Now renovating a room to the actual finishes we want is financially dumb, but we still have to pay for deferred maintenance stuff. Thanks, flippers. Luv that contractors have stolen ‘starter homes’ or grandma houses from
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Sep 29, 2020 14:53
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BadSamaritan posted:Luv that contractors have stolen ‘starter homes’ or grandma houses from I see this complaint about flippers frequently, but the anger seems misplaced. A flipper will need to build in a healthy profit margin (even after their cheap repairs), so they are typically offering bottom dollar for a house. If someone is willing to invest sweat equity in their own house, and they aren't immediately trying to profit from its sale, they can easily offer more than a flipper would be willing to pay. As an example, a flipper might offer 60% of a house's fixed-up value, in order to invest 20% in fixing it and net a 20% profit. A DIY buyer can outbid the flipper by offering 70-80%, still investing the 20% to fix it, and have a house to live in. Cash offers are appealing, but most sellers aren't going to choose a cash offer over someone with decent, secure financing offering 10-20% more for their house.
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Sep 29, 2020 15:26
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I just wish some company would do smaller-size new construction that wasn't townhomes but gotta max those profits, yo!
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Sep 29, 2020 15:33
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B-Nasty posted:Cash offers are appealing, but most sellers aren't going to choose a cash offer over someone with decent, secure financing offering 10-20% more for their house. (Boston metro area fwiw) We missed out on two houses for cash offers with pretty much exactly this situation. The good condition grandma houses (i.e. update the walls and finishes, maybe reno a kitchen, pull up the wall to wall carpets with good wood flooring underneath) are under brutal cash bid competition here, especially in towns with a decent school district. There are also a lot of flipper newbies that think they’re slick and don’t bake in the margins you’re talking about, leading to more competitive cash bids. People are really hungry for 3br+ properties in a lot of the towns, and prices jump about $100k for stuff that is recently renovated.
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Sep 29, 2020 15:37
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B-Nasty posted:I see this complaint about flippers frequently, but the anger seems misplaced. A flipper will need to build in a healthy profit margin (even after their cheap repairs), so they are typically offering bottom dollar for a house. If someone is willing to invest sweat equity in their own house, and they aren't immediately trying to profit from its sale, they can easily offer more than a flipper would be willing to pay. As an example, a flipper might offer 60% of a house's fixed-up value, in order to invest 20% in fixing it and net a 20% profit. A DIY buyer can outbid the flipper by offering 70-80%, still investing the 20% to fix it, and have a house to live in. A lot of Sellers do. It is crazy how much they would rather have cash now then wait a month or two and get more. The market is nuts right now and a lot of houses in my area are on the market for under 72 hours. It isn’t even like I’m in a good place. I’m talking Detroit and Flint, MI areas. I missed on a house when I was buying a few years ago. The mortgage company even called the seller and told them I was approved for the offer amount when we made the offer. A coworker missed on 3 in the past month and my brother missed on 2 about 3 months ago.
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Sep 29, 2020 16:00
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BadSamaritan posted:(Boston metro area fwiw) We missed out on two houses for cash offers with pretty much exactly this situation. The good condition grandma houses (i.e. update the walls and finishes, maybe reno a kitchen, pull up the wall to wall carpets with good wood flooring underneath) are under brutal cash bid competition here, especially in towns with a decent school district. Be careful what you wish for. You can successfully land the house-with-great-bones-that-just-needs-updating and then spend the next year+ living in a construction zone spending so much money (so much, omg) on poo poo like paint and hinges and baseboard. And right now, if you're not handy, increase your already high fixer upper costs by 2x or 3x since you can't hardly get a contractor to return your calls let alone give you a quote for work. Inventory is/was super low in my location so while I don't regret buying this place, I'm pretty sure wouldn't go the fixer upper route for my next house if I had the choice.
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Sep 29, 2020 16:47
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BadSamaritan posted:There are also a lot of flipper newbies that think they’re slick and don’t bake in the margins you’re talking about, leading to more competitive cash bids. That's definitely a problem I've seen near me. I've watched 4-6 months flips sell after price reductions, where, even if I'm being very generous, the net profit to the flipper after all improvements and carrying costs is less than $20K. Even if you have a few concurrent flips going on, $20K a flip isn't going to turn you into the next real estate mogul. That's a ton of risk and headache for so little money.
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Sep 29, 2020 16:51
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mutata posted:I just wish some company would do smaller-size new construction that wasn't townhomes but gotta max those profits, yo! Before the pandemic I saw flippers buying poo poo up all over the place, but that seems to have gone away. I'm not sure if that's because they've backed off or because the competition has gotten so fierce that putting up signs offering people bottom dollar for their houses doesn't work anymore. I feel lucky I got this place when I did for a price I could afford—I think no one wanted to look at a two story condo with one bathroom (the realtor who listed it did so with both the wrong number of bathrooms and the wrong number of bedrooms).
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Sep 29, 2020 17:09
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Wallet posted:The internet seems to think this is within the normal range for an average sized kitchen—it's quite a bit more work to repaint the cabinets (uninstall, disassemble, sand, paint, sand, paint, etc) than to put in new ones. Unless you have really nice cabinets I can't imagine paying that much and not replacing them. yeah I think I'm just going to order the shaker cabinets and drawer fronts from that cabinetdoors.com site that are already sanded and painted white. Then I can just paint the frame the matching color. It sounds like this place makes cabinets and drawers for a bunch of big box stores, so they are acting as a wholesaler here. I watched one of their videos, they have these giant loving sanders that cost over 100K that go from like 120-150-180-220 (I think) grit
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Sep 29, 2020 17:13
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mutata posted:I just wish some company would do smaller-size new construction that wasn't townhomes but gotta max those profits, yo! You can mostly blame your local government regulations for this. This article (from 2018) details some of the biggest factors: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/7/25/why-are-developers-only-building-luxury-housing I found it interesting that just the median cost to build a SFH was almost $300K, and that's assuming cheap land. I've read the minutes for my local township's approval process for some new-construction developments, and it's crazy: storm-water engineering, arborist consultations, traffic surveys, utility improvements and connection fees, bird-habitat considerations, etc., etc. The days of buying some land and constructing a few reasonably-sized houses is over; death by a thousand government cuts ensures that builders have to go big and dense to profit from economy of scale.
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Sep 29, 2020 17:30
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Depending where you are--the real estate market has gone insane. I'm rural in a market with 60-80 listings and around 30 sales a year. The inventory is down to four homes and realtors are approaching home owners and asking them if they want to sell with insanely high offers. Lots of people are doing un-permitted work. Really easy to fly under the building inspector's radar here. But two great stories have emerged from the onslaught. First one: An out of state builder (we are close to the Virginia border) worked out a deal to do about $90K in renovations with a story to the home owner that they didn't need North Carolina permits because they were Virginia based. Anyhow, the home owner paid down $35K to get the project started. Project went a little over budget but got completed. The builder finished, fixed the punch list items, and asked for the remaining $60K. The homeowner noped right out of paying the $60K and instead told the builder he owed $5K. The builder flipped his lid and sued the homeowner. North Carolina requires all builder doing work over $30K to be licensed. Builder had to pay the $5K to the homeowner and eat the other $60K!! Ouch... Second one: A flipper pulled zero permits to gut a house and remodel. Flipped the house for pretty penny--but did not disclose that all the work was un-permitted. The buyers had everything start falling apart on them. Figured out there were no permits and complained to their Realtor, who handled the deal as a dual agent, representing both the buyer and seller. Realtor responded with something along the lines of that is standard practice in the area. Fleeced buyer recorded the conversation, complained to the Real Estate Commission. Now the real estate firm is responsible for getting the property permitted and the agent involved got a one year suspension and the firm's broker in charge got a six month suspension--meaning not only are they on the hook for $100K+--but can't sell anymore properties until next year. Double ouch!
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Sep 29, 2020 17:32
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actionjackson posted:I also found this site which seems better, you can buy a shaker (in this example), already sanded and painted Painting cabinets tends to be a band-aide until you renovate the entire kitchen. Replacement doors and drawers will give you a much better look and probably come out cheaper than paying someone to paint. New cabinets will cost way more than just new drawers/doors, plus have the cost of a new countertop. But unless you want to change the layout of your kitchen, you probably don't need new cabinets.
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Sep 29, 2020 17:38
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HycoCam posted:Hilarious tales of flippers getting screwed. Amazing, love it when justice is done. I’m in the UK, currently doing a rather protracted renovation of a 120 year old terraced house. I’ve currently got my subfloor up on the ground floor, insulation in, and was waiting on delivery of the ply. Was meant to be here last week, got here today. In hilarious news though, I got a text from my carpenter yesterday with a picture of his hand in bandages, telling me he severed half his thumb. This is the 2nd contractor I’ve had send me such a photo this year.
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Sep 29, 2020 17:45
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