My Remodel Thread

[mstng86]

I had thought about stone or brick and I kept coming back to two problems.

1. With the house being circa 1996, I would have to try and match the brick for it to integrate into the look of the house. Stone is VERY easy for me to come by with left overs, however, with there being no stone on the house what so ever, it would again, look out of place.

2. There just isn't enough room there. Without pouring additional concrete, there isn't enough concrete on the outside edges to support the stone, that and we would lose 6-8" minimum on the inside of the pole and the walk way is ~24" (just a bit wider than the large IESI/Progressive trash cans)

We are planning stone flower beds, however, I still don't feel that is enough to tie in a stone column. Jenn wants a decorative post, however, I don't think we can get one big enough to support that corner. There is a 4x6 post there now that has some splitting and a slight bow in it. I think cedar will look the least out of place with the right stain.

The other option is to use some dimensional lumber and wrap it in siding then trim it and paint it.

Well I want to stone our entry way. I know who to go to now.

[black2002ls]

All I can say is after doing a partial remodel on a house I was actively living is fuck that. Everything was always dusty, dirty or in the way. If you aren't hard pressed to be in by the end of the month I would stretch it out and the pocket book to fit in as much as humanly possible.

Unfortunately we can't manage rent and a house payment. So the sooner we are in the better. The majority of the big stuff will be done before we move in. I wish we had the budget to do it all now, but we don't. We would love to pull the fiberglass showers and add tub/tile, replace exterior doors, and change all plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, and hardware.

There will be more items in the next 12-18 months we take care of. I want to do granite in the kitchen and new marble tops in the bathrooms. I am hoping my vendors can hook up employer pricing on those. As small as the tops are in all areas, it shouldn't be too bad.

The rest is outside, fence work, yard work, fixing the grade, etc.

Anywho, I am just rambling now.

[mustang1200]

All I can say is after doing a partial remodel on a house I was actively living is fuck that. Everything was always dusty, dirty or in the way. If you aren't hard pressed to be in by the end of the month I would stretch it out and the pocket book to fit in as much as humanly possible.

[black2002ls]

Russell, I was literally leaving work at 430p, driving to the house, working on whatever we were doing (with a dinner break) until 10-11pm, going back to my apartment, showering, up at 6am and repeating that process for 2 weeks straight. In that time frame I worked around the guys who stained my concrete floors (thanks ACID/Jeff!) and we removed the popcorn from half the house, removed 3 layers of wall paper (yes the lazy asses wallpapered over wallpaper over wallpaper) from kitchen/breakfast/dining/office, re-textured all walls and ceilings, re-painted, replaced all outlets and light fixtures, installed half a dozen ceiling fans, cut and installed new wood blinds, etc etc etc. My point is (besides having home improvement nightmares for weeks afterwards LOL!) that even though it sucked, it was nice to get it done and be done with it.

We are doing the same! We aren't bothered by the popcorn really, so it is a non issue. Is it a little careless to update all of the other stuff and not retexture the ceiling? Sure. But to us, it isn't really bothersome. We aen't working quite that late, I am up at 5 and off to work and dont leave until 5 or 6, quick dinner, and work until 9-10P.

I got to looking and ALL of the closet shelves are warped, so I am replacing those now too.

[DON SVO]

Thanks for all of the input. We are pushing to be in by memorial day, and we have already hit a snag with the linoleum in the kitchen. I was hoping to have all of the demo complete tonight, however, with just two of us there was no way. We got all of the carpet and padding pulled up and hauled off tonight. Tomorrow hopefully we can pull all of the tack strip and remove the tile from the bathrooms. That will put us laying tile Thursday. I plan to lay the entry and the master bath, that way we maintain access through a front door and a bathroom to use. The toilet in the master needs re-set, that is the reason I am starting there.

Hopefully my carpet installers can schedule me for next Thursday or Friday, and we can have the laminate down and all of the trim done by then.

Russell, I was literally leaving work at 430p, driving to the house, working on whatever we were doing (with a dinner break) until 10-11pm, going back to my apartment, showering, up at 6am and repeating that process for 2 weeks straight. In that time frame I worked around the guys who stained my concrete floors (thanks ACID/Jeff!) and we removed the popcorn from half the house, removed 3 layers of wall paper (yes the lazy asses wallpapered over wallpaper over wallpaper) from kitchen/breakfast/dining/office, re-textured all walls and ceilings, re-painted, replaced all outlets and light fixtures, installed half a dozen ceiling fans, cut and installed new wood blinds, etc etc etc. My point is (besides having home improvement nightmares for weeks afterwards LOL!) that even though it sucked, it was nice to get it done and be done with it.

[black2002ls]

Thanks for all of the input. We are pushing to be in by memorial day, and we have already hit a snag with the linoleum in the kitchen. I was hoping to have all of the demo complete tonight, however, with just two of us there was no way. We got all of the carpet and padding pulled up and hauled off tonight. Tomorrow hopefully we can pull all of the tack strip and remove the tile from the bathrooms. That will put us laying tile Thursday. I plan to lay the entry and the master bath, that way we maintain access through a front door and a bathroom to use. The toilet in the master needs re-set, that is the reason I am starting there.

Hopefully my carpet installers can schedule me for next Thursday or Friday, and we can have the laminate down and all of the trim done by then.

[bcoop]

I'll second the popcorn. It's easy as hell to get off, just makes a big mess. And it looks soooooo much better when textured. The only place I've got popcorn left is in my master bedroom, and that's only because I haven't started remodeling in there yet. Probably the most simple thing I've done on the house. Texturing the ceiling wasn't a big deal at all since we were already doing the walls. We sprayed both ceilings and walls with a simple orange peel. Nothing fancy, no work involved really.

[black2002ls]

Well, it was a white guy, but he was about $800 less than all the other quotes. And I needed a lot of gutters.


Op, on the exterior pole, what about some Austin stone or maybe brick to cover it up. Don't know if there is room in that space from the pics.

I had thought about stone or brick and I kept coming back to two problems.

1. With the house being circa 1996, I would have to try and match the brick for it to integrate into the look of the house. Stone is VERY easy for me to come by with left overs, however, with there being no stone on the house what so ever, it would again, look out of place.

2. There just isn't enough room there. Without pouring additional concrete, there isn't enough concrete on the outside edges to support the stone, that and we would lose 6-8" minimum on the inside of the pole and the walk way is ~24" (just a bit wider than the large IESI/Progressive trash cans)

We are planning stone flower beds, however, I still don't feel that is enough to tie in a stone column. Jenn wants a decorative post, however, I don't think we can get one big enough to support that corner. There is a 4x6 post there now that has some splitting and a slight bow in it. I think cedar will look the least out of place with the right stain.

The other option is to use some dimensional lumber and wrap it in siding then trim it and paint it.

Understandable... Popcorn is MCM.

I hadn't even pinpointed I liked MCM until about 3 years ago. Then I moved into an apartment without popcorn ceilings.

[mstng86]

were they mexican? did they barely speak english? If so, send me their info.


I wont give a white man my money when it comes to home repairs

Well, it was a white guy, but he was about $800 less than all the other quotes. And I needed a lot of gutters.


Op, on the exterior pole, what about some Austin stone or maybe brick to cover it up. Don't know if there is room in that space from the pics.

[DON SVO]

It hasn't bothered me in any of the places I've ever lived.

Understandable... Popcorn is MCM.

It will... and by that point you'll have new carpet and furniture.

I've removed 2/3rds of our popcorn at this point.

It hasn't bothered me in any of the places I've ever lived.

[DON SVO]

No. We didnt want to mess with that nightmare. Scraping the popcorn would mean re texturing the ceilling. It doesnt bother us that bad

It will... and by that point you'll have new carpet and furniture.

I've removed 2/3rds of our popcorn at this point.

[black2002ls]

Did you go ahead and knock out any ceiling popcorn? With the shit carpet in there, now is the best time to do it.

No. We didnt want to mess with that nightmare. Scraping the popcorn would mean re texturing the ceilling. It doesnt bother us that bad

[DON SVO]

Did you go ahead and knock out any ceiling popcorn? With the shit carpet in there, now is the best time to do it.