The "Official" The HCP Home Remodel Thread....

[THE HCP]

Just refinanced the house and am about to start budgeting and getting bids to do a ton of remodeling on our place. Thought I'd make this thread so I can ask you guys for your opinions and help if needed from time to time.
House is a craftsman built in 1920....... 2000 square feet. 3 bedrooms/1 bath. Moved in here in 2006 and are finally ready to afford to do some work. We are wanting to do a bunch of projects around here and The HCP is absolutely useless when it comes to home improvement. Would rather work real hard and make the money to pay somebody that knows what they are doing do the work.
Probably the last things done to this house were back in the 70s......so you can imagine how much needs to be done.

We are going to do the following
-Roof/ Add dormers upstairs
-Gutters
-Paint
-Windows
-New Furnace/AC
-Rewire whole house
-New plumbing whole house
-Finish basement/add bath
-Remodel upstairs bath
-Remodel Kitchen
-Porch is sagging, so will need to fix that as well.
I have a friend who is a general contractor and is giving me all his contacts that work for him on projects.
Really looking forward to getting people to come in and start giving bids.

I realize you can spend $100,000 on just a kitchen or $50,000 on a TV room, but we don't have it like that. Going to try and budget this out the right way. Want to do it nice, but try not to over do it.
Thought about just selling this one and getting another one with all the work all done here in the same hood, but we wouldn't be able to afford a house in our area now if we wanted to. Prices are just out of this world. So we decided to put money back in this one and see how it turns out.
If you look at RMLS to see what houses for sale in our school district are going for, the four LOWEST houses are at $610,000/$800,000/$930,000 and $1.25M .

http://www.rmls.com/rc2/engine/repo...AL&PRPT=1&RPP=5&ST_ID=ALL&P=1&NO=0&T=0.266247

Our house isn't in this ballpark now because of there being so much needing to be done. That said, we believe if we do this right, we will add a bunch of value to our place. If anybody on here on experts in this field or have any recommendations where we will get the most bang for our buck, feel free to holler!!

About to watch me some HGTV FAMS!

 

[riverman]

My place is old ...1942..put your money in the plumbing and wiring first and shore up any sagging foundation...I want to open up my downstairs and eliminate some walls

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Add an extra room or increase the square footage of the house.

 

[riverman]

Add an extra room or increase the square footage of the house.

Adding a bathroom is the real booster

 

[THE HCP]

Ya, our plan is to do a new bathroom in one of the upstairs dormers, add that 1/2 bath in the basement remodel and redo the main floor bath.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Cash out now and move to Tualatin

 

[THE HCP]

My place is old ...1942..put your money in the plumbing and wiring first and shore up any sagging foundation...I want to open up my downstairs and eliminate some walls

Just frustrating that we could probably spend $20,000 on that type of stuff and not really see any changes.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Ya, our plan is to do a new bathroom in one of the upstairs dormers, add that 1/2 bath in the basement remodel and redo the main floor bath.

Can you knock a wall down and increase the living area into the side or back yard?

 

[THE HCP]

Cash out now and move to Tualatin

You kidding me dog. I joked with my wife and said that and she was pissed. But we really could move into a McMansion out there for way less then what my house is worth. Couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have brand new everything. The main drawback of loving old houses I guess.

 

[THE HCP]

Can you knock a wall down and increase the living area into the side or back yard?

Considered that. Our breakfast room and a back bedroom lead to the back yard.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

You kidding me dog. I joked with my wife and said that and she was pissed. But we really could move into a McMansion out there for way less then what my house is worth. Couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have brand new everything. The main drawback of loving old houses I guess.

I actually would try to live where you are if I had to move back to Portland. Well, after the Pearl with the rest of the California douche bags.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Considered that. Our breakfast room and a back bedroom lead to the back yard.

Probably the best way to increase the value of your house if you were gonna sell down the line.

 

[THE HCP]

Tough thing is within 8 blocks of my house is Alameda Brewery, Fire on the Mountain, Pips, Amalfi's, Stanich's, Grand Central Bakery.......couple nice coffee shops, 20+ restaurants, art galleries and book stores. Just love the culture too much to move out to the subs.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Tough thing is within 8 blocks of my house is Alameda Brewery, Fire on the Mountain, Pips, Amalfi's, Stanich's, Grand Central Bakery.......couple nice coffee shops, 20+ restaurants, art galleries and book stores. Just love the culture too much to move out to the subs.

WHERE IS THE NEAREST COSTCO, BRO?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Sounds like your basic electrical fire should get things started and the additional insurance money will keep you on budget.

 

[MarAzul]

Tough thing is within 8 blocks of my house is Alameda Brewery, Fire on the Mountain, Pips, Amalfi's, Stanich's, Grand Central Bakery.......couple nice coffee shops, 20+ restaurants, art galleries and book stores. Just love the culture too much to move out to the subs.

Trader Joe's near by?

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

The hot thing in California is tear it down and replace with a modular prefabricated box that eats up your entire yard. Then add a gentrification fence and some minimalistic house numbering.

http://laist.com/2016/05/04/wooden_slat_fences.php

 

[THE HCP]

WHERE IS THE NEAREST COSTCO, BRO?

Ha! Probably the one out on 130th and Sandy or wherever!

 

[THE HCP]

Sounds like your basic electrical fire should get things started and the additional insurance money will keep you on budget.

You joke, but we recently had an outlet get super hot while charging an iPad!

 

[THE HCP]

Trader Joe's near by?

Yes sir, bottom of the hill. 15 min walk or 2 min car ride.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

You joke, but we recently had an outlet get super hot while charging an iPad!

Yeah, joking. Ha Ha.

 

[MarAzul]

Yes sir, bottom of the hill. 15 min walk or 2 min car ride.

Well fix er up then.

 

[tlongII]

Move to Beaverton. NEP is ghetto.

 

[oldfisherman]

With so much to do, no right or wrong answers here, other than what Mrs. HCP may want done first.

I would breakup the list into two categories, inside and outside. For a house that has been neglected this long; I would start with the outside.

Roof does not have much life left
Windows, if double pane are probably the old aluminum style, which was a stupid idea because aluminum conducts heat and cold, it is not an insulator. You can reduce your electric bills with good vinyl windows.
Porch, maybe a safety issue soon?
Paint

Doing the outside first will make your neighbors happy, plus it should raise the value of your house.


I am not usually up this late, but had a water valve mysteriously break (not frozen, I think the dogs broke it while playing rough, it is low on a wall). Easy fix, I had a spare valve. The hardest part was shutting off the main line valve that has not moved in years. Not what I like to be doing at midnight.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

First time a hispanic cant do construction in history?

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

First time a hispanic cant do construction in history?

Not even close, just the first time a Hispanic WON'T do construction.

 

[Orion Bailey]

@HCP
I need some similiar work done on my houis.e Like the Plumbing. Would love a referral if you like the work your guy does.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

You joke, but we recently had an outlet get super hot while charging an iPad!

Talk to your wife, I can do either a flat fee or a percentage of the insurance money.

Make sure that giant SHOE collection of yours is insured.

...

Btw, if you don't have your own office in the house you should include that in with the basement remodel. Gives you additional tax deductions.

...

1920 Craftsman, this is the perfect time to secure the house to the foundation if it hasn't been done already.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

HCP, your kitchen is almost identical to ours, right down to the tiles and tile edging.

 

[BlazerWookee]

Maybe install some extra bench seats and a couple of small televisions to make time in the Mrs. HCP line a little more comfortable...