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

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When I was a kid I had a friend who lived in a house that was unfinished in the interior. I think they'd built it themselves and just given up. So it was bare studs everywhere. Only the bathroom had some walls around it, all the other interior walls were see-thru. And no insulation on the exterior walls. Everyone slept in sleeping bags.

Big family, like 6 or 7 kids - probably couldn't afford to fix it up. I was too young to appreciate that at the time, but I was old enough to appreciate the occasional glimpse of his sister less than fully dressed through the 'walls'.

I'm sure this story helps HCP in some way, that's why I'm offering it.

barfo
 
SlyPokerDog said:
Also you travel a fuck of a lot. That makes things much harder. Your wife, being the good woman that she is, will tell you that she will handle everything. No, you need to be the one who handles things. You need to be the one tells the different tradesmen what you want or if what they have done is no good. That last thing you want is to get a call from your wife in tears because someone isn't doing what you hired them to do or they did it wrong and you're stuck in game 1 of a 5 game road trip. Don't make your wife have to be the bad cop with the workers. That's your job. You might have to take a month off this summer and skip a golf tourney. Trust me, happy home, happy wife = happy life.
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Think, plan, think and plan some more. There will be times when you can't be fun dad, or cool dad, you're going to have to be man of the house.

Here's an example:

You have a one bathroom house. One. That's it. You're wife says, "Honey, lets remodel the bathroom first. I already know who we should hire." You're tired from working late and just agree with her.

So Bob the contractor rips out the only working bathroom you have in your house. For the next month your family is going to be sharing a portapotty with the contractor and his crew that has been set up on the street in front of your house. One of the workers will take out a sharpie marker and draw a picture of your wife's boobs on the wall of the portapotty. You'll be out there in the dark huddled over your iphone trying to pinch a loaf and suddenly some drunk 20 somethings from one of those really cool bars in your really cool neighborhood decide it would be funny to tip the portapotty over. And I haven't even mentioned the no working shower part.

Also you have to be honest with yourself. No matter what they claim or how cool they look, YOU ARE NOT A LOW FLOW TOILET KINDA GUY. Big dudes make big turds. Keep your old toilet. Have it rebuilt.

Anyway, by thinking and planning you decide to have the 2nd bathroom installed in the master bedroom before doing anything to the original bathroom. Cool. That should solve the problem right? Except that means no sleeping in. You think, I'll just go sleep in my son's room, he'll let me, I'm cool dad. Remember how you would jack it 6 times a day in your bedroom when you were a teenager? Now with internet porn your son being a healthy normal teenager is doing it twice that. He don't want you in his fucking room. So now you have a skulking teenager in the house. Naturally he decides to pick on his sister. They fight. Your wife is upset. And you're just trying to get some sleep because the Blazers couldn't beat the fucking Pistons in two overtimes last night.
 
Fever posting about home remodeling is fun!
 
HCP said:
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!

View attachment 11761

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Also look into an addition instead of a remodel. Lots of websites dedicated to additions to Craftsmen era homes. An addition could mean bigger master bedroom. Master bath inside master bedroom. Bigger kitchen. Bigger living room. Family room. Basement sex dungeon.

And in that neighborhood you'll always get the money out of the house when it's time to sell.

http://www.houzz.com/craftsman-addition

http://www.houzz.com/craftsman-bungalow-addition

 
If you go the Sly...one room at a time....you better have great contractors or you'll get fleeced...they'll demo the same wall for every new line they run to the fuse box....sure....dry wall patch and paint everytime...if you want to remodel.....put your money in rewiring ...panel box and grounded wiring. Plumbing....same thing..get it done right once. once you swap out your electrical harness in your walls you'll see any dry rot or damage....DON'T upgrade your AC/Heater without safe wiring first. Sly is right about additions though....my neighbor had a bedroom added to his downstairs ....small addition...whole room including finish and painting only ran him 8k with a contractor out of Junction City...if a contractor can start the job immediately.....it's sometimes a flag. Sometimes you can get contractors from the rural communities cheaper than city based contractors as well.
 
riverman said:
If you go the Sly...one room at a time....you better have great contractors or you'll get fleeced...they'll demo the same wall for every new line they run to the fuse box....sure....dry wall patch and paint everytime...if you want to remodel.....put your money in rewiring ...panel box and grounded wiring. Plumbing....same thing..get it done right once. once you swap out your electrical harness in your walls you'll see any dry rot or damage....DON'T upgrade your AC/Heater without safe wiring first. Sly is right about additions though....my neighbor had a bedroom added to his downstairs ....small addition...whole room including finish and painting only ran him 8k with a contractor out of Junction City...if a contractor can start the job immediately.....it's sometimes a flag.
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You don't have to demo a wall to replace wiring in a room you're remolding. Especially in a house with a basement. You don't even have to remove the old wiring. Leave it in the fucking wall. No one will see it or care.

Why hire a contractor to put in a new breaker box? Just hire an electrician.

A new breaker box with the existing home wiring installed to it is much safer than what he has now.

So you're telling him to have contractors cut into lathe and plaster walls and replace it with dry wall patch? Really?

And when he did install a new furnace and AC unit he wouldn't use the existing wiring. They would run new wiring to the new breaker box that had already been installed. You're actually telling him to rewire the old furnace with new wiring and then rewire the new furnace again when it's installed.

Also you're home most of the year. HCP fucking travels half the year. You're talking 6+ months of continuous remodeling with him not being there for 3 mos of it. Wife, son and daughter at home with different men in the house all the time. That doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense for the safety of his family.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
You don't have to demo a wall to replace wiring in a room you're remolding. Especially in a house with a basement. You don't even have to remove the old wiring. Leave it in the fucking wall. No one will see it or care.

Why hire a contractor to put in a new breaker box? Just hire an electrician.

A new breaker box with the existing home wiring installed to it is much safer than what he has now.

So you're telling him to have contractors cut into lathe and plaster walls and replace it with dry wall patch? Really?

And when he did install a new furnace and AC unit he wouldn't use the existing wiring. They would run new wiring to the new breaker box that had already been installed. You're actually telling him to rewire the old furnace with new wiring and then rewire the new furnace again when it's installed.

Also you're home most of the year. HCP fucking travels half the year. You're talking 6+ months of continuous remodeling with him not being there for 3 mos of it. Wife, son and daughter at home with different men in the house all the time. That doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense for the safety of his family.
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It's no different than when the Zeros are rotating in and out....
 
Wait does HCP have knob and tube wiring? If he gets rid of it the only thing original to the house could be that a knob still lives there.
 
My house has a sprinkler system. Hope it works, don't really wanna try it out though.
 
bodyman5000 and 1 said:
My house has a sprinkler system. Hope it works, don't really wanna try it out though.
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You should get that inspected and tested every 5-7 years. There have even been some major recalls on the sprinkler heads because they rust/rot and will suddenly go off.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
You don't have to demo a wall to replace wiring in a room you're remolding
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I don't think we're thinking along the same lines here...if I'm spending big money on my house....sure, your can leave it in...depends on what lights and fixtures you want to keep....I can plaster and paint myself...different....I just say if you're remodeling....put in new stuff...and I think of an electrician as a contractor...he can't do that work without being bonded I don't think..I'll give you one example....I recently had a burst pipe...once I opened up the wall discovered some serious dry rot ......replaced about 4 ft of wall studs and plates top and bottom.....glad I found it. It was a bearing wall....I framed it in myself so that's not an issue.
 
riverman said:
I don't think we're thinking along the same lines here...if I'm spending big money on my house....sure, your can leave it in...depends on what lights and fixtures you want to keep....I can plaster and paint myself...different....I just say if you're remodeling....put in new stuff...and I think of an electrician as a contractor...he can't do that work without being bonded I don't think
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I'm not saying not to replace the electrical. After the new breaker box is in then you replace the wiring as you remodel each room. In these old houses many of the walls share wiring so if you're fishtaping the one room you have easy access to replace the wiring in the adjacent room.

I mean, sure, the perfect scenario is to move into a condo for a year and gut the inside of the entire house. But I don't think HCP has that kinda money.

HCP doesn't sound like a plaster and paint kinda guy. There's a thread on here from years ago asking how to install a fucking basketball hoop on his street.

A contractor is very different than a plumber or electrician.
 
And this isn't meant as an insult but HCP doesn't even know how to paint the exterior and interior of his own house. He's a contractor's wet dream.
 
Damn I wish I knew how to do stuff around the house. Sure would make it easier.
 
HCP said:
Damn I wish I knew how to do stuff around the house. Sure would make it easier.
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you can learn....youtube....seriously not that hard to learn how to patch drywall or paint a wall.
 
HCP said:
Damn I wish I knew how to do stuff around the house. Sure would make it easier.
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You're fine. Just pick one project at a time. I sure as hell wouldn't give anyone that list of things you want done.

How old is your roof? Can you shingle over the existing roof or do you need a complete tear off? You need to have a friend tell you that if you don't know before you get bids.

When was the last time the exterior of your house was painted? Is that paint flaking off now? Find a place where you can see multiple layers/colors of old paint. Pick off a flake of paint at each layer and taste it to see if it tastes like butterscotch.
 
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SlyPokerDog said:
You're fine. Just pick one project at a time. I sure as hell wouldn't give anyone that list of things you want done.

How old is your roof? Can you shingle over the existing roof or do you need a complete tear off? You need to have a friend tell you that if you don't know before you get bids.

When was the last time the exterior of your house was painted? Is that paint flaking off now? Find a place where you can see multiple layers/colors of old paint. Pick off a flake of paint at each layer and taste it to see if it tastes like butterscotch.
Click to expand...

Shingle, not single.

And don't eat old paint chips. That would be bad.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
You're fine. Just pick one project at a time. I sure as hell wouldn't give anyone that list of things you want done.

How old is your roof? Can you shingle over the existing roof or do you need a complete tear off? You need to have a friend tell you that if you don't know before you get bids.

When was the last time the exterior of your house was painted? Is that paint flaking off now? Find a place where you can see multiple layers/colors of old paint. Pick off a flake of paint at each layer and taste it to see if it tastes like butterscotch.
Click to expand...
Need a complete tear off. That's why my father in law who's and architect thinks thats the perfect time to do the dormers. Hasn't been painted in 15 years. Before we moved in, and it's in bad shape.
 
Fuck a house yo. Once the kids move out buy a black turtleneck and get a sick penthouse in the Pearl and spend most of your your time lounging in Spain wearing shorts and no underwear. Who wants the fucking hassle
 
HCP said:
Need a complete tear off. That's why my father in law who's and architect thinks thats the perfect time to do the dormers. Hasn't been painted in 15 years. Before we moved in, and it's in bad shape.
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Sell it, you'll dump lots of money into what is basic maintenance. Will not increase the value of your house. Ride the overly hot market and fuck over some Californians wanting the "Portland experience"
 
HCP said:
Need a complete tear off. That's why my father in law who's and architect thinks thats the perfect time to do the dormers. Hasn't been painted in 15 years. Before we moved in, and it's in bad shape.
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If you only got all of that done this summer that would be a major accomplishment. Protects started and completed. You'll learn a lot and then in the fall or next year you can move on to other things on the list.
 
HCP said:
Hasn't been painted in 15 years. Before we moved in, and it's in bad shape.
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You need the old paint scraped off, damage/rot patched and then primered. Then you need two coats of paint rolled and brushed on. Not sprayed. Read the bids you get carefully. The lowest bid is not what you want.
 
@riverman is going to tell you to mix patchouli oil and sage into your paint. Don't listen to that old hippy.
 
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