Home Improvement

Xarpolis_sl said:

What sucks is that I replaced the 25 year old HVAC unit 7 years ago with something new and high efficiency, added a water softener, replaced all windows with new vinyl high effeciency, put on a new roof, installed a new deck, replaced the old appliences... everything. And none of that seems to really matter as far as selling a house is concerned. The "buzz words" are definitely crown, granite, renovated... other bullshit. All of the work that I did to my place that made me happy to live there doesn't have as much "wow" factor as a new kitchen counter does. But what can I say, women are fucking stupid.

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It sounds like your realtor might be the stupid one, not women. Do you live in an area where every other comp has fully updated kitchens? Is the market in your area bad for sellers right now? Why are they telling you to install granite? Saying to just do it because it's a buzz word reeks of a realtor who's a bored housewife with no real experience that watches too much HGTV.

You made all these upgrades to your house and now you have to make more to move out into another house that also needs a shitload of work? Ya gotta do what ya gotta do I guess but the whole story sounds like you're making a gigantic financial mistake to me.

The granite counters came in at $1406 with an undermount sink included. Worst case, this other house that I like is off the market, and now my wife and I have new counters.

Regarding the realtor, he's a 40ish year old Contractor, and he's just giving advice on what he would suggest to get top dollar for my house. That's about the extent of it.
We'll be around $2500 out of pocket (total) to replace the counters, a 48" bathroom vanity and a small section of flooring outside of the spare bathroom that the previous owners would never pick up their towns, so it's permanently stained.

As far as moving from 1 fixer to another, the one house that I like doesn't really "need" a lot of fixing. I just have ideas on how to make it better for me and the family. There's a ton of potential in what I'll be able to do to the place to transform it. Specifically adding a bathroom into the walk in basement, redoing the 5 bedrooms by making them into 4. And redoing the kitchen at some point. I look at this house as being the last house I'll ever buy prior to if my wife and I ever decide to retire in Japan. There's a ton of room for growth with this place, and being on an acre of land is outstanding.

The only bad part would be that I would want to put up a cheap fence just to keep our dog and daughter in the back yard. Fortunately, 2 of the neighbors have fences already, so I'll only need to put up a section across the back and 2 small sections across the front, on either side of the house.

Aside from that, this place has a brand new heater (within the last 2 years) and new windows... really it only just needs some modernizing inside. The hardwood floors are worn, but that's not a big issue.

1.) Add fence sections to seal yard.
2.) Buy used zero turn mower
3.) Do lots of landscaping work.

That's about all. It's a pretty good offer, all things considered.

Zehn - Vhex_sl said:

I want to build myself a computer/work desk (anchored to the wall). What kind of wood would you recommend?

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You might like my desk. I made it using 3/4" MDF. It's an L shape, 8 feet by 11 feet. 30 inches deep, but also sits higher than normal desks. That way I don't have to squat my chair all the way to the floor to sit under it.
The finish on this desk is nothing more than a flat black epoxy based enamel wet paint. It needed to get a primer coat first, and that took tons of paint because the wood kept drinking in the primer. After 8 years of ownership, the black is starting to wear off in sections, mainly from being banged into by my chairs. I could get it repainted easy enough.


I have pictures of it, as well as the drawings that I made in order to have the local cabinet guy cut it out for me. It was around $350 in wood. I got the paint job for free through my work, but you could have a shop do it for around $200 range. I'll look for my building plans.

EDIT: I found some of the plans, but I used to have a drawing that showed every piece of wood that I needed to be made. Oh well, here's the drawing I found. I'll take a picture of the Desk when I get home tonight.

Had a guy out to look at a retaining wall today. He's the father-in-law of a guy I trust. Not a friend exactly, but someone I know well enough to believe he's shooting straight. Anyway, while there he told me he offered me two new garage doors installed for $1400. Now, I do have dry rot on my garage doors. They're in need of replacement. Is that price reasonable? I honestly don't know.

That's really good. Typically you're around $900 each.

Depends on the actual door. Insulated or not?

Didn't know that was a thing. I'll find out.

They make garage doors out of different materials. The "best" in my opinion are fiberglass with foam insulation. They help keep your garage warmer than conventional wood doors (not to mention 80% lighter) and are infinitely better at keeping in the warmth than metal doors. Metal doors are a waste of time unless you only want a garage to block snow and rain without using it to store things.

That's what's on the house I'm looking at now. It doesn't even have a garage door opener... just hand open. Fuck that shit. If I get the place, those are getting replaced with nice insulated fiberglass, and I'm installing openers.

You can come back and insulate a metal door. I can't say if that's better or worse than a fiberglass door with insulation already installed.

Deathwing_sl said:

Is there such a product for killing mold and mildew that you're not sure where it's coming from? I know it's there, I can smell it, I just can't pinpoint where. There's lots of false positives, this room has moisture problems so there are stains from previous growths that I have sprayed with bleach and I'm certain are not growing.

I'm looking for something akin to fumigation, I guess. I would ideally like to identify the source, but barring that, I would at least like to be able to kill it.

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Bleach is not the best choice. I was listening to a fix-it guy radio station and several callers called in with testimonials for this stuff.

Wet & Forget

I've never tried it.

That's just one of those things I'd say fuck it and call in a professional. This coming from a guy who is comfortable doing live circuit electrical work...

Deathwing_sl said:

Is there such a product for killing mold and mildew that you're not sure where it's coming from? I know it's there, I can smell it, I just can't pinpoint where. There's lots of false positives, this room has moisture problems so there are stains from previous growths that I have sprayed with bleach and I'm certain are not growing.

I'm looking for something akin to fumigation, I guess. I would ideally like to identify the source, but barring that, I would at least like to be able to kill it.

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Yes but if you can't stop the water seeping in then it will just grow back regardless of what you do. Bleach and water works fine and so does concrobium. Mold remediation is very expensive for the work they do. You must stop the moisture though to stop the mold from coming back.

There lots of products you can use to kill mold. As mentioned above Concrobium is good, Sporicidin, lots of others. We use a sanitizer called Sani-10. I have been using it since I started working for my company and I have never failed a mold job yet. As others have said you need to find the source of the leak, which will mean opening drywall/plaster and following it till you find out what's going on. You could put in a claim but you run the risk of the insurance denying the claim because it's pre-existing. That and your policy might have limited coverage, average is usually $2500, which doesn't go a long way with mold. Mold work is expensive because of the liability involved with it. That is why major precautions such as plastic barriers and negative air machines are used. Some people are extremely sensitive while others shrug it off. The fact that it can and does make people sick is why we do what we do and why it is expensive to remediate.

Insurance won't pay unless you can point to sudden damage that allowed the mold to grow. Missing roof shingles from a recent storm as an example. If it's slow process or defect that is maintenance and not covered.

Mold is one of the more expensive and overhyped problems you can have. Find the source of the moisture, eliminate it, kill the mold and keep the moisture away in the future.