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Kobayashi

Kobayashi

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Falstaff said:
His big is your bathroom? Last summer we paid about 22k, 12k was labor and demo the other 10k was tile, vanity, plumbing, paint, hardware, toilet, whatever else.
Click to expand...
Not particularly large, it's about 9x10. 50k seemed high to me as well.

Did you go with a big company that pulled permits or more the handyman route? So far, both of these were big companies that didn't sub anything out.
 
Falstaff

Falstaff

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No permits, small outfit of 3 guys that have done work for us in the past, did stuff for my parents and other family friends so we knew they were reliable.
 
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Daidraco

Daidraco

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Long story short, there is no way we can tell in such a short summary what the you're putting in your bathroom. Let me exaggerate for you:
We dont know if you're doing fancy shit like electronic faucet controls with a 4 valve setup, so you can have multiple shower heads. Or a walk in shower with a bath tub, or just a bath tub, or just walk in. IF you're going with the 4 valve setup, you're going to have to run additional water lines, or outright replace the main water lines to the bathroom with a larger diameter. (Or, if you and your wife are using the walk in shower and bath tub and want to have adequate pressure.) If you're doing an electronic temperature gauge, and controls (like the Moen shit) - then we're going to need to get the box and all the shit that goes along with that since we're also working with electricity AND water. Or two shitters, or one shitter and a bidet. We cant forget that the bathroom thats there probably only has plumbing for one sewage line at the toilet, so that needs to be accounted for too if we're doing a second one or a bidet. Are we doing basic Formica counters, or granite counters, or marble? Then, where that stone is sourced if we're doing something nice. Never mind the tile on the walls and floors. Or if we're electing to go with the more durable, newer, longer lasting, leak barrier materials .. or are we doing the basic tried and true classic methods? Then, the cabinets.. are you doing cabinets? Or are you free floating sinks with cabinet mirrors? If you're doing cabinets, do you care that theyre prefab or are you looking at custom cabinets? Speaking of mirrors, are we doing room sized mirrors or are you doing regular sink mirrors? Are you getting the fancy mirrors with the anti-fog BS and the temperature gauge and back lighting in them? etc. etc.
Hell, we havent even talked about the labor for any of that shit and we're already approaching 50k on materials at the high end. On the low end, as if I was talking to a landlord that needed a full reno on a bathroom - we could get the whole thing done for a 3-5 grand by basically just shopping for all the prefab, drop in > screw in > glue in, shit. The range is huge, so dropping just numbers and basic information doesnt help us help you very much.
 
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Kobayashi

Kobayashi

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779
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Daidraco said:
Long story short, there is no way we can tell in such a short summary what the you're putting in your bathroom. Let me exaggerate for you:
We dont know if you're doing fancy shit like electronic faucet controls with a 4 valve setup, so you can have multiple shower heads. Or a walk in shower with a bath tub, or just a bath tub, or just walk in. IF you're going with the 4 valve setup, you're going to have to run additional water lines, or outright replace the main water lines to the bathroom with a larger diameter. (Or, if you and your wife are using the walk in shower and bath tub and want to have adequate pressure.) If you're doing an electronic temperature gauge, and controls (like the Moen shit) - then we're going to need to get the box and all the shit that goes along with that since we're also working with electricity AND water. Or two shitters, or one shitter and a bidet. We cant forget that the bathroom thats there probably only has plumbing for one sewage line at the toilet, so that needs to be accounted for too if we're doing a second one or a bidet. Are we doing basic Formica counters, or granite counters, or marble? Then, where that stone is sourced if we're doing something nice. Never mind the tile on the walls and floors. Or if we're electing to go with the more durable, newer, longer lasting, leak barrier materials .. or are we doing the basic tried and true classic methods? Then, the cabinets.. are you doing cabinets? Or are you free floating sinks with cabinet mirrors? If you're doing cabinets, do you care that theyre prefab or are you looking at custom cabinets? Speaking of mirrors, are we doing room sized mirrors or are you doing regular sink mirrors? Are you getting the fancy mirrors with the anti-fog BS and the temperature gauge and back lighting in them? etc. etc.
Hell, we havent even talked about the labor for any of that shit and we're already approaching 50k on materials at the high end. On the low end, as if I was talking to a landlord that needed a full reno on a bathroom - we could get the whole thing done for a 3-5 grand by basically just shopping for all the prefab, drop in > screw in > glue in, shit. The range is huge, so dropping just numbers and basic information doesnt help us help you very much.
Click to expand...
Fair point, current bathroom is a jacuzzi tub, toilet, and cabinet with his/hers sinks. All pretty low grade, builder level stuff.

Plan is to remove the jacuzzi and replace with a shower - plan is basic single head, but I'm curious if any of that new stuff is worth it (rain head, body jets, etc). Replace the toilet with a japanese super toilet (toto washlet+, not their highest end line - integrated bidet, heated seat, all bells/whistles). Replace cabinets in the same space as well as sinks - nothing too fancy, probably quartz countertops and a basic sink.

Honestly, that amount of detail in this post probably doesn't even help that much. I put it out there in case it struck people as completely absurd. Mostly I was curious about materials and whether it was worth looking at some of the prefab stuff or other avenues. I really just want something that is going to be durable, easy to clean, and isn't going to feel excessively cheap.
 
Kajiimagi

Kajiimagi

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FWIW: when we renovated our master bath, I went with one of the 'wall mount shower head super deals' actually found it;

www.homedepot.com

AKDY 65 in. 8-Jet Rainfall Shower Panel System with Rainfall Waterfall Shower Head and Shower Wand in Stainless Steel SP0111 - The Home Depot

Utilitarian by design and ultra-durable, our large 65 in. stainless steel shower is fit for a king. 8-high-powered body spray jets provide a relaxing and soothing shower with the added convenience of being angle adjustable. A wide overhead shower does double duty as a rainfall and waterfall...
www.homedepot.com

I can say without a doubt that a simple shower head with a good upper grade multi type sprayer does the exact same thing for a fraction of the price. I rarely use anything except the rain shower top and when I do it's the sprayer to clean the shower pan when I shave.

My deal was nothing like yours so my costs would mean nothing.
 
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Noodleface

Noodleface

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Just some more drama.

1000006652.png

So they did show up Sunday. We were out of town. We returned, they saw us and IMMEDIATELY left. They did clean up all the trash.... And all the leftover materials I was going to use to finish the shit they didn't.

This company SUCKS.

See you in court.
 
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Haus

Haus

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I am a Ryobi house. Started when I needed to help an (at the time, circa 1997-ish) girlfriend build something in her dorm room and hadn't brought tools with me, and just snowballed. That was my version of the sorting hat.

1730780511203.png


With that said, I have somewhere around a dozen of the 18v tools, 8-10 or so batteries. I also have three 40V batteries for two of those tools (mower and string trimmer). The only tool failure I've had (kinda) was the 6 port charger that died and I had to replace. I called them when it died and they admitted the part number for it was so old (it was over 8 years old at the time) that they didn't even have documentation on how to troubleshoot one.... I did retire some tools when I switched over to the 18v (at one point they weren't 18v) So I'll give the line a thumbs up.
 
Kajiimagi

Kajiimagi

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I had a porter-cable 20v drill from forever ago that lasted forever. Charger died and it was cheaper to get a new drill. Moved to podunk NV and they only have Home Depot so became a Ryobi house by default. When I started buying One+ stuff it all came with batteries so I had them coming out of my ears.
 
BrotherWu

BrotherWu

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Hey guys. I have been told by a couple of services techs in recent years that my furnace is running on borrowed time, which is not surprising given its age . I have updated everything else in this home so now this will be the last big ticket item.

Here are my considerations:
1. Natural gas GFA.
2. Northern MI winters.
3. It is a "tri-level" and two of the bedrooms are subset about 1-2 feet below ground level. They are above a crawl space that I had renovated to be completely encapsulated. However, these two rooms do not get a good warm air supply so I want to make sure I get something that does a good job of pushing the air to all parts of the home. This might mean some work on the vents? All rooms have cold air returns.
4. I have had issues with the furnaces in my last two homes being unable to sufficiently humidify the home in winter, in spite of having humidifiers built in. So the houses can by dry as fuck in the middle of winter. I want to address that.

Other than that, I am obviously looking for reliability and efficiency. I may or may not continue to live in this home. Probably will be here for another 5 years minimum.

Any suggestions or other considerations?
 
Palum

Palum

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BrotherWu said:
Hey guys. I have been told by a couple of services techs in recent years that my furnace is running on borrowed time, which is not surprising given its age . I have updated everything else in this home so now this will be the last big ticket item.

Here are my considerations:
1. Natural gas GFA.
2. Northern MI winters.
3. It is a "tri-level" and two of the bedrooms are subset about 1-2 feet below ground level. They are above a crawl space that I had renovated to be completely encapsulated. However, these two rooms do not get a good warm air supply so I want to make sure I get something that does a good job of pushing the air to all parts of the home. This might mean some work on the vents? All rooms have cold air returns.
4. I have had issues with the furnaces in my last two homes being unable to sufficiently humidify the home in winter, in spite of having humidifiers built in. So the houses can by dry as fuck in the middle of winter. I want to address that.

Other than that, I am obviously looking for reliability and efficiency. I may or may not continue to live in this home. Probably will be here for another 5 years minimum.

Any suggestions or other considerations?
Click to expand...
Forced air right? I would find someone who is good at ducting and balance because IMO this is 90% of the problem. You can buy top of the line furnace and have a shit system.
 
BrotherWu

BrotherWu

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Palum said:
Forced air right? I would find someone who is good at ducting and balance because IMO this is 90% of the problem. You can buy top of the line furnace and have a shit system.
Click to expand...
Yes forced air. So...how to know if someone is good at ducting and balance...
 
Palum

Palum

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BrotherWu said:
Yes forced air. So...how to know if someone is good at ducting and balance...
Click to expand...
I mean aside from reviews and references, tell all your issues when getting quotes. IMO it's pretty easy to find the ones that are going to be looking to inspect ducting and returns to balance it, vs just drop in new furnace.
 
Daidraco

Daidraco

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This isnt really a home improvement question....

But Im trying to restore this old Louvre Door that has stained glass in the top of it. I picked it up at an old Historical House thats getting renovated. The stained glass, thankfully, goes in and out of it pretty easily. But the slats in it, like any old louvre door would have - man... Im just struggling getting the paint off all the little fucking nooks and crannies of it.

Ive used this stuff:

That stuff worked.. wonders. Actually. It got off fucking LOADS of different layers of paint. Like the door used to be stained, it looks like? Then someone painted it teal green. Then someone painted it like this fucking beige color? Then it was painted like a beige yellow? and that part layer seemed too clump up and had.. as far as what I would guess, cigarette/tobacco tar all over it or the previous layer did and they painted over it without cleaning it first? Then there are at least 2, but probably more, layers of white paint on it.

But thats all besides the point. I cant scrape SCRAPE the slats all that hard, as Im afraid of breaking them. Then, the sides where the slats are nailed? hooked? glued? in - the paint between the slats on the sides is stubborn as fuck to get off even with that orange shit. Ive set the door up in my mudroom and have been spraying/scrubbing it after Im done scraping it, which takes off more each time. But there has GOT to be a better way?

Or.. am I just at the point where I need to let the door completely dry and just sand it all down? Looking at the wood grain, I dont think it's pretty enough to stain. Looks like it was a relatively cheap door "back in the day" with each leg of the door having a different grain. So i guess Ill just paint it again afterwards (is what Im getting at).
 
Palum

Palum

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Siliconemelons said:
Heat pump not an option? This one I put in apparently functions to negative temps (i dont know how…)
Click to expand...
Even the most advanced ones can't handle truly cold winters efficiently. The problem with them is it may only be -15 at night one week during the winter, but you still need it. I've seen heat pumps with auxiliary furnace (basically just gas or electric element that heats the air) but they are really meant for helping out on cold nights in moderate climates, not sub zero temps.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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Daidraco said:
This isnt really a home improvement question....

But Im trying to restore this old Louvre Door that has stained glass in the top of it. I picked it up at an old Historical House thats getting renovated. The stained glass, thankfully, goes in and out of it pretty easily. But the slats in it, like any old louvre door would have - man... Im just struggling getting the paint off all the little fucking nooks and crannies of it.

Ive used this stuff:

That stuff worked.. wonders. Actually. It got off fucking LOADS of different layers of paint. Like the door used to be stained, it looks like? Then someone painted it teal green. Then someone painted it like this fucking beige color? Then it was painted like a beige yellow? and that part layer seemed too clump up and had.. as far as what I would guess, cigarette/tobacco tar all over it or the previous layer did and they painted over it without cleaning it first? Then there are at least 2, but probably more, layers of white paint on it.

But thats all besides the point. I cant scrape SCRAPE the slats all that hard, as Im afraid of breaking them. Then, the sides where the slats are nailed? hooked? glued? in - the paint between the slats on the sides is stubborn as fuck to get off even with that orange shit. Ive set the door up in my mudroom and have been spraying/scrubbing it after Im done scraping it, which takes off more each time. But there has GOT to be a better way?

Or.. am I just at the point where I need to let the door completely dry and just sand it all down? Looking at the wood grain, I dont think it's pretty enough to stain. Looks like it was a relatively cheap door "back in the day" with each leg of the door having a different grain. So i guess Ill just paint it again afterwards (is what Im getting at).
Click to expand...
Honestly I would get new solid wood half slats and route in a place to insert the glass.
 
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