Matt's DIY Thread

[Matt]

I guess it could be just the DIY thread, but I can edit that out later. Not sure how this one will evolve (the thread, not the home as I have ideas for that) but here goes:

A little background

Starting out - we have what we consider a 'dream home' it took a while to close due to some legal issues that are ongoing (we took a $10K credit to agree to tackle them on the way) my feeling is that this place will be with us for ever, and pass along to future generations - though it may become just a summer place in a couple of years from now.

Originally a Cottage, it has had a few extensions and now is a two bed, we are planning to add a second level next year to make it a three+ study. The condition was move in ready barring some issues on warmth... it requires insulation and also an upgraded heating system. Additionally, just because we want to get it the way we want, we are changing walls (to drywall where we can) flooring and kitchen.

Insulation is a bit tricky...as an older property the walls are thinner than current code, so they don't fit as much in, so we are ripping out the old panels and drywall and building out the depth so that they can fit more insulation. Due to time pressures were were going to do this only for the living room, but we might go the whole hog and do the house if we can in time.

Costs/Acquisitions to date:

• Bought sheet rock panels, these are 8ftx4ft and create the flat wall surface, they require tape and compound to cover the seems. They are very cheap, a panel is about $10 and the tape/compound is negligible. The real cost here is labor and markup. I started with 20 panels and a few buckets of compound (we will need more of both) initial cost around $200.
• We bought flooring today, went for Stranded Bamboo (very hard wearing) got a deal at Home Depot for $1100 for 700sqft.
• Bought misc other items, mainly adhesives and nails/screws - total cost about $75.
• One thing we noted is that when upgrading an old room it is best to get new doors, they come these days with frame included- this makes them a lot easier to install as you just knock one out and slot in the new one, no hanging issues. That's on the 'buy' list, along with tiles for kitchen, cabinets and appliances.

Savings/ Edge on the above

• We already got a great deal- especially on that floor. But additionally I signed up with Raise.com (discount giftcards 7.6-8.6% off) and then bought about $2K of them via TopCashBack (just 1% but hey)
• I also got a Lowes Coupon which they matched for $50 off. I had got a HD coupon (10% off $2000) but I moved again and lost it and don't have a new one yet.... so I lost a bit there.

Labor - I am paying a guy $350 a day to work for me, since I can't work in the daytime, but I come by in the evening and weekend, I figure that whatever tasks I do instead of him frees him up to do the next job, and he is a hard worker.

We are day 2 into the project, yesterday I worked with him, he ripped up the floors and walls and I bagged up about 20 contractor bags of the stuff. Today the better half drove the HD truck and I unloaded all the flooring and sheetrock, ready to go tomorrow.

First mistakes

Trying to paint the wood paneling with a roller - got some pro tips to rent a sprayer instead. We will see how that goes as if we can work fast enough we may just drywall now, it depends on our pressure to move in. But if we do opt to not drywall everything immediately then I'll give the spraying try.

Happy to hear any input on things as we go along, and hope to keep up the progress reports..

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Be careful with new doors and moldings. I recently bought and renovated a house here for The Great Satan (am still working on things). On of the issues in replacing the doors was the molding, as the new pre-hung style doors all come with a very modern looking molding that didn't match the old cheap crap that we had. Now, obviously, you could just get more molding, but that mitigates some of the cost of buying a pre-hung in the first place, not to mention that you could be having the same issue trying to match up a different style anyway.

We ended up replacing all the molding anyway, but its definitely something that I didn't consider at the time.

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Also, are there Lowes around you? They're constantly running $10 off $50 and 10% off coupons for web orders. Its an easy way to save $10 off each door or other bundle of items you need to buy.

 

[Matt]

Yep- we ripped the moulding out- wanted new anyway. There's a lowes a little further out and you can get 10% off $5k (I used that today, but HD would only honor $500 for $50...)

I need cheap lowes GCs to make it viable.

 

[zceuxbhjutf]

I like to fix appliances, in the last five years I've fixed the washer twice, the dryer, the fridge, and the big screen TV.

Toshiba had a model for several years, that all had counterfeit capacitors. Every one failed after ~2-6 years. Once you knew how to fix it, you could buy more for every room in the house cuz there'd always be another broken one on CL.

One of the greatest things about the internets, besides Saverocity heh, is how whenever you have a problem it's guaranteed that somebody else already had the same problem and put it on the'net. Used to be we were limited to the neighbors or the watercooler at work.

I guess not minding having a bunch of used stuff, goes well with the DIY repair mindset too. When I fixed the dryer I discovered the previous owner musta also been a DIYer but not in a good way -- he'd bypassed the fuse (that's basically there to keep the house from burning down).

 

[Haley]

Barter.
Everything you can.

 

[DebentureBoy]

I like doing a lot of this kind of work and hate mudding. I'm also not very good at it. So, when I went through some similar renovation, I planned out how I could do the stuff I'm good at and enjoy and hired out the stuff I was slow at, didn't like and couldn't do well. Knowing myself and my strengths / weaknesses helped me a lot.

 

[MickiSue]

If you plan to get all or most of your materials from HD, next time you go in, bring your receipts from this time, and go to the contractor desk. Tell them that you're doing a whole house reno, over time, but you would like a contractor discount for buying materials from them.

It's not small, and, coupled with the GCs, will make a big difference to your bottom line as you go along.

If you are paying the guy by the day, then get him to bid out the length of time per project. My dad was a high end remodeler, and paying by the hour (or day) was a big no no to him. He taught us to always get a bid for the entire project.

If, as is common with older houses, things come up that require additional time, that can be written into the contract. It's only fair to the guy who's opening up the walls that probably are full of knob and tube electrical, lead plumbing pipes and who knows what else!

You are going to be so proud of this when you're done, because every nail you pound, every wall you paint is part of you that you put into that house. (Looking fondly at the dining room ceiling that I scraped, patched and repainted smooth. A nightmare at the time, though. )

 

[TheAmericanTravelProject]

We have renovated 2 houses, one of which is our current house and is 60+ years old. We've been here for 12 years now, and it's pretty much 'done' but I think it will never really be done because I love changing things. I love painting and decorating (and redecorating) so I've painted some rooms many times.

Luckily my husband is very handy & we started when we were younger. Not sure we have the energy we had at 30 when we started We have ripped out floors and laid all Brazilian Cherry floors, knocked down walls, built coffered ceilings, installed tons of recessed lights, added a sunroom, made built ins, made a bar area from reclaimed materials, installed crown moulding and other decorative moulding throughout the whole house, and so much more. I like to refinish furniture too, so lots of our stuff is bought used and remade. My kids have had different themed rooms a few times already (I used to paint murals as a job in grad school, so I've done lots of them!).

Enjoy And if you need any advice...ask away!

 

[Matt]

It's not small, and, coupled with the GCs, will make a big difference to your bottom line as you go along.

Good tip thanks - will try it on Friday as I return for more sheet rock and some doors.

If you are paying the guy by the day, then get him to bid out the length of time per project. My dad was a high end remodeler, and paying by the hour (or day) was a big no no to him. He taught us to always get a bid for the entire project.

Generally, I would agree with you. However, I trust this guy and he would leave tomorrow if I said it was done. It is a case of I am buying the time of a hard working guy, and since I am there in the evenings to do my part, I can see what he is doing. Frankly, I work hard but he is doing more than I could, and it is all hard graft stage right now.

 

[SherryFD]

[QUOTE="MickiSue, If you plan to get all or most of your materials from HD, next time you go in, bring your receipts from this time, and go to the contractor desk. Tell them that you're doing a whole house reno, over time, but you would like a contractor discount for buying materials from them.

[/QUOTE]
@Matt
My husband is renovating a house (to flip) and does much of his buying from Lowes. They initiated the conversation with him about opening an account. I don't know that he's getting as big a discount as a bigger contractor might, but it's better than nothing! He's also been ordering things from Build.com and has been really happy with both their pricing and service.

 

[Maria Sangria]

I like doing a lot of this kind of work and hate mudding. I'm also not very good at it. So, when I went through some similar renovation, I planned out how I could do the stuff I'm good at and enjoy and hired out the stuff I was slow at, didn't like and couldn't do well. Knowing myself and my strengths / weaknesses helped me a lot.

Mudding can make a big difference in the final product once it's painted. This is probably something worth paying someone for.

Go to the post office and ask for a Mover's Guide packet. They have a 10% off Lowe's coupon code in there. You go online and enter the code and they email you the coupon. There's a Best Buy coupon too!

 

[girlmeetsworld]

Mudding can make a big difference in the final product once it's painted. This is probably something worth paying someone for.

Go to the post office and ask for a Mover's Guide packet. They have a 10% off Lowe's coupon code in there. You go online and enter the code and they email you the coupon. There's a Best Buy coupon too!

HD will match the Lowe's coupon in the Mover's Guide from USPS, I have done this several times at HD for appliances without a hitch.

Also, if you have a Harbor Freight moderately close by HD will sometimes match their 20% off coupon, it's more a YMMV situation but some cashiers will do it. http://www.harborfreight.com/20off-coupon912-aff-17547.html

 

[Maria Sangria]

Had a friend just redo all of her floors with bamboo and got the best deal at Lumber Liquidators.

 

[Matt]

HD will match the Lowe's coupon in the Mover's Guide from USPS, I have done this several times at HD for appliances without a hitch.

Also, if you have a Harbor Freight moderately close by HD will sometimes match their 20% off coupon, it's more a YMMV situation but some cashiers will do it. http://www.harborfreight.com/20off-coupon912-aff-17547.html

My HD would only match it to $500 rather than the $5000 lowes offers- which sucked somewhat as I checked out around $1500

 

[Matt]

Had a friend just redo all of her floors with bamboo and got the best deal at Lumber Liquidators.

Not cheaper than this

I used LL for my last apt Reno, good prices for sure, but this bamboo came in at about $1.40 for stranded. Great deal.

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

The problem with the contractor desks and accounts is that you can't use coupons in conjunction with your purchases.

@Matt - most GC's sites sell lowes. They're often on sale for 10% off on eBay as well. The thing with them is the coupons. It's a big PITA to break an order into a bunch of parts, but it's an easy way to save. If you can bust it into $50 segments you could save 20% right off the bat with a $10 off $50. And there's no limit to how many times you can use it.

I also check out through the UR portal. Even paying with GC's it's never failed to give me the extra points.

 

[girlmeetsworld]

My HD would only match it to $500 rather than the $5000 lowes offers- which sucked somewhat as I checked out around $1500

Too bad that little one of yours is too young to buy supplies, otherwise you could've roped the whole family in and tried your luck with 3 coupons and split the purchase over 3 transactions... though the deal you got with the flooring probably couldn't be split.

 

[Matt]

The problem with the contractor desks and accounts is that you can't use coupons in conjunction with your purchases.

@Matt - most GC's sites sell lowes. They're often on sale for 10% off on eBay as well. The thing with them is the coupons. It's a big PITA to break an order into a bunch of parts, but it's an easy way to save. If you can bust it into $50 segments you could save 20% right off the bat with a $10 off $50. And there's no limit to how many times you can use it.

I also check out through the UR portal. Even paying with GC's it's never failed to give me the extra points.

Yep, lowes is an option too, interchangeable with HD - a little further away but that is OK. The Contactor desk + coupon was something that I was wondering about too, since it seemed illogical to be able to claim that I was a contractor (or wanted their rates) then started producing movers coupons.

Re Lowes - wouldn't need to split there, they have a 10% of $5000....

The problem with the portal is that I don't think it takes the coupon (it certainly doesn't if I am matching a Lowes to HD, but might work Lowes>Lowes.com

 

[RamboAroundTheWorld]

Yep, lowes is an option too, interchangeable with HD - a little further away but that is OK. The Contactor desk + coupon was something that I was wondering about too, since it seemed illogical to be able to claim that I was a contractor (or wanted their rates) then started producing movers coupons.

Re Lowes - wouldn't need to split there, they have a 10% of $5000....

The problem with the portal is that I don't think it takes the coupon (it certainly doesn't if I am matching a Lowes to HD, but might work Lowes>Lowes.com

Well, the point of the contractor desk is that they're giving you 10-15% off of retail already, so that invalidates the need for a coupon.

The Lowes thing is more for smaller priced items you can break into $50 blocks. But this works great for things like cases of tiles too. You just have to think small.

As for the portals, like I said before, there's been no issue with the UR portal. Granted, I haven't tried to make a $5k purchase through it though.

 

[StaticCharge]

I like doing a lot of this kind of work and hate mudding. I'm also not very good at it. So, when I went through some similar renovation, I planned out how I could do the stuff I'm good at and enjoy and hired out the stuff I was slow at, didn't like and couldn't do well. Knowing myself and my strengths / weaknesses helped me a lot.

A million times yes.

Matt, (as we were hashing this out in the traffic ticket thread) I won't argue the personal growth value of trying to do each task once yourself, but hire out those parts you find you don't have a knack for or simply don't like. It just isn't worth the cost savings when you're banging your head against the wall in the middle of the night struggling to DIY something. For me it's the taping & mudding.

My SO and I have renovated nearly our entire 3-story 1891 Victorian over the last decade. The last major project was a master bath from scratch, and the only part we hired out was the drywall. In this instance I also paid them to hang it, though I can and don't mind doing it, those guys were shockingly fast.

In keeping with the cost savings discussion: I think it bears repeating that both HD and Lowes policy is to honor the other's coupons, which can be very handy if one or the other carries some product line you really want. I won't post it publicly if it's not kosher, but when I faced a major purchase I have bought Lowes coupons several times, usually the 20% ones, from an online outfit. They were always less than $10 and had multi-thousand $ purchase limits. This was before I knew about MS, etc, but it would still be useful with a reward cc if extended warranty was a priority.

 

[Matt]

hire out those parts you find you don't have a knack for or simply don't like. It just isn't worth the cost savings when you're banging your head against the wall in the middle of the night struggling to DIY something. For me it's the taping & mudding.

Weirdly enough, I am doing more pure grunt work on this one - I have hired one guy who works in the day when I am unable to, and I come by in the evening to demo and cart out the garbage. This is absolutely a job I would outsource if I could, but there isn't really a feasible way to do that due to the location of the property. If I was back in Brooklyn doing this I'd grab a few guys from the local HD to handle it.

As it is, this allows the 'expert' to focus on the jobs he can do better than I can, and it means each day he is doing more quality work without being distracted by the boring stuff. It sucks, but I am speeding up the job.

I think it bears repeating that both HD and Lowes policy is to honor the other's coupons,

Yep - but my HD will only honor lowes up to $500 ($50 off) which is a bit annoying when I have a $5000 ($500 off) lowes coupon. Since they just toss them and scan a barcode I think they may be reusable....

 

[Malvina]

Now you can rent IR Camera in participating HDs. Great tool to find air leaks.
http://www.flir.com/homedepot/

 

[lancemahn]

Or set up a go pro time lapse to see what's really getting done in a day... ;-) Or video surveillance. Not to undermine the faith in the worker, one just never 'knows'. Having my own business I went in to work one day trusting everybody, and ended the day trusting no body. A young man I was grooming to shoot for me was helping himself to cash payments and I had not set up an adequate system for his particular form of theft.
I also have done tape and mud and found it better to hire out. Also, I found insulating the construction of the studio was cheaper to hire out the whole install than my buying it and doing it myself. Lastly, if it's a hard to get at place don't rule out sprayed insulation, higher R-value and less depth, no air leaks. This is a big deal here on the rim joists where folks often fail to insulate properly anyway.