Home Improvement/Remodel Thread

[Daniel]

Well, I'm about to break with a contractor.

Extension to the house is moving along quickly, but to be frank, the only reason the work has been competent is that my dad is there to project manage and make the contractor correct mistakes.

2x4 wall on 24" centers as a loadbearing wall, trying to put in plumbing before the subfloor, thinking a subfloor can be done with plywood over advantek, then not knowing what advantek is or where to buy it, and getting measurements for windows wrong (there's 3) is too much as is.  Then we asked for receipts and a cost breakdown, which we were supposed to receive last night.  Haven't received it.  Nor have we received the electrician's plans.

We're closing on the loan to finish financing it today, but after that, we're likely going to have a very unpleasant phone call.

Either that, or we're going to have a serious discount for the remaining balance.

On 11/16/2022 at 12:43 PM, RaidersAreOne said:

Renovated 95% of our very, very original 1981 home. I am super impressed with it and added so much value.

After a year-ish away from major renos I have that itch to tackle the big unfinished basement. It has concrete walls + floors (no insulation/drywalling yet). Bare wooden rafters. Pretty much open floor plan, but has the utilities hub annoyingly against a wall but in the middle of the area.

Any ideas for making an unfinished basement look nice? We don't have the money or time to do a full renovation, but wouldn't mind spending a bit to spruce it up. I really like the looks of this:

Painting the floors/walls/rafters. Some new lighting. Curtain off the furnace/boiler, etc.

Any fun ideas/suggestions/photos!?

 

I would sheetrock that ceiling if it's me.  The rafter thing can look good in the right context, but the fact that it's a basement just means, IMO, that the ceiling like that is just always going to look raftery.  That floor looks good for a basement floor, but block walls could be covered.  That might be costly, especially with the things there that look like they'd get in the way, but for a cheaper renovation that would make the whole thing nicer looking, and lean more "indurstrial on purpose" than basement, maybe cover that far wall with some tile.  Brick tile would be nice.

That and some baseboards just glued along the bottom would make it appear much more finished.  Tile can be pretty expensive for a large area, but there's also stuff like beadboard.

I don't see any outlets though.  Are there any down there?

[MWil23]

1 hour ago, Daniel said:

Well, I'm about to break with a contractor.

Extension to the house is moving along quickly, but to be frank, the only reason the work has been competent is that my dad is there to project manage and make the contractor correct mistakes.

2x4 wall on 24" centers as a loadbearing wall, trying to put in plumbing before the subfloor, thinking a subfloor can be done with plywood over advantek, then not knowing what advantek is or where to buy it, and getting measurements for windows wrong (there's 3) is too much as is.  Then we asked for receipts and a cost breakdown, which we were supposed to receive last night.  Haven't received it.  Nor have we received the electrician's plans.

We're closing on the loan to finish financing it today, but after that, we're likely going to have a very unpleasant phone call.

Either that, or we're going to have a serious discount for the remaining balance.

All of those issues are complete dealbreakers for me. I did 2x4 wall on 2 NON loadbearing walls in my basement, but everyone knows it's 16" on center. I'm 100% in favor of doing things without pulling each permit needed, but things like plumbing, electric, and load bearing walls make sense for these reasons.

I can't even wrap my mind around what moron has that attitude about rough in plumbing or sub-flooring. 

Not receiving the electric plans is also a deal breaker.

The "receipt" portion in a vacuum isn't for me with a contractor early on, but when you're talking loans and such, yeah it is. 

I can't imagine the sheer ineptitude and if you're going to cut corners on plumbing and electric, they don't care about your health and well being, on top of the whole "load bearing YOLO who cares" mindset on the integrity of the foundation and support.

[Tugboat]

On 12/1/2022 at 7:12 AM, Daniel said:

Well, I'm about to break with a contractor.

Extension to the house is moving along quickly, but to be frank, the only reason the work has been competent is that my dad is there to project manage and make the contractor correct mistakes.

2x4 wall on 24" centers as a loadbearing wall, trying to put in plumbing before the subfloor, thinking a subfloor can be done with plywood over advantek, then not knowing what advantek is or where to buy it, and getting measurements for windows wrong (there's 3) is too much as is.  Then we asked for receipts and a cost breakdown, which we were supposed to receive last night.  Haven't received it.  Nor have we received the electrician's plans.

We're closing on the loan to finish financing it today, but after that, we're likely going to have a very unpleasant phone call.

Either that, or we're going to have a serious discount for the remaining balance.

 

To be fair, there's a pretty noticeable push at least up Canada way, toward 24" spacing even for exterior bearing walls (with 2x6s though).  Particularly in more "high performance" or "green building" sort of applications.  Reduces the amount of lumber used, but also significantly reduces thermal bridging for energy efficiency with typical cavity insulated walls.  A lot of the small wood frame construction industry heavies are endorsing it to various degrees in pursuit of a long-term "net zero" sort of energy goal.  And it's prescribed in a bunch of "green building" sort of guides as an option.

Still not the "norm" by any means, but it can definitely be a viable approach if done deliberately, for a reason.  Also more of a "new build" thing, rather than confusingly mixing 'n matching against the presumably 16" spacing in the rest of the house being renovated.  Though given the general impression there, that's probably not what this contractor is doing.  :lol:

 

I'd even try to give them the benefit of the doubt on the subfloor thing, in that i don't really think you necessarily need a specific trade name product from a specific company like that.  Especially if it wasn't specified in the initial bid or whatever.  Plenty of different companies make decent enough subfloor stuff.  But if they're not familiar with the difference between engineered subfloor products and regular ol' run of the mill plywood...the specific product brand probably isn't the issue there either.  :lol:

 

With that many issues and some of the others being pretty inexecusable...it does just sound on the whole like a contractor that's pushing really far toward the, "do it as cheaply as possible" end of things.  Sounds pretty disorganized an unprofessional as well.  Are they fairly new to this or something?

 

 

Quote

I would sheetrock that ceiling if it's me.  The rafter thing can look good in the right context, but the fact that it's a basement just means, IMO, that the ceiling like that is just always going to look raftery.  That floor looks good for a basement floor, but block walls could be covered.  That might be costly, especially with the things there that look like they'd get in the way, but for a cheaper renovation that would make the whole thing nicer looking, and lean more "indurstrial on purpose" than basement, maybe cover that far wall with some tile.  Brick tile would be nice.

That and some baseboards just glued along the bottom would make it appear much more finished.  Tile can be pretty expensive for a large area, but there's also stuff like beadboard.

I don't see any outlets though.  Are there any down there?

 

Drywall does tend to look the nicest and most "finished".  But it can also be a pain in the *** if you ever want/need access to anything in the ceiling/floor.

Tbh, doing a ceiling in a basement like that, i'd at least think about just doing a drop ceiling.  They can be real ugly and "institutional" looking if done cheaply/poorly, but there are some nicer panels out there these days that i've seen look pretty okay in basements.  They can be nice for sound insulation too.  You can even get some sort of decorative faux coffered ceiling looking systems and stuff that aren't terrible imo.  Heck, you can even get black panels if they're dead set on a black ceiling lol.  And you still have convenient access to all the items in there.

[vike daddy]

^^^^^

what @Tugboat wrote above here is spot on, he does know his stuff. impressive.

[Daniel]

So after 5 days of asking, we got the receipts for materials yesterday.  On a supposedly $29,000 job, the actual cost of materials submitted was just over $8000.  Oh yeah, except for nearly $900 of that was not materials, but tools, like drill batteries, hammers, leather aprons, toolboxes, etc.

We already had him stop work, and we're firing him tomorrow, once we can seal up the window opening he ****ed up so you can't access the site except through a door.

He's lucky we're not suing him, but to get him to go the **** away and agree to being fired is worth it to not deal with the headache for what we'd reasonably be able to claim as damages.

[Heimdallr]

1. Is $5,800 a decent price for a full steel front door (+ storm door) replacement? I got two quotes and they were both in that range.

2. Can someone make sense of this purchase agreement clause? I negotiate manufacturing contracts for a living but have never seen anything like this before:

PRE-LIEN NOTICE

(A) Any person or company supplying labor or materials for this improvement to
your property may file a lien against your property if that person or company is
not paid for the contributions.
(B) Under Minnesota law, you have the right to pay persons who supplied labor or
materials for this improvement directly and deduct this amount from our contract
price, or withhold the amounts due them from us until 120 days after completion
of the improvement unless we give you a lien waiver signed by persons who
supplied any labor or material for the improvement and who gave you timely
notice.

Clause (B) makes it sound like if I go to the door manufacturer and it is less than their quoted price, I can deduct it?

[Heimdallr]

7 hours ago, Daniel said:

He's lucky we're not suing him, but to get him to go the **** away and agree to being fired is worth it to not deal with the headache for what we'd reasonably be able to claim as damages.

He is so lucky you aren't suing. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. What a nightmare...

I am so scared of dealing with any sort of contractor from all the horror stories I've heard, but I also know I don't have the experience or skills (engineering theory is NOT equivalent or applicable to hands-on work).

If I knew someone that I could actually trust to do (or hire and oversee) work I would gladly pay a good chunk of money, but unless you already know someone in the industry it is just playing the lottery. 

[minutemancl]

Anyone have any experience with removing a kitchen cabinet and putting a dishwasher in its place? I've got a perfect space right next to the sink to accommodate an 18" dishwasher, but I'd need to take out the cabinet that is there currently first.

[MWil23]

6 minutes ago, minutemancl said:

Anyone have any experience with removing a kitchen cabinet and putting a dishwasher in its place? I've got a perfect space right next to the sink to accommodate an 18" dishwasher, but I'd need to take out the cabinet that is there currently first.

Is there countertop attached to that cabinet? I've done it, but countertop wasn't attacked so it was relatively easy. Removed the screwed from the side cabinet and the back mounting to the wall and bribed my brother in law to help me with the water hookups. 

[MWil23]

10 hours ago, Heimdallr said:

He is so lucky you aren't suing. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. What a nightmare...

I am so scared of dealing with any sort of contractor from all the horror stories I've heard, but I also know I don't have the experience or skills (engineering theory is NOT equivalent or applicable to hands-on work).

If I knew someone that I could actually trust to do (or hire and oversee) work I would gladly pay a good chunk of money, but unless you already know someone in the industry it is just playing the lottery. 

People say never to mix business and family, but there's a reason that I hired my brother in law to do my house and handle all of this. He's good and trustworthy, so I knew I wasn't going to get ripped off or taken advantage of. He even gave me a check for the difference on what he overbid for us. He always budgets in 2% overbid for materials if you ever want to "upgrade" along the way.

[minutemancl]

4 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

Is there countertop attached to that cabinet? I've done it, but countertop wasn't attacked so it was relatively easy. Removed the screwed from the side cabinet and the back mounting to the wall and bribed my brother in law to help me with the water hookups. 

Did you have to remove any of the cabinet with a sawzall? My biggest challenge is that I'd need another outlet run for the dishwasher. I don't mess with electricity, but I fully plan on doing the plumbing myself. Still unsure about the the cabinetry aspect though, which is why I'm asking.

[MWil23]

1 minute ago, minutemancl said:

Did you have to remove any of the cabinet with a sawzall?

No, I didn't.

1 minute ago, minutemancl said:

My biggest challenge is that I'd need another outlet run for the dishwasher. I don't mess with electricity, but I fully plan on doing the plumbing myself. Still unsure about the the cabinetry aspect though, which is why I'm asking.

https://www.kathyanagomez.com/post/removing-kitchen-cabinets-on-your-own

This person actually isn't a bad read:

the drill: you need it! cabinets, even glued cabinets, are generally screwed to wall studs on the back and then on either side to each other. Some top wall cabinets are also screwed to the ceiling. If you have a laminate countertop, most likely it is also screwed to your base. Then you have all the doors, which are screwed through the hinges. So look for the screws and start there with your drill (I would start with the doors and then the ones that attach a cabinet to each other). A cordless drill is your best bet here.

the pry bar: also known as a crow bar or pinch bar. I found it really isn't the easiest to pull cabinets out or drywall. With the fairly thick edges it is next to impossible to get it between the pieces that you are trying to pull out, meaning you have to make some room in the back before the tool becomes helpful. I also found that, when removing glued cabinets with it, if you are trying to salvage the existing drywall, you may find the pry bar to be very damaging.

the oscillating tool: this one is a bit of a dangerous tool. With the exposed blade and the constant vibration, you better have a very solid grip on that machine when you start using it. Now, it does help a lot to cut seams in the middle of really big pieces like a laminate countertop so you can remove it in smaller pieces. You just have to be CAREFUL with it!

the little ball magnet to find hidden screws: time consuming! Very! If you are trying to reuse the drywall you are removing, definitely use this tool. If not, don't bother... it will take you twice as long to remove drywall this way.

the drywall saw: this is the tool for the job if you need to cut holes for electrical outlets or something like that... think precision cuts in your drywall. For demo, not worth it.

[vike daddy]

On 12/5/2022 at 6:46 AM, minutemancl said:

Anyone have any experience with removing a kitchen cabinet and putting a dishwasher in its place? I've got a perfect space right next to the sink to accommodate an 18" dishwasher, but I'd need to take out the cabinet that is there currently first.

yeah, what are the micro questions here?

plan on removing the cabinet in pieces, it won't be usuable again. do you need it to be? if not, hack it up and pull it out in chunks.

i mean, carefully hack it up....

[minutemancl]

On 12/7/2022 at 2:39 PM, vike daddy said:

yeah, what are the micro questions here?

plan on removing the cabinet in pieces, it won't be usuable again. do you need it to be? if not, hack it up and pull it out in chunks.

i mean, carefully hack it up....

Nah, I don't need it to be usable. I'm mainly concerned with making sure my cuts and such are correct and don't look awful when I slide the dishwasher in. It's a cabinet and a sliding drawer that would need to come out, and there is cabinetry on either side of what I need to cut out. 

[MWil23]

1 hour ago, minutemancl said:

Nah, I don't need it to be usable. I'm mainly concerned with making sure my cuts and such are correct and don't look awful when I slide the dishwasher in. It's a cabinet and a sliding drawer that would need to come out, and there is cabinetry on either side of what I need to cut out. 

Totally reasonable. Take your time pulling it out. Justremember, WORST CASE SCENARIO, you have to put up some dishwasher trim/side strips if you ding the edges of the other cabinets beside it.