Home Repair/Remodel Thread

[Foreverford05]

Steng low key getting gorgeous lawn shots in with those pictures, haha. Loving the work, and your grass is looking great!

[M. Steng]

About to get started on building the wooden box around where my daughter’s swing set will go. Using landscape timber, stacking two on top of each other and securing with rebar. Gonna be a project but hopefully fairly straightforward. Just gotta make sure everything is nice and level

[smokew11]

Originally Posted by M. Steng

About to get started on building the wooden box around where my daughter’s swing set will go. Using landscape timber, stacking two on top of each other and securing with rebar. Gonna be a project but hopefully fairly straightforward. Just gotta make sure everything is nice and level

im considering doing the same

[unccrombie]

Well, I spent the last week painting our deck. Took about 35 hours. It is 20+ years old so the paint that was left was rough. Eff spindles and painted decks. Used SW PrimeRX and then 2 coats of deck and dock. Hopefully it gets us 3-5 years as we put a lot of effort in to surface prep. You can see a lot of the wood gaps the coating filled in and smoothed out. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...215d6170c3.jpg

[M. Steng]

Finished building the box this morning. Took a good 6-7 hours, luckily my father in law came over to pitch in for like 3 hours yesterday so we really were moving with the two of us. Now to fill in low spots and order like...6-7 yards of mulch?

[GSUdawg521]

I mentioned in the landscaping thread getting mulch put in around our swing set. Think I'm gonna give it a while to decide if I need to put a landscape timber border around it. I wanted to kind of define the border a bit today after mowing, with my trimmer. But I didn't have time.

[drop2d]

Originally Posted by M. Steng

Finished building the box this morning. Took a good 6-7 hours, luckily my father in law came over to pitch in for like 3 hours yesterday so we really were moving with the two of us. Now to fill in low spots and order like...6-7 yards of mulch?

looks like about $17k in lumber right there

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by drop2d

looks like about $17k in lumber right there

Luckily landscape timber is going for $5/8ft at Home Depot right now, so it was like $250-300 or so. Not horrible, considering my original plan was to use 6x6 railroad ties which are currently FORTY EIGHT FUCKING DOLLARS. So this came out to about 1/4 of the price of that, and probably 5x more work

[DMBstandUP1984]

Our AC is leaking refrigerant, the kind it uses is illegal now? The HVAC guy can “get some” but it’s expensive


Ummmm k

[rmp207]

Originally Posted by DMBstandUP1984

Our AC is leaking refrigerant, the kind it uses is illegal now? The HVAC guy can “get some” but it’s expensive


Ummmm k

Yea it’s the old R-22 Freon, it was banned from being manufactured or imported last year and replaced with a newer coolant. I have an older A/C system which uses the same kind. Whatever supplier have is it so they will charge a premium. My HVAC guy said it’s a complete redo once my compressor goes, then he quoted me the price to swap out and I cried a bit haha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DMBstandUP1984]

Originally Posted by rmp207

Yea it’s the old R-22 Freon, it was banned from being manufactured or imported last year and replaced with a newer coolant. I have an older A/C system which uses the same kind. Whatever supplier have is it so they will charge a premium. My HVAC guy said it’s a complete redo once my compressor goes, then he quoted me the price to swap out and I cried a bit haha.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea he told me in his opinion I should just refill it with the R22 they will close up the leak, clean the fuck out of it and I’m probably good for another 2-3 years, and wait to replace it


I kind of wish we just did the AC when we did the heat and hot water tank 3 years ago

[GSUdawg521]

Smoke, wasn't it you who just put up a TV outside? Or anyone else? You leaving them outside year round or what? Actual outdoor TVs, covers, or anything special?

I'm thinking of having one, but it would just be in my sunroom, which is not insulated, so it can get hot and cold, but protected from the elements for the most part.

[Bearclaw_]

Our HVAC coolant had a major leak last year. We have a dual zone system and it was 25 years old. Relaxed everything in both systems. Between both systems, new water heater, and 15K later - mechanicals are all new. Sigh.

[prdstmnky36]

Saw some people posting in the prompter about fencing (Steng? someone else?). A fence is the 1a priority when we move into our new place next month. Curious what you are putting in? Wood / vinyl? Privacy fencing? How many feet? Having it installed?

I am having problems even getting some basic answers from people over the phone (info about time lines, pricing especially with respect to wood vs vinyl). Also reading a lot of recent negative reviews for the bigger name companies up here. I am actually considering installing it myself, especially if we will have issues getting it installed before October(ish).

[DMBstandUP1984]

Originally Posted by Bearclaw_

Our HVAC coolant had a major leak last year. We have a dual zone system and it was 25 years old. Relaxed everything in both systems. Between both systems, new water heater, and 15K later - mechanicals are all new. Sigh.

We would just need the outside AC thing, I wonder what those go for

But hvac guy thinks we can get 2-3 more summers out of this 1998 one once they load it up with R22 stop the leak and clean the fuck out of it

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by DMBstandUP1984

We would just need the outside AC thing, I wonder what those go for

But hvac guy thinks we can get 2-3 more summers out of this 1998 one once they load it up with R22 stop the leak and clean the fuck out of it

That’s the compressor. Price depends on Cooling tons and efficiency (SEER).

Edit: please get a variable speed unit.

[Rodey]

Any rough idea on what it would cost to have someone come in, rip out an old tub/shower combo (similar to this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sterling-En...30-in/50280393) and replace it with just a tub?

Neither me or my dad feel comfortable ripping out the old one. Doing the wall prep and tile work after the new tub is installed is easy, though, so I want to try to save where possible. But wondering if it just makes sense to hire out for the whole process?

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by DMBstandUP1984

We would just need the outside AC thing, I wonder what those go for

But hvac guy thinks we can get 2-3 more summers out of this 1998 one once they load it up with R22 stop the leak and clean the fuck out of it

Our compressor is original to our house, which was built in 1988. Feel like I'm rolling the dice every time it kicks in. But it got us through last summer which was hot as hell, so.

[GSUdawg521]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Any rough idea on what it would cost to have someone come in, rip out an old tub/shower combo (similar to this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sterling-En...30-in/50280393) and replace it with just a tub?

Neither me or my dad feel comfortable ripping out the old one. Doing the wall prep and tile work after the new tub is installed is easy, though, so I want to try to save where possible. But wondering if it just makes sense to hire out for the whole process?

So you're wanting to compare someone just ripping out the old one, and nothing else really, vs. them doing everything?

I dunno if someone would wanna just do that demo, but I would think it would only be several hundred dollars. Maybe around 2-3k to do it all depending on what exactly needs to done, the tile, etc.

Our guest bath was where a tub/shower used to be but the previous owners had just made it like one big stall shower with a curtain. It was weird. We had that demo'd and put a tub back in, tiled all 3 sides and new shower and tub faucets. But I looked back at my invoice and all that was combined with what we did in the master bath too, so not sure how it broke down.

[GSUdawg521]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Our compressor is original to our house, which was built in 1988. Feel like I'm rolling the dice every time it kicks in. But it got us through last summer which was hot as hell, so.

My upstairs compressor makes the loudest BANG every time it kicks off. Had a guy come out and inspect everything in September and he said it was fine, we should get some more years out of it. That was obviously at the end of the summer, though AC here is critical p much into November or so.

Hoping it keeps on truckin this year!

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

So you're wanting to compare someone just ripping out the old one, and nothing else really, vs. them doing everything?

I dunno if someone would wanna just do that demo, but I would think it would only be several hundred dollars. Maybe around 2-3k to do it all depending on what exactly needs to done, the tile, etc.

Our guest bath was where a tub/shower used to be but the previous owners had just made it like one big stall shower with a curtain. It was weird. We had that demo'd and put a tub back in, tiled all 3 sides and new shower and tub faucets. But I looked back at my invoice and all that was combined with what we did in the master bath too, so not sure how it broke down.

Not just the demo. I think I'd have them install the new tub, as well. I don't really want to have to mess with leveling any substrate that may need leveling, etc.

So I'd basically want demo and install of the new tub piece itself.

[DMBstandUP1984]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

My upstairs compressor makes the loudest BANG every time it kicks off. Had a guy come out and inspect everything in September and he said it was fine, we should get some more years out of it. That was obviously at the end of the summer, though AC here is critical p much into November or so.

Hoping it keeps on truckin this year!

Yup ours bangs when it turns off lol.

[GSUdawg521]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Not just the demo. I think I'd have them install the new tub, as well. I don't really want to have to mess with leveling any substrate that may need leveling, etc.

So I'd basically want demo and install of the new tub piece itself.

I would think under a thousand for sure just for that

[redsox14]

Love reading about and seeing everyone's projects in here! My husband and I are in the process of buying a little lake house and we will have a bunch of projects to do over the next few years. Wanted to get some thoughts on one! So the house is basically one large room, a smaller room to the deck but no doors, a bathroom and a loft area (pics attached) which is basically the bedroom. We are trying to figure out the stairs up to the loft. Currently theres a ladder it looks like someone built on their own. Not finished or anything which is fine but we're also looking for other options like a spiral staircase, or some kind of stairs that you can pull down when needed but have them hang up above when not in use so they are out of the way given the small area of house we're working with. The ladder will work for a while but we have a dog that wont wont to sleep downstairs without us, she'll whine all night and she cant climb up the ladder of course.

Anyone have a loft that can shed some light or some thoughts? We've got some ideas but if anyone has anything outside the box. We even thought of keeping the ladder and having a bucket with rope to put the dog in and pull up She's only about 30-40 pounds

[GSUdawg521]

Don't have anything like that myself, but the first thing I thought of, before I saw you mention a pull down type of staircase, was the one they did on an episode of Fixer Upper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFUz...el=LeeAnnBaker

That would be cool. Not sure if you could incorporate that into that space.

My in-laws have a spiral staircase in the back of their house that was just kind of an afterthought addition to get to an addon space. I'm not sure how much it gets used. I don't think I'd want to go up and down one like it every day.

[redsox14]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

Don't have anything like that myself, but the first thing I thought of, before I saw you mention a pull down type of staircase, was the one they did on an episode of Fixer Upper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFUz...el=LeeAnnBaker

That would be cool. Not sure if you could incorporate that into that space.

My in-laws have a spiral staircase in the back of their house that was just kind of an afterthought addition to get to an addon space. I'm not sure how much it gets used. I don't think I'd want to go up and down one like it every day.

Yes! I love that! Thanks for the link! I think that's the route we'll end up taking. I appreciate your input!

I hear you on the spiral staircase seems annoying as does the ladder that they have currently in the pics especially if I've had a few beers haha.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by prdstmnky36

Saw some people posting in the prompter about fencing (Steng? someone else?). A fence is the 1a priority when we move into our new place next month. Curious what you are putting in? Wood / vinyl? Privacy fencing? How many feet? Having it installed?

I am having problems even getting some basic answers from people over the phone (info about time lines, pricing especially with respect to wood vs vinyl). Also reading a lot of recent negative reviews for the bigger name companies up here. I am actually considering installing it myself, especially if we will have issues getting it installed before October(ish).

Yeah we are having a fence put in as we speak. We went with a 6 foot vinyl privacy fence for the back, and then a 3 foot vinyl picket fence along the front of the back yard where it meets the driveway. Materials were $2200 and the guy that's doing it is charging us $1500 for labor, which seemed reasonable. We wound up paying $120 per 8 foot privacy panel because the one supplier had them in stock, whereas HD/Lowe's had a 4-6 week lead time which didn't work for us (we need it all done by June 19 for my daughter's bday party). It's better quality stuff than HD/Lowe's anyways, so I was okay with a little more on materials especially given the time crunch.

Got 10 yards of woodchips delivered this afternoon for the swingset area I built...I know what I'll be doing the next few days after work! Luckily they were able to dump 2/3 right in the box so not a ton of moving of material, more spreading/tamping.

[Bearclaw_]

Did a 5ft vinyl privacy fence last summer. Vinyl is the way to go, IMO. No maintenance. Power wash and you’re good to go.

On that note - having a composite deck (trex) put in as I write this.

I just enjoy non maintaince crap. I have enough shit to do. 😂

[TypicalBilly14]

CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on the TV show Home Town with Ben and Erin Napier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYscsBliWZ8

[DMBstandUP1984]

Originally Posted by TypicalBilly14

CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on the TV show Home Town with Ben and Erin Napier.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYscsBliWZ8

Yo I love home town lol