The Home Improvement Thread

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Any estimate on how much money and time you are saving doing all of this yourself? I know my limits and am 99.9% sure I would never jump into a project like this.
For the truss or the whole house (all of the beams I've put in)? For the whole house, I'd guess around $30k+. I've been out of the residential game for the past 6 years so I'm not in tune with residential labor costs like I used to be. I would've had to find a contractor who had a large insurance policy in order to do this work just in case they fucked up my house structurally. So insurance policy automatically means more money.
You find it very difficult for a reputable contractor to pick up these small jobs, as there are plenty of larger jobs or more profitable jobs out there.
Yep, it would've been a nightmare trying to find someone right now to do this truss. Too many easier jobs out there to do to make money. No one is hungry for work right now.
My guess on the saved cash is low 6 figures but that's a pure shot in the dark.
Same here.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
More sketchy electrical that we demoed out yesterday. There was a bunch more but I stopped taking pics and just cut it all out. A lot of this old wiring will be donated to @thekidcatchers ranch for future projects.
20220106_093817.jpg
20220106_091200.jpg
20220106_092316.jpg
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
After getting the truss finished, my nephew was fighting an allergy bug so we didn't work as the late the past couple of days. I'm exhausted as well. So instead of building some new walls, we just concentrated on demoing the master shower & master toilet walls and the ceiling joists that go over them.

We also demoed out the master shower base, particle board, ¾” & ½” plywood under the old tile, all of the master bathroom, kitchen pantry and kitchen floor. It feels so good to have all of this old flooring out to see that the 2”x6” decking is still in great shape. I was worried that a lot of it would be rotted out from moisture exposure.

20220106_083752.jpg
20220106_083758.jpg


20220106_135840.jpg

Every black spot you see was a screw they put into this board. I don't know if the tile guys kid did this or the guy got a new drill...but this shit is nuts.
20220106_104108.jpg
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
After getting the truss finished, my nephew was fighting an allergy bug so we didn't work as the late the past couple of days. I'm exhausted as well. So instead of building some new walls, we just concentrated on demoing the master shower & master toilet walls and the ceiling joists that go over them.

We also demoed out the master shower base, particle board, ¾” & ½” plywood under the old tile, all of the master bathroom, kitchen pantry and kitchen floor. It feels so good to have all of this old flooring out to see that the 2”x6” decking is still in great shape. I was worried that a lot of it would be rotted out from moisture exposure.

View attachment 40908View attachment 40909

View attachment 40907
Every black spot you see was a screw they put into this board. I don't know if the tile guys kid did this or the guy got a new drill...but this shit is nuts.
View attachment 40910

Does your bottom floor flood from high tides from weather events?
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Does your bottom floor flood from high tides from weather events?
It currently floods because the brick wall was never flashed correctly. There was also a pool at one point in time that was torn out but they didn't grade the lawn afterwards. So in a hard rain, it pools up and floods back into the garage. The previous owners had a trench cut out of the concrete patio so a lot of this water didn't make it into the living room portion of the downstairs. I'm going to have the lawn re-graded when I have the piling for the deck extension added.

This pic was taken a couple of weeks ago when we got a few inches of rain in a couple of hours. You can see where the old pool was and where the high spots are.
20211218_125109.jpg
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
It currently floods because the brick wall was never flashed correctly. There was also a pool at one point in time that was torn out but they didn't grade the lawn afterwards. So in a hard rain, it pools up and floods back into the garage. The previous owners had a trench cut out of the concrete patio so a lot of this water didn't make it into the living room portion of the downstairs. I'm going to have the lawn re-graded when I have the piling for the deck extension added.

This pic was taken a couple of weeks ago when we got a few inches of rain in a couple of hours. You can see where the old pool was and where the high spots are.
View attachment 40915

Tidal flooding? Cause it looked like 2 or 3 feet water mark on studs in garage in one your pictures.
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
That is a cool tree in your back yard!
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Tidal flooding? Cause it looked like 2 or 3 feet water mark on studs in garage in one your pictures.
That was from Ike. I think they sprayed a termite treatment on the studs when they replaced the sheetrock downstairs. I know it flooded from Ike based off the sellers report. But I'm also thinking it probably flooded during Harvey too as well but wasn't disclosed ( I can't prove it but I can only imagine how much water got in after a week of constant rain).
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
That is a cool tree in your back yard!
Yeah it's one of the selling points for the house. My wife grew up on the water and her house had a larger oak tree right in the middle. Her mom sold that house sadly so this tree is nostalgic for her.
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
That was from Ike. I think they sprayed a termite treatment on the studs when they replaced the sheetrock downstairs. I know it flooded from Ike based off the sellers report. But I'm also thinking it probably flooded during Harvey too as well but wasn't disclosed ( I can't prove it but I can only imagine how much water got in after a week of constant rain).

I have a friend that lives near Trinity River, his house floods every few years, all the downstairs plugs are something like 4ft from floor, there is trim like or chair rail that surrounds the rooms, the insulation is separated behind trim and all the stubs were painted with exterior mildew resistant paint. After a flood he has a routine to strip the walls and insulation up to trim/chair rails, 3 to 4 days with fans then 3 to 4 days to replace everything.
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
No kidding, will try and grab some photos off the old phone what it looks like flooded.
 

AlienXtx

Nignog

Oswego

n00b
Why I reccomend anyone with an attached garage put a rated closer on the rated door leading to the house.

Also why you should always sleep with your bedroom door closed.

 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
Why I reccomend anyone with an attached garage put a rated closer on the rated door leading to the house.

Also why you should always sleep with your bedroom door closed.


The new tiny house were buying has a fire rated garage door, self closing, you can tell its heavy, they are supposed to add a fire rated door in attic as well between garage attic and living area attic, not sure how that will help, since it's mostly a foam wall right now with an igloo cut out.

20211214_125543.jpg
 

Oswego

n00b
The new tiny house were buying has a fire rated garage door, self closing, you can tell its heavy, they are supposed to add a fire rated door in attic as well between garage attic and living area attic, not sure how that will help, since it's mostly a foam wall right now with an igloo cut out.

View attachment 41064
Make sure they do it. Needs to be air tight imho.

I agree with you on the scepticism. I'm 99.99999% sure that foam when seperating a garage needs to be sprayed over with flame retardant or other similar rated product like drywall etc.

A rated door installed in a highly flammable wall makes zero sence.

And if the doors supposed to be rated then all your utilities going through the wall (those electric runs) need to be sealed/fire caulked.
 

Taco Loco

Tired and Lazy, married to ‘The Laundry Fairy’
Make sure they do it. Needs to be air tight imho.

I agree with you on the scepticism. I'm 99.99999% sure that foam when seperating a garage needs to be sprayed over with flame retardant or other similar rated product like drywall etc.

A rated door installed in a highly flammable wall makes zero sence.

And if the doors supposed to be rated then all your utilities going through the wall (those electric runs) need to be sealed/fire caulked.

I will see what they do, the superintendent that did a walk through with me recognize it needed a door prior to him even reading the inspection report, so that is a good sign, will inquire about the foam/fire rating/coating etc.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Make sure they do it. Needs to be air tight imho.

I agree with you on the scepticism. I'm 99.99999% sure that foam when seperating a garage needs to be sprayed over with flame retardant or other similar rated product like drywall etc.

A rated door installed in a highly flammable wall makes zero sence.

And if the doors supposed to be rated then all your utilities going through the wall (those electric runs) need to be sealed/fire caulked.
I think you're correct on all points there. Typically the foam will have a reddish tint to it when sprayed on to let the inspectors know that it's fire-rated.
 

Oswego

n00b
I think you're correct on all points there. Typically the foam will have a reddish tint to it when sprayed on to let the inspectors know that it's fire-rated.
We had to use some grey stuff sprayed over the closed cell on my buddys shop....but that was 9 years ago.

For sure it can not look the same as the normal stuff.

Seriously though that wall is a HUGE issue that they need to fix or deduct $$$ so it can be diy fixed.

Problem with today's market is if you speak up there are 200 morons that will jump on it and take your place
 
Top