Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Marvin
Sierra Pacific

Marvin is good!

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Ugh, it's finishes shopping week here and I'm exhausted as so much of this seems like you're picking between two nearly identical things. I have questions for the collective if there are particular brands to avoid or must have in the following categories:

Interior doors: Simpson, Jeld-Wen, Masonite, Rogue Valley. Interior doors are going to be 6 panel white hollow core, might get the soundproof option for the bedroom door only. Does brand even matter for an interior door?

Garage door + opener: Currently looking at Overhead Door because that's the one I currently have and I'm happy with it but I'm open to suggestions. Looking for a wood appearance on a metal door because I'm not maintaining a wood door. As far as opener, I have a belt drive that is very quiet, but I also like the idea of the side drive and not having the big opener mechanism across the ceiling. Any thoughts here?

Windows: Most will be casement, white vinyl. Andersen, Jeld-Wen, Milgard (I saw the note above), Pella, or other. Not looking for fancy wood here, just casements that have a good screen and smooth operation over the long haul

Plumbing trim: Mrs. DJSapp liked the pfister (heh) for faucet trim and I don't think that's much of a pitfall there. Kohler tub, American Standard sink and shitter felt fine.

Lighting: is there any reason to be picky about can lighting brands? The GC said he is providing something that has an internal dial that will tweak color temp, so we can dial that in.

Stone veneer: Looking at some El Dorado cultured stone options

Paint: jeesus christo. The GC said to keep it between Kelly Moore and Sherman Williams. Is there even a difference, they both have every color ever. Go with whomever has the closest store?

Don't think you're too far off here.

Interior doors - doesn't matter. Make sure they adjust the strike plate tab so they don't fucking rattle when closed.

Windows - Andersen

All the rest look good to me.

[glademaster]

My advice: never skip on soundproofing within the house. Insulate the interior walls, under the stairs, your second floor framing, solid core/soundproof doors, weather stripping on the door the mechanical room, water hammer arrestors and pipe wrap to minimze plumbing noise, etc. Nothing screams "this place was built/reno'd by a cheapskate" quite like being able to hear what's going on clear on the other side of the house.

[RootSkier]

Interior doors: Simpson, Jeld-Wen, Masonite, Rogue Valley. Interior doors are going to be 6 panel white hollow core, might get the soundproof option for the bedroom door only. Does brand even matter for an interior door?

I would very seriously consider doing solid doors. The difference in quality and feel is extreme if you can swing the price difference.

[Name Redacted]

Hot tub addition. On the deck vs in the yard?

On the deck, could be counter sunk or sit on the deck. Sunk would require less engineering, but would make maintenance/ repair access more difficult.
Pros:
Near the house,
Easier in/out, so would probably get used more
Better views
Cons:
Far higher cost due to engineering and considerations to meet building code.
Need a crane
Potential for damage to deck from water over time
More visible to neighbors, but the neighbors are rarely home and we could have a privacy wall.
Limits size of the tub

In the yard:
Pros:
Far less expensive
might even be able to do it without a crane.
No limit on size, but we'd probably keep it small.
Might not even have to pour a pad, and just go with a flat gravel area.
Cons:
Further from house, could be sketch in the winter
Location doesn't have as good of views of the mountains.
Cold walk from tub to house and stairs are sketchy
Longer run for utilities but not by much.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Sunk in the deck. It's pretty standard to make a removable panel in the deck for access.

[::: :::]

I would very seriously consider doing solid doors.

at band camp this one time, i remember putting a broom handle thru a hollow core door when we were feisty

suggest strongly in favor of solid core doors for more than just sound, prefer actual wood cuz it can take a beating elegantly

simpson & rogue valley from your list

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I would agree with solid doors but if it came down to it I'd use the savings from hollow core to upgrade kitchen appliances.

[RootSkier]

The Bluestar appreciation thread is over there.

[DJSapp]

Taking another look at the door list there are only two doors worth going solid on, the new bedroom and the kitchen to laundry room doors. The rest are either fire rated, closet doors or the bathroom pocket door and I don't see the need to spend the $$ there. The remainder of the house isn't getting a door upgrade and those are all hollow core.

I've been very clear with the GC that I want the new bedroom soundproofed to high heaven. The Mrs. chose the pfister so, yeah. Enough said.

And we're not touching the kitchen so no appliance upgrades. My dental practice has been going well, but not that well. Adding a second story is enough pain in the wallet.

[Skidog]

Ugh, it's finishes shopping week here and I'm exhausted as so much of this seems like you're picking between two nearly identical things. I have questions for the collective if there are particular brands to avoid or must have in the following categories:

Interior doors: Simpson, Jeld-Wen, Masonite, Rogue Valley. Interior doors are going to be 6 panel white hollow core, might get the soundproof option for the bedroom door only. Does brand even matter for an interior door?

Garage door + opener: Currently looking at Overhead Door because that's the one I currently have and I'm happy with it but I'm open to suggestions. Looking for a wood appearance on a metal door because I'm not maintaining a wood door. As far as opener, I have a belt drive that is very quiet, but I also like the idea of the side drive and not having the big opener mechanism across the ceiling. Any thoughts here?

Windows: Most will be casement, white vinyl. Andersen, Jeld-Wen, Milgard (I saw the note above), Pella, or other. Not looking for fancy wood here, just casements that have a good screen and smooth operation over the long haul

Plumbing trim: Mrs. DJSapp liked the pfister (heh) for faucet trim and I don't think that's much of a pitfall there. Kohler tub, American Standard sink and shitter felt fine.

Lighting: is there any reason to be picky about can lighting brands? The GC said he is providing something that has an internal dial that will tweak color temp, so we can dial that in.

Stone veneer: Looking at some El Dorado cultured stone options

Paint: jeesus christo. The GC said to keep it between Kelly Moore and Sherman Williams. Is there even a difference, they both have every color ever. Go with whomever has the closest store?

Dont do hollow doors anywhere.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using TGR Forums mobile app

[glademaster]

Nothing screams "this place was built/reno'd by a cheapskate" quite like being able to hear what's going on clear on the other side of the house.

Once more, for emphasis. But have it your way.

[sirbumpsalot]

My advice: never skip on soundproofing within the house. Insulate the interior walls, under the stairs, your second floor framing, solid core/soundproof doors, weather stripping on the door the mechanical room, water hammer arrestors and pipe wrap to minimze plumbing noise, etc. Nothing screams "this place was built/reno'd by a cheapskate" quite like being able to hear what's going on clear on the other side of the house.

I wish our house had some sound proofing from the plumbing....4000sqft house and I hear every toilet flush from every bathroom.

[Flounder]

My go to's are Marvin windows, Simpson interior doors, and thermatru exterior doors. Worth the upgrade to not have hollow core doors. Used to be a big pella fan but local support wasn't great years ago so I stopped using them. Higher end Anderson are also a great lower cost option.

[RootSkier]

Dude do the pocket door solid. Hollow core doors just don't roll right.

[Nobody Famous]

I wish our house had some sound proofing from the plumbing....4000sqft house and I hear every toilet flush from every bathroom.

When you hear toilet flush water throughout a house it's not due to sound proofing it's due to the drain pipe material PVC pipe vs. cast iron. You have PVC, from which you can hear every drop of water move, the old fashioned cast iron drain pipes are uber quiet.

[old goat]

We have 90 year old casements--push open, the screen pushes out with the window and then the latch pulls the screen back in while the window stays open. We also have Pella casements that crank open. I like the push open style a lot more. The one advantage of the crank open is that you can access the outside from the inside to clean, except for the egress windows (you can still do those but it's a squeeze). We have narrow slat blinds on those and the slats catch on the crank handle.

When we added the second story we wanted doors that were compatible with the downstairs old doors--single panel. We found them cheap at a salvage company. You can get excellent quality cheap if you're willing to do the work to strip them and fill any gouges.

[bigdude2468]

Chamberlain direct drive garage door opener. No overhead track, quiet as shit, no chain, belt or noisy screw. Nothing to lubricate and the installation is so much easier than a conventional opener. It has a dead bolt lock that makes it impossible to jimmy the door open. Comes with one opener and and has WIFI works with an app on your phone.

[dan_pdx]

Does anyone have recommendations for kitchen faucets? We have a cheapie Vigo that was a freebie when we bought our sink and has actually held up great, but it's getting a little long in the tooth -- the sprayer switch is coming apart and doesn't seem to be serviceable. So, any suggestions? I need a one-hole faucet, I want something with a pullout sprayer, and I don't want anything that needs electrical (no hands-free stuff).

[::: :::]

look at Blanco or Hansgrohe

[Nobody Famous]

No specific recommendations on faucets. The pictures on these two websites are good to look and to filter by finishes, one hole, dimensions, etc.

https://www.decorplanet.com/

https://focalpointhardware.com/

[old goat]

Chamberlain direct drive garage door opener. No overhead track, quiet as shit, no chain, belt or noisy screw. Nothing to lubricate and the installation is so much easier than a conventional opener. It has a dead bolt lock that makes it impossible to jimmy the door open. Comes with one opener and and has WIFI works with an app on your phone.

how do you get in when the power is out if the garage is detached with no pedestrian entrance? Is there an option to route the pull release (the red cord) to a key accessed fixture on the outside?

[old goat]

look at Blanco or Hansgrohe

My recently retired Serbian plumber recommended Hansgrohe. We went with that, although I'm disappointed the sprayer head is plastic. Maybe other models have metal.

[nickwm21]

Chamberlain direct drive garage door opener. No overhead track, quiet as shit, no chain, belt or noisy screw. Nothing to lubricate and the installation is so much easier than a conventional opener. It has a dead bolt lock that makes it impossible to jimmy the door open. Comes with one opener and and has WIFI works with an app on your phone.

Except that it’s 4x as expensive as the normal one and you need to move your outlet.


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[::: :::]

My recently retired Serbian plumber recommended Hansgrohe. We went with that, although I'm disappointed the sprayer head is plastic. Maybe other models have metal.

For you:
Newport Brass
California Faucets
Dornbracht