Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Jong Lafitte]

Houses are so big to hold everyone's stuff.
Which begs the question, why does everyone have so much stuff.

Heh, if you just had a pile of stuff out in the open, people would come by and take some of it. And they’re after the good stuff. They aren’t gonna come take your fucking fourth grade school papers. So you need a place to lock up your stuff while you go out and get more stuff!


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[spanky]

George was ahead of his time!

https://youtu.be/4x_QkGPCL18

[jm2e]

Seems like a1400 sqft house with a 4 car garage would be ideal. Comfortable, room for occasional guests who don’t stay too long, stuff managed.


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[old goat]

Heh, if you just had a pile of stuff out in the open, people would come by and take some of it. And they’re after the good stuff. They aren’t gonna come take your fucking fourth grade school papers. So you need a place to lock up your stuff while you go out and get more stuff!


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We keep our kids' elementary school papers to burn when the power goes out.

[Thaleia]

Got a quote for getting some siding installed. House is ~50 years old and still has the original wood panel siding. I've dealt with this company before and they are extremely professional and have a stellar reputation.

But this caught me off guard. They said they would place foam insulation, and then the siding, over the existing wood.

Is this normal? I assumed they would remove the old wood first.

[nickwm21]

It’s common and somewhat bullshit half-assery in my opinion…. It’s easier for them and less risk for them owning a water intrusion issue down the line. Not ideal.

Make them price a full removal, re-flash, re-wrap, re-side. That way you have a new water barrier and new exterior. Your quote will go up. They might find some rotted sheathing and framing and want money to fix that, which sucks but that’s money well spent…


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[::: :::]

agree w/ nickwm21 it’s cheap ass

If you care about your home, have it done correctly

[jm2e]

Around here, they’d just give it a fresh Tyvek wrap and call it good.


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[Flounder]

In fairness to the contractor planning on going over the existing, I’m guessing 90% of their customers would rather pay less for the overlay than pay the extra for doing it right.

[Thaleia]

Thanks guys, makes sense, I will not be proceeding with their approach.

[::: :::]

levels of likely pricing:

₵ overlay w/ alu or vinyl
₵₵ tear off old; replace w/ alu/vinyl
$ tear off old; replace w/ primed cement bd; prep/paint
$$ scrape paint; repair or replace w/ like materials; prep/paint
$$$ tear off old; provide new wd; prep paints
$$$$ tear off old; add min thk ext insul (for hybid cont insul for your region); add furring/trim extensions; add new wd; prep/paint

any tear off should consider replacing WRB (weather resistive barrier) & blow-in insul if your house is ancient
trim at openings is affected variably in ea scenario

[others here may have tweaks to that list & "₵" unfortunately isn't exactly cheap cost anymore]

[Core Shot]

Around here, they’d just give it a fresh Tyvek wrap and call it good.


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If it’s upstate, I think blue tarps would be better.



But what is the contractors plan for every door and window trim if they put siding over siding?

[fatnslow]

What's an easy and effective sealer for a new cedar fence ? Oil or water ? It's very basic fence so down and dirty is fine.

[old goat]

Electrical question--
simultaneous 15A breaker tripped and a GFCI on a different circuit on a different subpanel tripped. The 15A circuit is a lighting circuit with one outlet with a heated toilet seat/bidet. The toilet seat has been on the circuit for months without problem, then tripped 3 times in 2 days, then not at all in the last 4 days. The maker specifies at least 15A circuit. I initially thought the toilet seat was the problem--too much for the circuit, but the simultaneous problems with two unrelated circuits makes me wonder if there was an issue with power to the house. The GFCI circuit is a kitchen outlet circuit with a number of small appliances on it--none of which were in use when the circuit tripped--as well as an outdoor outlet, which had a timer and some LED lights (we use our outside xmas lights all year.) The GFCI trips about once per year. The wiring was done by the original owner. (When we moved in all the outlets had to be rewired because the polarity was reversed. We have one outside light that can only be worked on by killing all power in the house because it seems to be getting power from multiple circuits.)
So, any thoughts on whether there was an issue with power to the house, or just a coincidence? The weather was dry and very windy.

[XXX-er]

i think it depends on how ancient the house is, around here unless the builder was a real loser houses newer than the late 70's seem to have pretty good bones so 2x6 studs/ 100 amp service with loomex wiring/ copper pipe/ at least some insulation so its more reasonable to assume there aren't major fuck ups

I have stayed away from buying older houses i often wondered if the code got significantly updated at some point and what was that point ?

IME the biggest bang for the insulation buck is R50 in the ceiling and its an easy DIY

re: fence stain go oil if you want it to last

[XXX-er]

Electrical question--
simultaneous 15A breaker tripped and a GFCI on a different circuit on a different subpanel tripped. The 15A circuit is a lighting circuit with one outlet with a heated toilet seat/bidet. The toilet seat has been on the circuit for months without problem, then tripped 3 times in 2 days, then not at all in the last 4 days. The maker specifies at least 15A circuit. I initially thought the toilet seat was the problem--too much for the circuit, but the simultaneous problems with two unrelated circuits makes me wonder if there was an issue with power to the house. The GFCI circuit is a kitchen outlet circuit with a number of small appliances on it--none of which were in use when the circuit tripped--as well as an outdoor outlet, which had a timer and some LED lights (we use our outside xmas lights all year.) The GFCI trips about once per year. The wiring was done by the original owner. (When we moved in all the outlets had to be rewired because the polarity was reversed. We have one outside light that can only be worked on by killing all power in the house because it seems to be getting power from multiple circuits.)
So, any thoughts on whether there was an issue with power to the house, or just a coincidence? The weather was dry and very windy.

If the home owner did some wiring maybe you wana have it inspected by a real electrician ?

the electrical in the suite was having some reocurring issues and at some point while I didnt really think it was necessary to call in the pro but it was obvious we needed to establish a baseline of safety

buddy fixed up issues replace an old fixture/ some worn switches & sockets/ moved a plug for me but the big thing was telling the tennant not to use those incandescent bulbs from the dollar store and it was all worth the < 400$, very small potatoes compared to rent I pull out of there

[BCMtnHound]

What's an easy and effective sealer for a new cedar fence ? Oil or water ? It's very basic fence so down and dirty is fine.

re: fence stain go oil if you want it to last

Yep, there is no down and dirty that matches easy and effective. It’s pricey, but I treat my cedar panel fence and decks railings with Sikkens SRD. Last application lasted 10yrs, then pressure washed and re-treated, fence looks great and no rot. As xxx-er says, if you want to preserve exposed wood, you need to go petro-chemical based. ~$375CND/4gallon pail for the SRD, but that price has likely gone up in the past 3yrs.

[XXX-er]

My buddy used a good quality latex stain as recommended by the building supply on her cedar siding, it only lasted about 5 yrs, the building supply said yeah don't use that anymore, recommended same brand but in oil

it had originaly been done in latex before the siding went on the house which was pretty easy

instead we are power washing/ getting on ladders

it was way more $ & hassle to use the rong product

[Falcon3]

What's an easy and effective sealer for a new cedar fence ? Oil or water ? It's very basic fence so down and dirty is fine.

I asked this same question last year and KQ recommended the Flood CWF stuff- you can get it for around $100 from HomeDepot. My fence is only a year old now but it looks pristine- also found out my sister put this same stuff on some cedar trim on their house- out in South Dakota with direct sun, cold winters, hot summers, etc. It looks great after 7 years with no touch ups.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Flood-5-...-05/206265860?

[old goat]

Staircase to nowhere (except a pier). The guys who are building this are supposed to be engineers. And it's the staircase that's tilted and the footing that's skewed, not the camera. Those bottom steps slope 15 degrees or so down to the left. And that last step is a doozy, hope no one falls into traffic stepping off of it.


And godammit I just knew that pic was going to turn itself sideways.

[mattig]

Ironic

[old goat]

How did you do that?
By the way, that concrete ledge at the top of the stairs is only a few inches wide, not nearly wide enough for a landing, and the stairway ends about a foot from it.

[Dantheman]

I just discovered that there's a pinhole leak in the inlet piping to my hot water heater. It appears to be originating near the top of the ribbed piping below the yellow valve in the pic below, but it's on the back side where I can't get a good look at it. It starts feeling wet just below where the ribs start.

I'm not sure how long this has been going on, maybe a few months? The leak rate is about a drop per minute. There is a decent amount of mineral deposit on the top of the hot water heater which has caused some corrosion around the outlet piping connection, anode rod (replaced about 1.5 years ago) and the exhaust vent (see pics, which were taken after I had wiped away some of the mineral deposits).

So, questions:

1. OK to fix the leak, or should I replace that whole section of ribbed pipe?

2. Should I be concerned about the corrosion that has occurred around the top of the hot water heater? It is 15 years old, but I flush it every year and have replaced the anode several times so it's in great shape.

[detrusor]

I’d replace the ribbed tubing w straight and sweat in the appropriate elbows and carry on.


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[powdrhound]

If the flex hose lasted 15 years, why overthink it? Replace the flex hose.