Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[bagtagley]

A little less than a quarter inch at a low spot. The floor is pretty good except for a troop against the tub. I was planning to put some self leveling compound down and then put the underlay on top of it.

[Cruiser]

What's the consensus on gutter screens or guards or whatever they're called? I just had my gutters replaced and I think I should probably put some covers on them since we have several mature trees that drop leaves on different parts of the roof.

Any brands, styles, things to look out for?

[climberevan]

A little less than a quarter inch at a low spot. The floor is pretty good except for a troop against the tub. I was planning to put some self leveling compound down and then put the underlay on top of it.

1/4 will be easy to rectify with the tile install by making your thinset a little thicker in the low spot. Self leveling compound isn't meant to go between layers of ply or under tile backer, and will crack and be useless if used that way. It should go over the backer (Hardie or Wonderboard), under the thinset if you want to use it.

If you're ok with the height change, your 3/4 ply over the existing 1/2 plan is ok. It will easily span the area around the toilet flange. You could also rip up the existing first if you don't like the height.

You will also need to put 1/4 tile backer over the 3/4 ply (thinset it down, then screw to the ply with the special screws). Ditra will also work here. The main thing is that you can't tile directly to the plywood.

Source: I'm a remodeling GC. Most of this stuff is pretty easily DIY but there are obviously some things to learn.

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[Skidog]

What's the consensus on gutter screens or guards or whatever they're called? I just had my gutters replaced and I think I should probably put some covers on them since we have several mature trees that drop leaves on different parts of the roof.

Any brands, styles, things to look out for?

had my gutter done too so will be keeping an eye out on this....we also have trees, but the roof isnt bad so I jsut get up and clean em out couple times a year.

[sirbumpsalot]

My GC and flooring guy were over measuring for upcoming job which includes refinishing and staining stair treads to match the floors. However....they peeled up the tread edges under the runner and found the treads are an engineered tread (plywood with a thin 1/32nd wood layer like a veneer)....so sanding will eliminate the wood layer down to the plywood.

We planned to remove runner completely and run raw wood stairs....so this is a problem....GC said going with matching red-oak treads prefinished and stained he thinks would run $300 per stair. Both said an engineered product won't save you any money.

$300 seems high....for 12 stairs thats $3600. I think they were only charging in the hundreds to sand, refinish, stain on the original quote which seems like way more work. A google search gives me $18-50 for premade treads some including prefinished and stained and if I just randomly toss in $800 installation, thats maybe $100 per stair?

Please educate me!

[iceman]

how wide are the stairs? and what about the risers? are they doing those too?

[AdironRider]

I've never seen stairs and cheap used in the same sentence. I don't see how just refinishing them as in the original plan would be a comparable job to what you need to do now either.

The materials aren't the real cost driver here, having the guy with the skill to install and not have them be total creaky, misaligned pieces of shit is the expensive part. Stairs aren't usually work for the grunts and those "pre-made" treads are still going to require some work to actually fit.

[fatnslow]

What do the balusters look like ? If they are incorporated into the treads there is additional labor involved just on that end as well adding cost.

[fastfred]

Buy the premade treads with plenty of glue and sawdust you'll be winning and that floor that is sagging buy the peel and stick tiles the glue in there has magic in it and will reactivate with the piss in the old plywood and make it super strong just put a flange on the toilet pipe that's the only thing I'm having an issue with and like if your having a problem getting the old wax ring off get your butter knife out swirl it in a clockwise motion then wipe your finger on your shirt later in the day when your at the grocery store and get caught staring at some milf just act like its peach cobbler left over from lunch

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[sirbumpsalot]

What do the balusters look like ? If they are incorporated into the treads there is additional labor involved just on that end as well adding cost.

Spindles not attached to treads.

[sirbumpsalot]

I've never seen stairs and cheap used in the same sentence. I don't see how just refinishing them as in the original plan would be a comparable job to what you need to do now either.

The materials aren't the real cost driver here, having the guy with the skill to install and not have them be total creaky, misaligned pieces of shit is the expensive part. Stairs aren't usually work for the grunts and those "pre-made" treads are still going to require some work to actually fit.

Not looking for "cheap". Just looking for an education and a basis for cost justification. I mean seriously....if I came here and said the GC told me $3000 per stair or $30,000 per stair, would the answer be the same?

[sirbumpsalot]

how wide are the stairs? and what about the risers? are they doing those too?

~36" wide, no mention of replacing risers.

[RootSkier]

$800 in labor? Just no.

Your weird-shaped starting tread has a newel post in the middle of it. That is a not-minor operation right there, even after someone builds a matching tread. Does those intermediate newels at the beginnings of the turn also land on a tread?

Regular rabbeted red oak stair treads with a bullnose are what, $45 unfinished? So do the math, then figure in finishing.

Then you have a series of winders in there, which require longer/wider treads and more figuring. They might even require deeper, "custom" treads.

And the white paint is definitely going to get fucked up.

Long story shorty, $3600 all in for that seems eminently reasonable.

If not, go buy one of these and have at it. Please post pics when you are trying to figure out how to get the newel post out without removing the entire handrail. https://www.amazon.com/Stair-Tread-G...19806330&psc=1

[dunfree]

Surely you could just order some stair treads from amazon and install them yourself?

[sirbumpsalot]

Your starting tread has a newel post in the middle of it. That is a major operation right there. Regular rabbeted red oak stair treads with a bullnose are what, $45 unfinished? Then you have a series of winders in there, which require longer treads and more figuring. The white paint is definitely going to get fucked up.

Long story shorty, $3600 all in for that seems eminently reasonable.

Thanks,

Bullnose is solid wood. They verified so no replacement. All other spindles and posts are attached to a stair string. Treads and risers mount between stair and wall string. There are two landing step which they said kinda averages out across a qty of 12 steps (their words, not mine). White paint of all trim and painting of walls is already quoted in original job.

Main posts being sanded and stained to match, new railing, and new caps...all that was included in original quote.

Wouldn't mind the creep so much if this was it...however this is the 4th item that we discovered and they haven't even started yet....so you know there is probably more to discover. This is a big item as the entire first floor is going to be HW and re-stained a darker color so the stairs have to match (they don't now either)

Learning as I go.

[RootSkier]

Surely you could just order some stair treads from amazon and install them yourself?

What could possibly go wrong.

[Skidog]

Surely you could just order some stair treads from amazon and install them yourself?

YouTube it.

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[sirbumpsalot]

Surely you could just order some stair treads from amazon and install them yourself?

I could but it would like like I did.

[lifelinksplit]

...4th item we discovered and we haven't even started yet...

And therein lies the rub. Beauty of construction/carpentry is plan for the best/expect the worst. You never know what the hell the other guy did before he covered shit up.

[dunfree]

What could possibly go wrong.

“Guess I forgot to tell you grandma, be careful of those steps they are a bit uneven in height”

[nickwm21]

It’s got to be advantageous for a GC to take on such a small job. He’s got a mortgage just like you.


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[sirbumpsalot]

It’s got to be advantageous for a GC to take on such a small job. He’s got a mortgage just like you.

This isn't the full job. This is just the stairs - represents probably 5% of the job.

[skaredshtles]

The only thing I've really learned from this thread is to never do any remodeling.

Which is pretty valuable, IMO.

[iceman]

To me, the cost isn't out of line at all. What would suck is to spend the money to spiff up the stairs and then decide when it's all done that you liked them better with a runner. There's reasons to prefer runners after all. Maybe all you really need is a better-looking rug. Think hard.

[muted]

use a thinner, much better looking runner rug and paint everything white instead?