"This Old (mother f**ing) House" - Home Renovation Support Check-In

ElTrain5 · March 2014

Jujub22 we always do baseboards after carpet. But DH always pathologically puts off trim as long as possible. So that may be the ulterior motive there.

becomingmommyagain · March 2014

@ElTrain5‌ the kitchen will be non functional because without countertops we'll have no stove and no sink. I'll have a microwave abs that's it. The sink is an under mount and the stove is a drop in. They'll lay ply wood over the cabinet boxes but they won't install the sink or stove until the counter top is delivered.
I suppose we could rig it.... But we'll probably deal with the microwave and the BBQ for cooking. We also have a wetbar to get water from and a laundry tub in the basement for dishes.
Now we just have to finalize the plan so it can get ordered and get our install dates.

MamaTree17 · March 2014

We are in the middle of our basement renovation now. We bought our house last July and I think I've gone in the basement twice since then. It was a short sale and the basement flooded during the bank approval process. We didn't want it to stop the approval since we were already doing a rent-back on our previous house so we said nothing knowing we'd have to deal with it later. Right after we moved in with redid the kitchen, one of the bathrooms, living room flooring, painted the entire inside and outside of the house and put on a new roof so it is finally basement time. We tore out the carpet the day we closed so it's been drying out since then but we did a few drywall tests last month and ended up having to tear out 100% of it on the exterior walls because of mold. We (slash my husband) have waterproofed the walls and did the studs and drywall this past weekend. We turned the bar area into a bathroom and the plumbing in there is finally complete (we did a toilet with a grinder so we didn't have to chip the foundation). The electrical work is almost done (none of the exterior walls had any outlets). It sounds like we should be close to finishing up but we're not even close. There is currently an exterior stair that leads to a back entrance that I hate - it's an eye sore, really encloses our backyard in a bad way, the retaining wall is failing, and there is no good way to make it safe so having kids play back there is dangerous. So we're going to block that doorway in, fill in the stair and put in a bilco hatch around the side of the house instead. Blocking in the door should be fairly easy but cutting out a new opening and putting in the new window/hatch will be a pain. Included with that exterior work is putting in a new back patio after we fill in the stair and we need to reroute all of the drainage at the exterior of the house so we don't have another water event after putting in all this work. Once all that is done we can get the walls finished and painted and get new carpet down.

The hardest part is convincing my husband that he can't do it all himself and agree to hire people for parts of it. Thankfully it's the basement so I can close that door and pretend nothing is going on down there but we both really want it done before the baby comes. I did a count of weekends before my due date yesterday and after taking out those we have things going on there are only 4 left....I think that shocked him so he'll be making some calls today.

otter1103 · March 2014

So here is the tile disaster. Sorry for the crappy picture but the shadowy lines seen are the uneven tiles. The guy admitted his worker screwed them up and will be fixing it. Our saving grace is a guy I work with who bought the same tile is willing to sell us his to use for replacement tiles. Hopefully this will all be done with this week but we know how home renovation goes...

ElTrain5 · March 2014

@otter1103 said:

So here is the tile disaster. Sorry for the crappy picture but the shadowy lines seen are the uneven tiles. The guy admitted his worker screwed them up and will be fixing it. Our saving grace is a guy I work with who bought the same tile is willing to sell us his to use for replacement tiles. Hopefully this will all be done with this week but we know how home renovation goes...

Woah baby...yeah that's something a little grout can't cover up! I'm so glad to hear they are going to fix it, and double yay for finding more of your tile! It's a beautiful tile for sure

:)

babygabe614 · March 2014

My mom and I got the first coat of paint done in my master bedroom yesterday (mostly) but still have a ways to go. We couldn't reach some areas of the room because my bed is too huge and heavy for us to move ourselves and DH was out the door before I even woke up on Sunday so unfortunately the section behind my bed and behind my dresser are not done yet. BUT it's great to see the difference even one coat has done to the remaining walls - from olive green and plum (no idea what the previous owners were thinking - it was like a morgue in there!) to a light buttery color makes a world of difference in how bright the room looks. We should be finishing that up next weekend. I'm skipping the baseboards for now because it's just too much work to take them off and reinstall them.

Of course, this weekend we got a massive rain storm and our basement flooded the worst it ever has so now that is on the top of our list and we're getting estimates this week to have someone come figure out how to fix the issue.

In addition, we've been living with electrical problems throughout the house since moved in but some of the old problems have gotten worse and new ones are popping up, so sooner or later we will need to get an electrician in to get everything in working order. Sigh.

babygabe614 · April 2014

Question for the home improvement ladies - Has anyone replaced a light fixture themselves? I am wondering how difficult it would be for me to get rid of the nasty cheapo chandelier in my dining room and replace it with something nicer... but my mom (my go-to handywoman) says even she wouldn't attempt it. Is this something I should leave to the pros?

k2k2tog · April 2014

babygabe614 said:

Question for the home improvement ladies - Has anyone replaced a light fixture themselves? I am wondering how difficult it would be for me to get rid of the nasty cheapo chandelier in my dining room and replace it with something nicer... but my mom (my go-to handywoman) says even she wouldn't attempt it. Is this something I should leave to the pros?

I wouldn't hire an electrician just to replace a light fixture. It's actually very easy! Just flip the breaker to turn off the power and you're good to go.

otter1103 · April 2014

@babygabe614 most new fixtures come with a connection kit to make changing out fixtures pretty easy. Just cut wires, insert into connectors and twist. We changed out pretty much every fixture in our house when we moved in, including a horrendous brass chandelier in the foyer.

ElTrain5 · April 2014

@babygabe614 The only problem you may run into is if you do not have a standard electrical box behind the fixture (I ran into this in my house which was wired in the 30's). As long as you electric is pretty recent, just throw the circuit breaker and follow the instructions on the new fixture

Easy peasy!

babygabe614 · April 2014

@sempre_staccato @otter1103 @ElTrain5 @KrystaJ

Thanks so much! I didn't realize some fixtures even come with kits to help you swap out the fixtures. My house was built in 1997 so the wiring is fairly new, so I think I can probably DIY it which is great because I feel like we're gonna be hemorrhaging money with this new basement issue on top of our new patio. Thanks for the input!

Hairstylist16 · April 2014

Wow I'm kind of jealous of all the big exciting home improvement projects that are going on. I finished painting the nursery yesterday so my house is almost completely finished as far as paint.

babygabe614 · April 2014

@KrystaJ Thank you for the book recommendation! I need something like this badly since I do a lot of the stuff at my house myself (or with my mom's help - DH isn't much of a handyman, lol)

allrightmeow · April 2014

ktcort13 said:

How's everyone's projects going this weekend?

Finished painting both upstairs baths and our high walls in the family room. Next is both bathroom floors and our master closet.

Missib55 · April 2014

Been working on our kitchen since a pipe burst going to the bathroom over it back in January, it's getting closer. Got all the drywall repaired, including where we took out the wall to the dining room. Hung cabinets and started painting the ceiling today. Need to do one more coat on ceiling, paint walls and molding and base cabinets. New counters, hardwood throughout kitchen and hallways and tile backsplash. Got ds1 room done and him moved in there. Need to finish ds2 room (painting) and move him in there and set up LO stuff in ds2 "old" room. Looking like we may be close to finished by the time she gets here.

otter1103 · April 2014

Our tile disaster was finally fixed. Not as much as I had hoped but better than it was before. Now waiting for them to finish putting the trim back on. Any day would be awesome because until then, my mother f'ing fridge is still in my living room (2 day job is now over 2 weeks!)

Finally moved DD 1 out of her room (aka future nursery) and got the paint so DH can do that tomorrow.

ElTrain5 · April 2014

Raked and fertilized and seeded the lawn today, working on the rear entryway paint/mudding/trim tomorrow. DH is finishing up some framing and starting the electric in the "master suite" tomorrow (yay!!)

babygabe614 · April 2014

Not exactly "home" improvement, but yard improvement... got all my hydrangeas cut back and bought the pots and potting mix for my vegetables this year (I have decided I suck at growing them in the ground, so trying out containers for this year's handful of veggies). I'll be picking up some fertilizer to mix in with the clay-like soil in my larger garden space and hope to finish weeding that all out and adding the fertilizer to the soil today. Hopefully planting next weekend!

becomingmommyagain · April 2014

Finally picked out the cabinets for the kitchen remodel and dh started demolition yesterday. ... and what do we find behind them. ..scary looking mold. .. dh removed all the drywall and bleached all the wood and surfaces in the kitchen.
Two weeks until the new cabinets are installed and we have a ton of drywall repair, plumbing, and electric.

ElTrain5 · April 2014

@Babygabe614 just make sure you wear gloves and wash you hands well, toxoplasmosis (the reason some people don't change cat littler whole pregnant) is actually way more common in garden soil (due to all the wild animals that come and go).

LKHoffa · April 2014

I'm glad I'm not the only one going through this type of thing! It's not construction, but we made it a goal to be out of our crummy apartment pre-baby. After house hunting ALL winter, we finally found a house last week and are under contract! Problem? We can't close until May 29th and I am due on June 8th! I'm actually so relieved to have a house that the timing hasn't truly hit me yet, but everyone else's eyes get VERY wide when we share our situation! I'm going to be a crazy person in May, probably, and one of the few women who googles " How to Stay Pregnant LONGER!"

babygabe614 · April 2014

ElTrain5 said:

@Babygabe614 just make sure you wear gloves and wash you hands well, toxoplasmosis (the reason some people don't change cat littler whole pregnant) is actually way more common in garden soil (due to all the wild animals that come and go).

babygabe614 · April 2014

@ElTrain5 (Sorry, TB is being weird and freaked out on my last post!) Thanks for the advice - I definitely wore my gloves while I was out there. Didn't know toxoplasmosis was more common in soil, though, but that makes sense! Thanks!

k2k2tog · April 2014

DH made some good progress on our new stairs this past weekend. He got all the risers nailed in place, and all the steps cut to the right size except for the bottom three steps which are all weird pie-shaped steps and a little more involved. They're starting to look good!

k2k2tog · April 2014

@BrightEyes112 Your Home Depots are open today?!? In Ontario, they're all closed for Good Friday, except for the garden centres. We went last night, picked up materials to build a closet, which I've been working on all day, while DH keeps plugging away at our new stairs. He cut a rather expensive piece wrong, so it's been a bit of a frustrating day.

allrightmeow · April 2014

Cleaned out and painted the baby's room. Redid the closet with mdf shelfs and had shelfs built into the walls so we can take the unsafe bookshelf out of the room. We are debating if we should try and tile the kitchen and bathrooms before the baby comes. I would be happy just to have the place spotless before my water breaks.

kymirandar · April 2014

I posted a long time ago about our redo.
UPDATE: Im 31 weeks and our windows still aren't in (after being promised for a month they would be). Which means no crown molding up, all furniture from the 2 bedrooms that must stay empty for when said windows go in are piled in my living room. Baylor's nursery has only been painted NOTHING ELSE I am beginning to freak out because we can't do anything until the windows are put in. I hate doing things at last minute, HATE IT! I would love to finishing decorating his room right now. Sigh, and garden season is about to commence. That plus finishing up our remodel BEFORE Baylor arrives is enough to send me into early labor ugh.

k2k2tog · April 2014

@Miranda&MichaelR Why do you have to keep all the furniture out of the rooms pending windows? We had new windows put in a few months back and didn't move any of the furniture until the day of, and then just moved it away from the windows. The installers didn't need too much room to get them in.

babygabe614 · April 2014

Our patio went in this week! The guy just needs to come back in about 5 days to seal it, but the concrete is all poured and stamped. Yay!

ElTrain5 · April 2014

So far today I've rebuilt the frame on the side of the couch (that my whale like size managed to collapse a few weeks ago) and reframed the back door. I'm on a roll! Tackling the rear entry way next.

becomingmommyagain · April 2014

We are still working on the kitchen. Had our install date for the new cabinets setup for April 28th. While we were at the contractors signing all the paperwork and ordering the cabinets, DS called to say the ceiling was leaking again....FML... DH started to remove the upper cabinets over the peninsula to see if he could find the leak...and we find ugly gross green scary harry mold.

Called the insurance adjuster back, they tell us it might not be covered since its been two months since the initial claim was filed...they send a structural engineer out to examine the house and he fortunately determined it is related to the initial claim. The theory is that the water from the broken pipe in February had frozen between the subfloor and the bathroom tiles and between the shower tiles and the exterior wall. His theory is that it has taken 2 months for the tile grout to break down and allow water from the shower and floor to seep into the kitchen. The entire subfloor and shower enclosure have to come out and be replaced because there is mold growing in there...this is not going to be a simple/quick fix...the entire bathroom is tiled. The floors, 3/4 up the walls, and the entire bathtub enclosure is tiled including the ceiling.

The worst part is, until the remediation company comes out and deals with the mold issue, we cant proceed with our kitchen...So....I have only half a kitchen for now and a baby due in 8 weeks...I'm honestly not sure which will be here first - the kitchen or the baby.

babygabe614 · April 2014

Yikes, @becomingmommyagain that sounds like a huge mess. Fx that somehow everything can get fixed in time!

becomingmommyagain · April 2014

Thanks @babygabe614! It's a huge mess. I'm just glad it took us 2 months to get the remodel planning done and pick out the new cabinets. Otherwise we very well could have installed them and then had more damages occurring because of that stupid bathroom!

This little one just needs to stay right where he is until the remodels are all done!

nicolewhelan · April 2014

We just replaced ALL of the carpet in our house. The entire upstairs (4 bedrooms), plus the living room and dining room downstairs. We had to pack up EVERYTHING loose or breakable and get it out of the rooms. So that led to bringing everything down 2 flights of stairs to the basement. Oh my gosh, I was exhausted. Hubs has been in the police academy for the last 3 months too, so I couldn't do his office which was a disaster! So I've been tackling the other rooms little by little. It's finally done though and smells like a new house and so clean!!! Now we can FINALLY start working on the nursery with 2 months to go! We were smart and painted it before the carpets thank goodness. It was nice to be able to just rub the paint off your hands onto the carpet and not worry about it! LOL!!!

Oh and we redid the upstairs guest bathroom. New paint and changed the cabinets to chocolate and swapped out everything to be brushed nickel. Definitely better than the purpleness we had going on in there before, with a boy on the way

I'm done with the home projects though! Now we have to tackle the garden

k2k2tog · April 2014

Bumping from page 6!

Did any of you ladies make any progress with your ongoing projects this weekend? Start anything new? We had too busy of a weekend for any projects, but LAST weekend, we got our attic steps finished, and a closet system installed in our wonky attic closet.

I'm cursing my old house today... it's been raining all day, and, turns out, leaking into our basement. Yet another thing to add to the list.

sjn00 · April 2014

Oieee I am 6 weeks away from delivery and my husband and now decided he wants to tear up the flooring to the entire house and instal wood flooring..

My anxiety is through the roof!

We have 2 dogs and me that will need a place to stay while this project gets done.

I don't think he realizes the entire house is going to have to be packed up and un packed and moved from room to room to room while they do this.

Blahhh question is... Is it worth it?? I don't know.. I mean i wont be doing ANYTHING so why do I care so much? But I also wont be able to get ready for the baby until all of this is over which probably wont even happen for a couple of weeks still.. Putting me at about 4 weeks until my due date..

Streeeesssssssseddddd. Im gonna go get a back rub now.

k2k2tog · April 2014

@SaraJoy00 Don't stress! How big is your house? It will be a big project, but it might not be as inconvenient as you might think! There shouldn't be any need for you to be out of the house for it. Besides being noisy, there's nothing dangerous about it. Unless he's gluing the wood down, rather than nailing it?

IMO, unless your floors are in good condition now, it will be worth it! And, better to do it now than after the baby arrives! Maybe get him to start with the baby's room. That way, it will be finished first and you can get back to getting it ready for the baby as soon as possible.

sjn00 · April 2014

sempre_staccato said:
@SaraJoy00 Don't stress! How big is your house? It will be a big project, but it might not be as inconvenient as you might think! There shouldn't be any need for you to be out of the house for it. Besides being noisy, there's nothing dangerous about it. Unless he's gluing the wood down, rather than nailing it?

IMO, unless your floors are in good condition now, it will be worth it! And, better to do it now than after the baby arrives! Maybe get him to start with the baby's room. That way, it will be finished first and you can get back to getting it ready for the baby as soon as possible.

Thanks, we are going to do a "floating wood floor"

I am leaving because idk what is under these carpets (mold ect) and I dont want to be around it lol.

He is going to talk to his dad later and see when they can get done... Idk. I just worry... I think it would be better for me mentally not to be around anyways haha because I will go crazy watching them and making sure it is done right and they dont do a "Micky Mouse Job" or a half ass job doing it.

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