Home Improvement: My new house has a hidden basement room. Should I leave it alone? |
- My new house has a hidden basement room. Should I leave it alone?
- Why do contractors spend the time to come out for estimates and then disappear?
- PSA: If you plan to purchase furniture from Ashley furniture, they price match multiple online outlets that can save you a ton of money.
- How to tell contractor we’ve changed our minds?
- What home improvement project or chore seems like a waste of time to you?
- Is it even remotely feasible to expand my house by buying the one next door?
- I just ordered a 3d printer - what little plastic gizmos have you printed to improve your home?
- Re-staining a deck. Do I have to sand off the old stain first or is there a way around that?
- I want to learn how to do all things home improvement but I don't have a home (I rent an apartment). How can I get some skills for this stuff without having a home to work on? What are some things I can learn that will translate well?
- Our first time putting up tile backsplash
- Is $15k enough to remodel a ~600sqft home?
- Should a in wall AC unit be set to a low setting for a while or should I do bursts of it at a higher setting?
- Pocket door keeps getting stuck in pocket. Any tips to prevent door from going too far?
- Unfinished garage - drywall questions
- New homeowner. Can someone tell me what's going on with the paint on this wall I'm currently prepping to paint?
- How do you fix textured wall like this
- Pressure Washer Suggestions
- Asphalt Driveway Resurfaced - Did I get ripped off? (Album in comments)
- Spice cabinet drawer glide
- How do you repair scratched hardwood floors?
- What do you call these type of storm window latches?
- Looking to have a walk in shower installed
- Gas vs. Electric lawn mower
- Installing a front porch swing?
| My new house has a hidden basement room. Should I leave it alone? Posted: 16 May 2020 03:36 PM PDT I just bought a house from 1890 in a historic area of Michigan. The home is high up on a hill and has a very dry surprisingly nice basement for the age. It is poured concrete with 7 feet tall rafter ceilings. I do not take possession for at least another month. I looked up the property tax record which contained a blueprint like drawing. Here: https://i.imgur.com/JJEHos3.png It has a note next to a 12 by 12 foot space in the basement that reads: "full basement. Has wall blocking access. Priced as crawl due to no access". When my wife and I toured the house we did not notice a false wall or anything, granted I was not looking for it and feel like I wasn't paying attention enough. There was a lot of shelving and personal items though so idk. So reddit, I'd love to have an extra 12 by 12 foot room and maybe the Oak Island treasure is in it, but am I walking into a mess? Anyone else have walled of rooms and how did it turn out? My wife thinks this is going to be a mess, but I don't know if I can stop myself from getting in their. [link] [comments] |
| Why do contractors spend the time to come out for estimates and then disappear? Posted: 16 May 2020 12:24 PM PDT it seems expensive to send people out to take pictures and take measurements. Are they just looking for suckers they can take advantage of and if you're not one of them they just pass? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 05:17 PM PDT Hey all, Just wanted to give you all a bit of a heads up in case you didn't know. With Ashley furniture being the only real big furniture store around here, my girlfriend and I often shop there for our furniture. I'm not sure if it's completely useful for this sub but they often price match on many online furniture stores, one particularly being homemakers.com. Recently we purchased a new kitchen table, a couple of couch sets and some end tables and by price matching saved close to $450. They also carry most of the inventory that Ashely carries so it works out well. That is all! Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| How to tell contractor we’ve changed our minds? Posted: 16 May 2020 08:58 AM PDT Hi everyone. We're having some work done to our ceilings. Initially I contacted a contractor for the bedroom only. The way our bathroom is set up the contractor suggested we do the bathroom as well, which we agreed to. Now the bedroom is almost done, and we've decided we don't want to do the bathroom anymore. The reason is mostly I'm really worried about being furloughed from work, and doing the bathroom added on an additional 2k in cost. But the other reason is honestly that we just changed our minds and jumped into the project too quickly. I don't regret the bedroom, but doing the bathroom at this point seems silly and unnecessary. The contractor we hired is a really awesome guy and cut us a deal due to the lockdown situation (he has to work by himself vs. with a team so a 1week project is taking him 3 weeks). Has anyone been in this situation and asked for a project downgrade mid-project? This is our first home and I feel so clueless. [link] [comments] |
| What home improvement project or chore seems like a waste of time to you? Posted: 16 May 2020 12:14 PM PDT For me, it's pressure washing sidewalks. My neighbors have all been pressure washing their sidewalks all week. My spouse is doing it right now to keep up with the neighbors. We live in Florida. The sidewalks are going to be discolored again within a week. It seems like a waste of gas and water. I don't get it. [link] [comments] |
| Is it even remotely feasible to expand my house by buying the one next door? Posted: 16 May 2020 04:35 PM PDT I LOVE where my house is located but I don't like the size of it. It's small (750 sq ft). My neighbor next door has a corner lot that's basically sat empty for the past 6 mos or so. They were out today doing a ton of work on it and clearing out the non-running vehicles that were sitting in the driveway. It's possible they plan to sell. Is it at all feasible to consider buying this house and using the land to expand my own house? Ideal perfect world I'd want to demolish both houses and build from scratch but that could get really expensive really fast. There's only a one car driveway between the two homes so it might be possible to just build across the driveway and link the two houses. This would depend on the floor plan of the other house of course. It would leave me with two kitchens which could be problematic but one or both of them could be remodeled into something else. Again, this would all depend on the floor plan of the other house. From what I can gather, the rooms nearest my house are bed rooms. I know this might not be the right sub to ask this but I know there are a number of contractors on here who might have done something like this. Financially I can easily afford to buy the property. I have no idea what I'm looking at after that so I'd have to do some work there. I'm curious if it's even possible. [link] [comments] |
| I just ordered a 3d printer - what little plastic gizmos have you printed to improve your home? Posted: 16 May 2020 07:26 PM PDT I'm excited about many aspects of having a 3d printer, but it occurred to me that there must be little things people print for home improvement. Attractive hooks perhaps? Door stops? Others? Surprise me with your creativity! [link] [comments] |
| Re-staining a deck. Do I have to sand off the old stain first or is there a way around that? Posted: 16 May 2020 10:47 AM PDT I have a large deck and about 50 wood balusters. The old stain has worn off in varying degrees and I don't know what it was so have to use a new one. The thought of sanding the whole thing gives me nightmares and I'm wondering if that's the only way to approach this or if there's another way to re-stain? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 12:17 PM PDT If the answer is "youtube and episodes of This Old House until you buy a home" so be it, but I was hoping you guys might have an idea for how I could become a better home improver without a home. I was thinking it couldn't hurt to learn some basic woodworking but after that I'm lost. [link] [comments] |
| Our first time putting up tile backsplash Posted: 16 May 2020 03:57 PM PDT We recently moved into a new home and were disappointed that there was no backsplash in the kitchen. After months of going back and forth trying to decide if we were going to hire someone or do it ourselves, my wife and I got the courage to do it on our own. We've never done tile of any kind, so I was terrified of doing it. That being said, I knew other people had done their backsplash themselves, so I knew we could do it too. We watched a bunch of videos on YouTube, read various tips and tricks, bought the supplies, and waited for the kids to go to bed. The photos: Basic materials: The mortar: Custom Building Products VersaBond White 50 lbs. Fortified Thinset Mortar The grout: Custom Building Products Polyblend #122 Linen 10 lb. Non-Sanded Grout The trim: Custom Building Products Silver 5/16 in. x 98-1/2 in. Aluminum L-Shaped Tile Edging Trim (And various other supplies) It's hard to say exactly how much it all cost, because I bought enough to do the wall where our stove is, plus all the initial supplies (trowels, floats, sponges, buckets, nippers, wet saw). Rough guess, we're all in at around $500. We definitely saved money doing it ourselves. Lessons learned:
We "practiced" on the wall without the stove/ microwave. We'll be tackling that wall starting tonight. And then eventually we'll be doing tile for the bathtub surround as well. By the time we're done, we should be regular experts. [link] [comments] |
| Is $15k enough to remodel a ~600sqft home? Posted: 16 May 2020 10:50 AM PDT My mom is remodeling her home and I wanted to make sure she wasn't getting ripped off. She has contractor friend who is giving her a "good deal." She will be painting the walls one color throughout the house, new wood floors, new cabinets, new sink, new countertop, removing bathtub and replacing with shower only, new sink and toilet. Thank you! Edit: located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 06:42 PM PDT Like it's 1-10. Should I have it at 5 for a while or 8 for moments of time? [link] [comments] |
| Pocket door keeps getting stuck in pocket. Any tips to prevent door from going too far? Posted: 16 May 2020 10:02 AM PDT Our pocket door keeps going too far into the pocket which has made it difficult to reach in and grab it. A few people have cut their hands trying to slip their hands in to grab the door to pull it out. We have considered adding a handle but we don't want it slamming into the pocket (and damaging it) or preventing the door from closing. Any tips? [link] [comments] |
| Unfinished garage - drywall questions Posted: 16 May 2020 08:21 PM PDT First time poster and new to home improvement, glad this sub is here as a resource. I have a 1-car detached, unheated garage at my townhouse in Boise, ID. Right now it is unfinished with visible studs and exposed nails from the siding. I'd like to drywall it to reduce risks of the nails and make it look better before I rent out. My questions are:
Thanks for the knowledge, garage seems like the perfect place to get my feet wet with drywall [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 10:32 AM PDT Currently prepping a room to paint. When I'm taking off face plates, curtain rod holders, etc it looks like the current paint is sticking to the fixtures and coming off as I remove them. Can anyone let me know what's going on here? Is it enough to sand these spots down? Do I spackle it? Here's a pic: paint sticking to face plate and peeling off [link] [comments] |
| How do you fix textured wall like this Posted: 16 May 2020 08:05 PM PDT |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 07:16 AM PDT I own a small painting business and I'm in need of a new pressure washer. It would get weekly use and be subject to a fair amount of abuse (in and out of trucks etc). Would love to spend less than $500 for a reliable machine. Any suggestions? [link] [comments] |
| Asphalt Driveway Resurfaced - Did I get ripped off? (Album in comments) Posted: 16 May 2020 04:07 PM PDT Recently had my driveway resurfaced and I'm curious to see what you guys think. This is my first asphalt driveway and I'm unsure how to judge a resurface job. The driveway cost $3600.00 for 2inches of overlay of an existing asphalt driveway (1,755 sq ft) [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 04:06 PM PDT I have an upper spice cabinet that is in between the fridge and microwave. It current runs on full extend drawer glides, but I would like it to at least extend another 4", so I can reach/see everything. I haven't had any luck finding a glide that over-extends that far especially with a depth of only 11". Any one know of a type of glide that would work for this, or have another solution? [link] [comments] |
| How do you repair scratched hardwood floors? Posted: 16 May 2020 02:31 PM PDT I am staying with my sister at her new house and I set up an office in my room. And the chair I have been sitting on as scratched up there floors. How do I restore this as it was? I feel quite fucked right now. Guys her husband literally said careful with the floors they scratch easy. [link] [comments] |
| What do you call these type of storm window latches? Posted: 16 May 2020 06:17 PM PDT The pins are slowly falling out of our storm windows, making it hard to open them. What is this type called? Is there a way to fix them without replacing the window? Edit: link [link] [comments] |
| Looking to have a walk in shower installed Posted: 16 May 2020 06:16 PM PDT Hey you guys, thinking of having a small walk in shower installed on my bathroom and was wondering what kind of costs am I looking at? Not lookin for anything spectacular just want to get rid of the jetted tub that no one ever uses lol. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 May 2020 06:15 PM PDT I'm looking into buying a lawn mower-up until now we have been paying someone to cut the grass but we want to save money and its not economical to keep doing that. I have about 1/4 acre that needs to be mowed, flat terrain so I don't need anything fancy. Is there a big difference between electric vs. gas? What about repairs? Wanting to make sure we are able to fix our own fairly easily. [link] [comments] |
| Installing a front porch swing? Posted: 16 May 2020 06:07 PM PDT We have a perfect front porch for a bench swing. I've found one I like, but I'm uncertain how to proceed. I assume I need to find the joists in the porch ceiling to hang the bench from, but I'm not sure how to do so without ripping it up? Has anyone installed one of these, or have suggestions for how to go about it? [link] [comments] |
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