Home Improvement: Architect being difficult; refuses to provide drawings for our home |
- Architect being difficult; refuses to provide drawings for our home
- Should I get recessed lights installed?
- What is this part in my toilet tank called? I feel like it’s not seeking and water is leaking out, causing the tank to randomly run in order to add water
- Professionally running ethernet cable between 2 floors
- Basement finishing $65-80K for 800 sq ft + bath
- Building a privacy fence
- How do I fix this broken shower soap holder tile thing?
- We pulled up all the carpet, staples, and tack strips and when they came to sand and finish the floors all of the holes from the tack strips are still there. Is that normal?
- Garage door spring repair cost
- Humidity Issues
- Firing General Contractor - can I use his subs?
- Looking for feedback on my kitchen remodel plans. (Pacific NW)
- Do I need an underlayment for porcelain tile on concrete?
- What is the best way to treat mold in basement (was flooded)?
- I just want my front porch to look nice for a couple years
- Never needed a generator until now, so any idea what size I'd need?
- Help Draining Standing Water From A French Drain
- Installing the new backsplash over old laminate backsplash - good or bad idea?
- Connect ceiling light to a outlet plug?
- Product recommendations for sand texture?
- Concrete patch
- How much rebar to use for this retaining wall?
- I want to change my kitchen cabinet hinges to soft close. Can I get a replacement for my current hinges?
- House remodel - crack in wall appears.
- In case of leakage and water damage, is it sufficient to check for mold on the wall surface only?
| Architect being difficult; refuses to provide drawings for our home Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:49 PM PDT Our home was designed by a local architect a few years ago. We are now looking to make some exterior improvements on our home and have begun working with a structural engineer to help with the plans. The problem is, the engineer is unable to find the information he needs to complete his design for us. He asked that we try to get any kind of design documents/drawings that may help him, as he can't easily begin designing a solution for us without them. And frankly, I wouldn't want him working without this information in-hand, either. We first reached out to the city licensing and inspections office, but they are closed due to the pandemic and we can't get anyone to help out. Not to mention, we've found that its likely they no longer have those documents on file due to the age of the house (10 years). We then reached out to the builder, who forwarded us to the architect, to get these documents. The first time we called, the architect said he would provide them. But after not hearing back, we followed up a few times (as did our engineer), but none of us are able to get anywhere with this guy. The most recent reason was that he does not give out any non-public drawings. As someone who has never worked with an architect before, what would be the reason for this? Why would he refuse to give a homeowner documents on their home? Would he be worried that he would be held liable if anything were to happen? Is he worried about copyright infringement? Certainly we can work around those concerns if it gets to that point. What else could it be? But more importantly, is there anything else I can do or say to coax him into helping us out? We've been friendly enough with him, and only reach out every few weeks, but he still refuses to help out. This is putting work on hold that would benefit our family and ultimately make our house more enjoyable. And I think its just due to pure laziness. [link] [comments] |
| Should I get recessed lights installed? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:04 AM PDT Hello Folks, I am in the process of doing some slight renovations to my house. I am currently in a 1 story rambler. I am doing painting, replacing flooring, installing a new vanity in my bathroom, upgrading my cabinets to the color white, and replacing all of my appliances. Now, I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and have recessed lighting put in all around my house. I had an electrician give me a quote and he said it would cost me around $2300 for everything. $400 dollars out of that $2300 would be for the materials. The remainder is the labor. The square footage for my house if about 1300. Would you guys proceed with getting recessed lights put in everywhere or is it just a waste of money? Also, he would be installing 6 inch cans everywhere, plus providing the LED's, dimmers, and switches. UPDATED INFO: 28 CANS would be installed. Also, I have a ceiling and then an attic which is insulated with a bunch of cellulose everywhere in there. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:38 PM PDT |
| Professionally running ethernet cable between 2 floors Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:29 PM PDT I need some advice. I live in a two story home. The modem/router from my ISP is located on the first floor. Wireless connectivity is terrible on the second floor. I want to run a cat6 ethernet port to the second floor directly above the modem and connect a router upstairs to improve connection. I was initially going to do this myself, but, figured I'd rather have someone else do it professionally as I'm just not comfortable drilling through the two floors and don't really have the tools to do a clean job without a lot of drywall work. Called one electrician and he said that he was going to have to cut out a section of drywall to drill between the floors - not what I'm looking for, I don't want to have to do a bunch of drywall patching and at that point it seems like I'm paying someone to do what I can easily do.. I can tear up my walls just fine by myself, but I am willing to pay someone to do it clean..I asked if he had a flex bit for a "clean job" and he said "electricians don't carry flex bits". Uh, ok. Called a second electrician and he came out and said I have multiple horizontal studs that he would have to drill through which would leave holes all down the wall that would need patched. So my question is... wtf... do I just suck it up and do this myself and deal with the drywall patching? Is drilling between two floors hard? Is this a normal job for electricians to do? I don't know who else would do something like this. Help me out Reddit. [link] [comments] |
| Basement finishing $65-80K for 800 sq ft + bath Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:32 PM PDT We're in MD. Just had a convo with a design build firm, great company it seems, and good to work with - if you had the money. They said a project like mine would cost $65-80K, depending on options chosen. It's an L-shaped basement, one room, one bathroom, rest open concept. ~800 square feet. Is it just me or does it seem way way way way out there in the high range? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:32 AM PDT Hello guys. I'm 23 years old with little knowledge on a lot of things. Since this is all new to me I was really hoping you guys could point me in the right direction on how to build a privacy fence for the house me and my girl just bought. Any tips, tricks, or guides you guys could give me will be appreciated more than you know. I just really want to do this myself (as it will feel great knowing I did it and not someone else) and want this to go as smooth as possible. Thank you all in advance! [link] [comments] |
| How do I fix this broken shower soap holder tile thing? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:10 PM PDT My kid decided that the soap holder was load bearing, and decided to use it to have some fun in the bath until he fell down and hurt himself, and broke it off the wall. It looks like there is no tileboard or anything behind it. How am I supposed to fix this? Should I just glue it back in place? What kind of glue should I use? Should I seek professional help? Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/6Tknct8 [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 04:38 PM PDT It's mostly evident in doorways to bed rooms but obviously same deal along all the walls. Are they supposed to replace the actual pieces of wood or is the sanding/finishing process supposed to conceal them Edit: if I wasn't clear, they've already finished the job and the holes are still there [link] [comments] |
| Garage door spring repair cost Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:51 PM PDT Woke up this morning to find my garage door not working properly. The door would open about an inch then go right back down. Tried some DIY and otherwise had no luck but turns out one of the springs on top of the door when its closed is broken - it looks like its been cut off in two. I got quoted $290 from one place and $350 from another to replace my single spring with a dual spring system (not sure if this is the exact term). Does this seem relatively in line with what it would cost for a parts and labor repair by a professional? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:30 PM PDT Purchased a two story home in the upstate of South Carolina, USA approx 40 years in age. We've noticed recently that the upstairs feels damp. Placed two humidity sensors upstairs and downstairs. The upstairs average is 60% humidity and has gotten over 70%. Downstairs is less so - usually 50% give or take a bit. Temp is 70F and we keep the A/C fan on auto both up and downstairs. Had A/C tech come out. He cleaned out our two units outside, cleared the condensation drainpipe blockage, and increased the blower speed. The handler for upstairs is in crawlspace and other in attic. It still feels humid through the house. The attic probably needs new insulation. Don't see any standing water anywhere. Windows are in fine shape. I don't know what to focus on or what the problem is. A/C? Insulation? [link] [comments] |
| Firing General Contractor - can I use his subs? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:08 PM PDT Long story short, after an array of issues with our GC for a large renovation job (100k+) on our home, we discover no permits were pulled for our project. We were charged for them in the contract. We were charged for a supervisors salary - one was not provided. GC has to be hounded to pay the subs. He's been on the site maybe 3 times and there's been absolutely no management. There is construction garbage everywhere and many mistakes made due to no one checking up, Part of the contract was fixed and part was time and materials. The fixed part was a line item list of cost for each subcontractor and then a line for the GC's fee (percentage). We found later that the actual subcontractors price was several thousand lower than what was on the line in the contract for those subs. We may be in the wrong here though - is it kosher for a GC to "double dip" - mark up a subs price, put that price on the contract and THEN add his percentage fee? After finding out the guy never pulled permits, I called the state and found out his license expired in 2015. I hired an attorney, wanting to get some advice on how to navigate this and make things right with permits and inspections, knowing there will likely be tear outs. We know that if he's unlicensed, his contract is null, so we can fire him easily with no recourse possible. ... but we still have a LOT of work to do (we are past the date of completion on the project but house is only half finished). We've stopped all "permit" work but we still have other workers in there who are the "gc's" subs. After we get him to pay (with our money) two more payments we are going to fire him, but the subs want to continue working for us directly. They've done good work and they all hate the GC with his history of nonpayment or late payment. Since he's unlicensed (well, my lawyer says there's a 1% chance it's hidden under some other name) does he even have any legal claim on the subs? Is continuing to work with "his" people even a good idea? [link] [comments] |
| Looking for feedback on my kitchen remodel plans. (Pacific NW) Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:01 PM PDT Link to current layout and current top plan: https://imgur.com/a/3N5p0kD Hi all, looking for feedback and critiques of my kitchen remodel plans! The house has some sentimental value (only prior owners were husband's grandparents) and is in an amazing location, so I'm not really concerned about how changes will affect the resale value since we're planning to live here indefinitely. My house was built in the early 1950s, with a back room addition sometime in the late 80s-early 90s. Both the original and the addition are fairly unadorned, it seems like the all the options were picked from pretty standard, subdued options that were available at the time. Still, I'd like to keep any new changes respectful to the era of the house. I've seen too many otherwise really nice older houses with a kitchen that shared nothing in common with the rest of the house. The top priorities for the remodel are to make the easiest path to the dining room from the bedrooms no longer route through the cooking zone of the kitchen, have counter space on either side of the cooktop, have a dishwasher, and have a deeper than counter depth space for pastries and bread. I really like how the current top plan lets people walk straight from the front door to the back yard, and how there are multiple routes to get out of the way of the person cooking. Current plans for design elements are white cabinet boxes, painted cabinet doors with the 40s-60s style 1/4" overlay and exposed hinges, rounded open shelves at the ends of the upper cabinets, soapstone countertops, bringing the hardwood floors found in the rest of the house into the kitchen, and stainless steel appliances. I've tried to find a good cabinet supplier that has both the door style I want and a base open shelf, but have been unsuccessful so far - Conestoga used to make the shelves, and has the right door style, and other still have the shelves but not the doors. Also not sure if giving up the enclosed cabinet space will be worth it - we don't really use the one existing open base shelf. I'm less sure about the soapstone - I love the feel, look, and the durability of the stone, but laminate would be a lot cheaper, easier to install ourselves, and more era appropriate. Retro-styled appliances are really cute and would fit right in, but they're so expensive for the quality that I'm leaning heavily toward just getting modern appliances and exploring vinyl wrapping after we've lived with them for a bit. Suggestions that family and friends have made: Add a small sink to the island (from grandma), get a Frigidaire single unit fridge single unit freezer combo (mom). [link] [comments] |
| Do I need an underlayment for porcelain tile on concrete? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:58 PM PDT It seems there is no universal agreed upon answer for this. I wanted to get some real world answers about this. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| What is the best way to treat mold in basement (was flooded)? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 08:16 PM PDT Hello /r/homeimprovement, Last May, my parent's basement was flooded due to water coming out of the sprinkler pipe. As a result, it flooded the carpet floor. My dad used a wet/dry vacuum and left the floor fan for a few nights. He also left the dehumidifier on but he turned it off for some reason. Recently, I contacted a mold inspection company through Angie's List and they came to the house and tested the carpet, closet, and baseboard. After the inspector left, he submitted the samples to the lab (EMSL). The results showed the samples tested positive for aspergilius and chaetomium. The inspector gave me a quote of $3,000 to remediate the basement. My mom thought it was too expensive and she wants to replace the carpet with tile floors. What is the better way to go about it? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| I just want my front porch to look nice for a couple years Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:07 PM PDT The previous owner of my house painted or stained the front porch just before I moved it. After 3 months it looks like this. https://imgur.com/a/aUdKXVi I'm exhausted going through all the reviews of solid and semi solid stains that apparently just flake off. I'll do the prep work. I'll scrape, I'll pressure wash, I'll sand. Just tell me what products to use to make it look brown again! I'm selling it next summer so it just has to last until then, but if I can make it last longer for the next owner, even better! [link] [comments] |
| Never needed a generator until now, so any idea what size I'd need? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:54 PM PDT CT resident here who hasn't had power for over 24 hours now and it's already starting to get really troublesome. I understand that voltage/amperage of my devices in my house can greatly affect the size of the generator that I need, so I'll outline my house and maybe someone here can give me some sort of recommendation. My house basically has all electric everything. Electric heat, water heater, stove, fridge, dryer, washer, and obviously lights. I own a 1300sqft house that's a single level with a well (and a well pump). My wife and I just had a ductless heating/cooling system installed in 4 rooms in our house with a single condenser unit in hopes that it would heat better and more efficiently than baseboard heating. I assume that would take the largest load on the system, so I went and looked and the max voltage it would use is 253v, and the max amps on that is 50 amps. Right now we are using a friend's generator that can handle 26amps, so we're only running the fridge (8amps) and a single air conditioning unit (also 8 amps) off of it since our house is almost 90 degrees. Both are working very well and we havent lost any food to spoiling yet. So what size generator would I need to be able to run my house? I can go without laundry or using the stove for a week or 2 at a time; but showering, getting water from our well, and being able to flush the toilet are a lot more important than I realized. [link] [comments] |
| Help Draining Standing Water From A French Drain Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:47 PM PDT When my house was built, there was a problem with the daylight drain portion of my french drain that was supposed to help water escape from my foundation. It was either never installed or was completely covered when the lawn team was grading the yard. Either way we had a big problem in our basement after some heavy rains and the warranty team came out and laid a "new" daylight drain that connects to the drainage around the house lets out about 12 feet from my house down a gentle hill in the backyard. (sorry, you can't really appreciate the hill in this picture, but there is one). My struggle is that the tube, (which appears to be like a corrugated plastic tube) that they used for the drain never seems to completely drain as you can see here: (this picture was taken after a couple of dry days) I was thinking maybe I can use a drill and a pretty long drill bit to drill holes in the last 6-12 inches of the drain pipe and I can dig up some of the dirt under the pipe and replace with gravel. And while I don't think the grass is really holding water in, I was thinking I'd also make a small gravel bed around where the drain lets out to keep the area clear. Do you think that'll work? Does anyone have additional suggestions? Thanks. [link] [comments] |
| Installing the new backsplash over old laminate backsplash - good or bad idea? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 05:53 PM PDT Hello All! Currently renovating our kitchen and just removed the upper cabinets. Photo here. The laminate backsplash is secured on with with some sort of of adhesive that dried into a rock hard plastic type mortar (brown stuff pictured above). I can barely get a utility knife through it let alone any type of scrapper. This is our inspiration for the new kitchen. Since we want the back splash to go from counter top to ceiling, would it make a huge difference to try and remove the laminate? It's less than an 1/8 thick so does not change the plane of the wall THAT much but I have never installed tile before so I really don't know. I was planning on using mesh backed tile like this. [link] [comments] |
| Connect ceiling light to a outlet plug? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:32 PM PDT Hello I am trying to install a ceiling in my study room (I live in a 2B2b Condo). Since the room has no ceiling light, I am thinking of installing a 36w LED light fixture and convert the wire to a plug as there is one socket in the room that be controlled by the switch, so I can just plug it in. But since I have not done it before, I am wondering if this is possible, if so what kit do I need. I simply want it to work like a floor lamp. This is the light I am looking at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086JP5Y91/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2L833LUWY3CP9&psc=1 Thanks a lot. [link] [comments] |
| Product recommendations for sand texture? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:07 PM PDT Hi all. I'm doing a bunch of patch work on popped drywall screws, holes from curtain hardware, and other various dings. I'm looking for recommendations on how to match the sand texture finish in my house. Are the additives you mix with the paint of your choice the way to go? Or is it better to use the pre-mixed stuff then paint over? I appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks! Edit: Adding picture for reference. https://imgur.com/gallery/rcvp1vi [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:58 PM PDT I have a hole in my sidewalk large enough for my size 10 foot to fit in. It's in the center of one of the squares and busting out/replacing the whole thing isn't an option right now I need to know how to fix it and what materials to use so that it holds up through the tough Midwest winter [link] [comments] |
| How much rebar to use for this retaining wall? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:12 PM PDT I am having a retaining wall built in my backyard, and I have some questions that I'm hoping someone can answer:
Thanks for any info! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:11 PM PDT Here are what I have. I looked around for Blum hinges that would just be a straight replacement but can't seem to find anything. Can anyone help me out? [link] [comments] |
| House remodel - crack in wall appears. Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:02 PM PDT My wife and I just bought our first house and have been here for two weeks. The house was remodeled and in the process two walls were removed to open the floor plan. The contractors that did the remodel have done many flips in the area and know what they are doing (I think/thought). I'm almost positive one was load bearing. Tonight I noticed a crack appeared on the wall that is directly perpendicular to the ceiling where the wall was removed. It's a very thin jagged line and I don't see any other cracks in the downstairs where the same wall would be. What concerns should I have and be looking for? [link] [comments] |
| In case of leakage and water damage, is it sufficient to check for mold on the wall surface only? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:00 PM PDT We had a leak in our kitchen that went through the floor to the garage below. The source was identified and fixed (an old faucet valve). We did find some mold near the leak, and had that fixed. My question is about the garage below. The ceilings and walls were clearly wet but now have been thoroughly dried with fans. I don't see any visible mold. Should I still open up the drywall to check? [link] [comments] |
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