Home renovation

Okay, but that would be "not looking TOO promising". On purpose?? hahahahaha!!
Asshole. Bwahahahahaha!!! I'm bored......

 

You are a-okay in my book, Mr. Dingus.....

 

Lmao

 

1) i wouldn't worry about the vitamin A. Peajays advice was sound.

2) Buying new isn't all its cracked up to be. My soon to be sister in law just bought a million dollar home. Brand new. Ceiling in living room had been destroyed 3 times already due to leaks from the washing machine upstairs, basement flooded due to some issue with the window. Duct work had to be cleaned because someone thought it was a good idea to cut tile with the fan running during construction.

3) As already mentioned, depending on the age of the home, id be more concerned with the plumbing and electrical. Old electrical can be sketchy and shoddy plumbing can cause allot of headaches. And mold.

And to metards point #3..... he's sorta right. But if you know what your doing and know what to look for it is a smart choice. Gutting the entire place and redoing everything is a diffrent story. But you can save/make allot if you don't take on a project to big

 

Yeah I have family in the greater Raleigh sprawl where HOA developments went up everywhere over the last 15 years. Those houses are largely crap because by the time you figure out the developer's concrete sub-contracter poured a bad slab, all the entities you could ask for compensation for the repairs are gone. If you work with a long time, established builder maybe that's fine but that is premium money. The cheaper option will outsource everything with no accountability and you're getting a house made with the lowest grade materials maybe with some nice topical surfaces like a HW floor or granite counters.

If you buy an old house that's solid, you know the foundation is sound, if the roof leaks, etc...

 

where are u located at?my buddy has a home renovation business,does good work and I don't think he'll overcharge like most people.if ur in nj shoot me a message

 

I'm actually in the process of trying to buy a house.i checked out a place yesterday that I really liked but it has some questionable structural issues in the basement,i don't really know how bad it is.simple supports wouldn't be bad because I do structural work and can probably get the material pretty cheap and install myself plus I have an engineer at my job.

don't really know how the whole process goes about for stuff like that.i checked out a house a few weeks ago that had a huge yard and little creek running aside it and I check the side and see the ground has eroded away and looks like the house is falling into the water so that was no Bueno.im not too concerned with cosmetics I'm pretty handy and can fix by myself but the structural is the only thing that really concerns me

 

^^^^^ I'm in the same boat. Getting married in September. After that I'm looking for a house. So me and the lady have been looking around. We saw a gorgeous house last week. But it was an old house. Some of the electrical was upgraded to romex but not all. New tankless water heater but rest of plumbing is old and no telling what kind of shape its in. House was done up nice but just had that super old feeling where you know there is issues.

Lady loved the place. I didn't. The cosmetics were nice. But easy to do ones self. Paint, refinishing cabinets, and a backlash. All easy to get done. The tankless water heater i could get cheap and install myself as well as the electrical upgrades, as that's what i do for a living.

We could buy a newer/bigger home for cheaper and do those upgrades myself and save/make money as opposed to spending an extra 100,000 for some easy cosmetics and work i do for a living. Don't want a full blown fixer upper. But also don't want to spend extra on simple easy upgrades that most are either too lazy or not capable of doing. Just got to look for good infrastructure and ignore the cosmetics till you find the one

 

Im thinking of moving my house a little to the left, at my wife's request......it is not perfectly centered on lot, so it really puts frost on my pumpkin.

 

I bought a similar house, for cheap in a good neighborhood. It was a short sale, built in 1970 and was a complete gut.

Metard had some good insight. It's not easy or fun! And sometimes the money will add up to the same in the end.

For me- it was not being able to afford a house in nj so after years of looking, this was our one option for a house in a better neighborhood. I ended up doing a majority of the work myself. It wore me out and added about 5/10 yrs to my life.. it's a lot of work, but ended up working out in the end.

You'll want to save money on certain things and do them yourself, like demo. And buying products directly from a retailer for the contractor to install (toilets, cabinet etc) kind of be your own contractor and hire specific guys for each job. You'll end up paying big bucks with a contractor - but less head ache, you can choose.

If I had to do it again, I would... plus I know my house inside out now, which is nice. A bit of advise, new sheet rock is fairly cheap considering- plus you can re-insulate since most old houses have a low R value insulation. (If any insulation) and insulation is a job you could easily do. Also new windows are nice too. Then you can save money on future heat/ac bills. Hardwood floors are fairly cheap to refinish 1.5$/sq ft. Remember to get multiple quotes too...

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. If your in the Monmouth nj area and want recommendations, just ask. One of the better companies I used was Integrity Electrical, the owner is a great guy and local surfer.

 

^^^Very good point about buying products yourself. Contractors will markup anything they buy for a job. Gotta make there money too.

 

Agree. My parents house, and dozens of other houses in their neighborhood from that era have it. 75 years of three houses back from the ocean, its like new...except its in need of a coat of paint at the moment
Its a very inert material.

When contractors tear down these old houses with asbestos shingles, they have to landfill this material separately from the rest of the construction debris. Then they built a new house, triple the size, usually with some sort of inferior siding.

 

while i agree with you i would like to add a point of caution to doing this. SOME products sold at the big box stores will be much cheaper than those found in specialty stores. for example, you go to lowes or home depot and a kholer shower or faucet set is $30. you see the (almost) identical set at a plumbing or bath store. the one at the plumbing/bath store is $50. You say "man, glad I shopped around. i'm gonna go back to the home depot/lowes and get it there!"




the ones at the big box stores will have plastic fittings instead of metal. plastic fittings tend to break easier then metal. big box stores sell the same brands of a lot of products with inferior parts. beware.

 

come on guys, he spelled it as-best-os he could

 

Solid point. In my situation specifically, i can go to a supply house (who only sell to contractors) and get the contractors price. If your not in a trade and don't have that access, asking a contractor buddy to use his account and you pay him cash is an option.

Some contractors are straight up thieves though. Charge you a 50-100% mark up.

 

Best to buy new-ish. Kinks worked out, but not too old yet to need rehab.