Tales of the remodel?

[BTWheezy]

Mrs. Wheezy and I live in a great house, but the front door has been an eyesore for us since we moved in 15 years ago.  A month ago, we mentally committed to replacing the door with something architecturally appropriate and pleasing to us both.  And now (as many of you could see coming), we are in the midst of choosing new carpet, tile, hardwood floors, and interior paint.  Mrs. Wheezy has stated more than once, “This started out just replacing the door!”

Any similar examples to share that might make us feel better? 

- Wheezy

[FireMedic]

We are about to in the next week or so have both bathrooms ripped up and started fresh. New floors, walk-in shower in the master, closet added and so on. Then on to new floors in the livingroom and hallways with new carpet in the bedrooms.  Can't wait haha

[Fuzz]

Last year, I just wanted to replace the upstairs carpet with laminate floorboards. Ended up re-painting the entire house (including the pergola), ripping up 110sqm of pavers under the pergola and replacing with travertine tiles (including a new staircase), enclosed the pergola with motorised outdoor blinds , still waiting for the outdoor kitchen to be built, and also installing a new Asko induction cooktop replacing the old gas cooktop (and I have to enlarge the cutout in the 30mm granite benchtop). All up, probably around $100k in renovations, up from the original plan of $12k for the new flooring.

[Habana Mike]

Kelly got a full master bath refurbish after her first trip to Cuba with me as her payback for the cigars I bought. Cost easily 5x more.....

Just finished repainting most of the interior walls and trim, now on to new carpet throughout. 

Before that's in she's on to redoing the kitchen cabinets....

And of course we'll need some new furniture with the color changes.

It never ends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No worries though as she rarely bugs me about the cigars, so all good!

[Kitchen]

We bought a house 6 months ago that we knew was a complete redo, and even so, we still found many things to do that we were not expecting.  Mind you, we went into this knowing the house needed to be completely rewired, the entire stack and sanitary T needed to be replaced, the roof needed a lot of work, the entire kitchen cabinets and appliances needed to be replaced, etc.  Now mind you it is a great house; 1950 construction with a stone foundation 18 inches thick and three whyth brick walls all in great shape.  So it was a worth wild investment, especially considering what we got it for.  

However, even after this, we still found many things we were not expecting.  For instance, the kitchen also needed an entire new sub-floor and all new framing.  (My favorite part of that was half of one kitchen wall was framed out with crown molding.)  The entire drawn line for the sink and gas line for the stove needed to be replaced, chimney needed pointing, the walls, all of which are either plaster on brick or lathe, needed repair, etc.  The entire house needed to be painted, which was about 35 gallons of paint and primer.  So yes, it is kind of amazing how when you start a house project how it just grows in size.  

Thankfully the floors are in great shape, all of the joists are rock solid, and we were able to find a house with radiator heat already built in.  (Forced hot air is just horrible.)  

Now that we have been living here for a few months, it is great to have a place truly built to suit your tastes.  Although we still have baseboards and molding to finish up.  

[Guest Nekhyludov]

My last two houses were fixer uppers that I did myself on weekends. Great houses, great investments, but the kind of places that are only truly finished the day you sell them.

I thought I had had enough of remodeling projects, so now we've bought new construction in a bandaid beige subdivision. And I hate it. 

[Phillys]

I don't even want to start...

Bought my first house at 22, got it really cheap, it was a fixer upper. Ended up doing basement, kitchen, two bathrooms, ceilings roof, some brick repointing, windows, doors, retainer wall and driveway, huge deck with pergola, re-sod, fence... you get the drift. Did it all with my brother, ended up spending about 50% of what I paid for it over 8 years of renovations. A year after it was all done, decided to sell it, just had kids and didn't like the school district. 

Before selling the first one, bought another house to rent. Figured I would do the bathroom and rent it, the rest wasn't that bad. Rented it for 5 years like that, when I sold the first one, moved into the rental. Figured I would just do the kitchen and the basement. Ended up doing a bathroom with a shower in the basement, full kitchen, floors throughout, windows, door, plumbing, deck out back, soffits and fascia, bit of siding, driveway... should make a killing on this one also. And now that it's almost all done, I am looking at house in a nicer neighborhood. Great house, looks like it needs a bit of work!

My wife hates it, but I like houses in older neighborhoods. The hedges are higher, bigger yards, I usually don't like the interior styles, so I find the nicest shell with a nice private backyard, gut the place and modernize the hell out of it. Also helps that one of my best mates is a contractor who is hyper active and my brother is a carpenter. Plus ROI has been pretty good.  

[BTWheezy]

11 hours ago, Kitchen said:

 (My favorite part of that was half of one kitchen wall was framed out with crown molding.)  

I’ve swung plenty of hammers in my time, but I’m seriously trying to figure out how you’d even do this.  I can only imaging your reaction doing the demo and you came across *that*!  ?

[BTWheezy]

12 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Last year, I just wanted to replace the upstairs carpet with laminate floorboards. Ended up re-painting the entire house (including the pergola), ripping up 110sqm of pavers under the pergola and replacing with travertine tiles (including a new staircase), enclosed the pergola with motorised outdoor blinds , still waiting for the outdoor kitchen to be built, and also installing a new Asko induction cooktop replacing the old gas cooktop (and I have to enlarge the cutout in the 30mm granite benchtop). All up, probably around $100k in renovations, up from the original plan of $12k for the new flooring.

@Fuzz OK...NOW I’m feeling better!  Quick math suggests about a 10:1 budget explosion from the original carpet project.  We are more like 7:1, but with a lower baseline.  Originally, the door was budgeted around $5K, and now we are looking at $30-35K all in.  On the upside, I’ve done a lot of the prep/demo work myself (tile removal is a particularly crappy job), and my sister works in this industry so we are getting new tile and carpet materials at a significant discount. 

[LLC]

I keep buying cigars and going to Havana and my wife keeps doing things to the house. Everyone’s happy .

Great thing is she does most of it herself and is very handy and talented. Most recent was all new carpet yesterday but that was professionally done. Must say I didn’t think it needed doing but it looks way better now.


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[Fuzz]

17 minutes ago, BTWheezy said:

@Fuzz OK...NOW I’m feeling better!  Quick math suggests about a 10:1 budget explosion from the original carpet project.  We are more like 7:1, but with a lower baseline.  Originally, the door was budgeted around $5K, and now we are looking at $30-35K all in.  On the upside, I’ve done a lot of the prep/demo work myself (tile removal is a particularly crappy job), and my sister works in this industry so we are getting new tile and carpet materials at a significant discount. 

My expenditure just went up again, as I have decided to replace my old gas oven/grill combo with a double oven to go with the induction cooktop. I still have more renos to do.

Stage 1: Repaint the entire house - complete

Stage 2: Replace upstairs carpet with new laminate floor and carpet staircase - complete

Stage 3: Enclose outdoor area - almost complete (still need outdoor kitchen and wire up a TV and sound system)

Stage 4: Remodel kitchen - originally slated for mid 2019, just starting with the cooktop and oven for now

Stage 5: Update ensuite and main bathroom - scheduled for 2020

I'm guessing by the time I'm done, it will be around $200-250k in renos. All started from wanting to replace the upstairs carpet.

[rcarlson]

Wheezy, how're the built in humi-cabinets working out?  I followed the progress of your project and wondered if they did the job.  

[BTWheezy]

On 3/10/2019 at 7:01 AM, rcarlson said:

Wheezy, how're the built in humi-cabinets working out?  I followed the progress of your project and wondered if they did the job.  

They turned out really well, thanks. They’re of course Tetris-full, so I built another 2 desktop humidors.  I’ve been noodling on a big ass cabinet humidor once this remodel wraps up.  I’ll post progress pics if you’re interested. 

The Wheeze

[koosh]

On 3/9/2019 at 11:15 AM, Fuzz said:

My expenditure just went up again, as I have decided to replace my old gas oven/grill combo with a double oven to go with the induction cooktop. I still have more renos to do.

Stage 1: Repaint the entire house - complete

Stage 2: Replace upstairs carpet with new laminate floor and carpet staircase - complete

Stage 3: Enclose outdoor area - almost complete (still need outdoor kitchen and wire up a TV and sound system)

Stage 4: Remodel kitchen - originally slated for mid 2019, just starting with the cooktop and oven for now

Stage 5: Update ensuite and main bathroom - scheduled for 2020

I'm guessing by the time I'm done, it will be around $200-250k in renos. All started from wanting to replace the upstairs carpet.

 

[rcarlson]

5 hours ago, BTWheezy said:

They turned out really well, thanks. They’re of course Tetris-full, so I built another 2 desktop humidors.  I’ve been noodling on a big ass cabinet humidor once this remodel wraps up.  I’ll post progress pics if you’re interested. 

The Wheeze

Would love to see 'em.  

[CigarAsh]

This is a timely thread. I'm almost 60 and mulling retirement someday in the near future. Wife and I decided we like our home, our neighborhood and city. So instead of retiring someplace warm (we'll travel to warm places a lot instead), we'll put money into the house.

So far:

1) New 700 sq ft deck and deck furniture. Done in October

2) Starting Monday, the driveway guy comes to relay our brick paver driveway, and hopefully do it correctly this time! Also redoing the back brick paver patio below the deck. 

3) Then the master bathroom demo and remodel starts.

4) then the kitchen counters, backsplash and appliances

5) then the entryway tile ripped up and new relaid.

6) Wife originally wanted hardwoods through main floor (currently only in our kitchen and dining room) - but opted to just recarpet. I'm so lucky. 

THEN, if we like all that, we move to things upstairs that need to be done.  My wife is a true OCD clean freak. I'm thinking the next 2 months of my life are going to be a nightmare when the house looks like a war zone. Pray for me brothers. 

 

 

 

[Colt45]

rent and keep your weekends free.....

[FireMedic]

Phase 1 of our double bathroom remodel began today, my head is killing me

[Fuzz]

@CigarAsh have a look at Berry Alloc wood laminate flooring. I got it done for my upstairs and love it. Very easy to clean, just a quick vacuum with the Dyson V10 and mop with one of those spray mop thingymabobs (I have the Bona mop). If your house is well insulated, them the floor won't change much with the temp, but if not, it will get cold (the floor in the room above my garage gets really cold in winter). I went for the Grand Avenue Via Veneto (2.4m long, 24cm wide) as it has the highest wear rating (AC6) and a lifetime residential warranty.

[CigarAsh]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

@CigarAsh have a look at Berry Alloc wood laminate flooring. I got it done for my upstairs and love it. Very easy to clean, just a quick vacuum with the Dyson V10 and mop with one of those spray mop thingymabobs (I have the Bona mop). If your house is well insulated, them the floor won't change much with the temp, but if not, it will get cold (the floor in the room above my garage gets really cold in winter). I went for the Grand Avenue Via Veneto (2.4m long, 24cm wide) as it has the highest wear rating (AC6) and a lifetime residential warranty.

Fuzz, You point this out like I actually have a say in any of this!  I don’t really care about wood vs carpet.  It’s the wife’s call and if she’s happy then I’m freakin ecstatic!

[Fuzz]

25 minutes ago, CigarAsh said:

Fuzz, You point this out like I actually have a say in any of this!  I don’t really care about wood vs carpet.  It’s the wife’s call and if she’s happy then I’m freakin ecstatic!

Well, being an OCD clean freak, she would understand that floorboard are infinitely easier to clean than carpet, which can trap in dirt.

But yes, happy wife, happy life. Not that I have any experience in this area.