Home Improvement Thread

[shmenguin]

I work from home 90% of the time. Setting up my space like that has made me significantly more productive. I look forward to sitting down at my desk first thing in the morning.

[shafnutz05]

I work from home 90% of the time. Setting up my space like that has made me significantly more productive. I look forward to sitting down at my desk first thing in the morning.

If you don't mind me asking, what would a single room like this set you back? If the rest of your home is as clean and organized as your spare bedroom, it puts me to shame.

[dodint]

Saw that, as well. Very cool. I’d consider doing something like that if I were a gamer.

I have a VR rig so it would be lost on me.

[shmenguin]

I work from home 90% of the time. Setting up my space like that has made me significantly more productive. I look forward to sitting down at my desk first thing in the morning.

If you don't mind me asking, what would a single room like this set you back? If the rest of your home is as clean and organized as your spare bedroom, it puts me to shame.

I’m psychopathic with neatness. The rest of the house is pretty much the same. We have a couple of pockets where there’s kid stuff strewn about, but overall, it’s a tight ship.

That’s probably $400-500 or so in lighting, but I could dial it back $150 or so if I got different light fixtures with just one bulb.

[shafnutz05]

Spent about 2 hours so far today putting down black plastic tarp in our garden beds...need to get mulch delivered next week. Feels good getting that down before the weeds/shrubs start growing a mile a minute.

[NTP66]

I spent half of the day outside enjoying the weather. Pressure washed the patio and the mower deck, changed the oil and sharpened the blades on the mower, and then leveled off some ground in the backyard that I had put off for a year. Finished it all off with the first grilling of the season. Overseeding the lawn and seeding the new patch of dirt will probably occur next weekend.

And it’s supposed to be 47 **** degrees on Monday.

[mac5155]

Nice 30 degrees today too

[nocera]

Anybody ever have carpet beedles?

[Kane]

They make creams for that.

[NTP66]

I'm having my driveway replaced, and the original date was last Thursday. Their job on Wednesday ran long and he had to reschedule for this Thursday. He got into an accident on Wednesday with his new 30' trailer, causing the gate to be forced closed, so we rescheduled for today. It drizzled early this morning, and rain is forecast for the rest of the day, so I fully expect him to cancel again.

[robbiestoupe]

I'm having my driveway replaced, and the original date was last Thursday. Their job on Wednesday ran long and he had to reschedule for this Thursday. He got into an accident on Wednesday with his new 30' trailer, causing the gate to be forced closed, so we rescheduled for today. It drizzled early this morning, and rain is forecast for the rest of the day, so I fully expect him to cancel again.

I swear contractors spend half their time coming up with excuses as to why they can't do their job.

"Something was in my eye and I had to go to the doctor"
"I ran into the curb with my truck and bent a rim"
"My kids have syphilis"

OK, the last one was made up, but the other two I heard from a tree guy recently.

[NTP66]

I get that he'd have to cancel due to the rain, though he hasn't called me yet. However, I expect him to reschedule me quickly to get the job done. I'm only going to wait so long.

[shmenguin]

I'm having my driveway replaced, and the original date was last Thursday. Their job on Wednesday ran long and he had to reschedule for this Thursday. He got into an accident on Wednesday with his new 30' trailer, causing the gate to be forced closed, so we rescheduled for today. It drizzled early this morning, and rain is forecast for the rest of the day, so I fully expect him to cancel again.

Are you in south jersey? I have a great mason/ driveway guy

[NTP66]

Nope, I'm in the Philly suburbs.

[LITT]

I had an architect today decline to draw blueprints/schematics for our expansion because he believed the ultimate cost of the project would be $320,000. We had been e-mailing back and forth since Feb 4th. This is to put a 25'x60' slab down and then build rooms up on it on a single level. He made this determination without visiting the property or even communicating outside of e-mail.

Seems excessive. There isn't even any plumbing through any of it. I think he really just wanted off the project when he found out we're trying to keep it closer to $125k. He would only agree to work with us if we pledged to include him in the construction phase and continue paying him for regular inputs.

I called a different architect this morning and he is coming out to the house on Monday to take measurements and talk to us. Fantastic.

We had a kitchen modeler come give an estimate one time and gave us an absurd number. I think that could be a tactic for indirectly telling you they aren't interested in doing your project.

i disagree. people honestly pay this price.

we had someone quote a 440sf deck with a few other things for 45K.

i priced out the materials etc so for the framing and decking with a 10% contigency was 8k and estimated some labor costs and came up with a number i thought was appropriate and he told me well he has to worry about his 401K etc etc (he rolled up in a benz for the quote) and i said to be honest guy, thats not my responsibility. so we built a deck more than twice the size for more than half the price which was great.

but people in my neighborhood have used that company for other stuff so people just pay the prices and dont do their due diligience

[dodint]

I don't think I even bothered to mention how badly it went with the second architect. He did the opposite. Thought the numbers we were tossing around were hard ceilings so he did a design that meets that financial requirement but threw out literally every single other item we talked about. The only thing he got right was the kitchen pantry and that's because it was his idea.

He:
-forgot an entire room.
-built a second garage instead of just adding onto the first one.
-second garage requires the grading and paving of a road through the backyard.
-built a staircase that requires excavation through a cement slab.
-put in a bathroom nobody asked for (no plumbing on that side of the house).
-built my office in a 10x10 cube with no exterior windows
-expanded a bathroom we explicitly told him not to touch (it's already being renovated)
-didn't include a back door

Man, writing that out I want to cut the guy a check to go away.

[Art Vandelay]

Maybe I can be of service.

[Willie Kool]

[willeyeam]

Hope you weren't just going in circles

[NTP66]

Our driveway guy just showed up to start work. His trailer is so long that it takes up the entire curb between my driveway and my neighbor's, and that's not even including the massive dump truck pulling it. I am going to stop what I'm doing when he leaves to see how he plans on getting that thing out of the neighborhood thanks to the small streets.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

he is taking up curb space? Deflate his tires for such an injustice

[meow]

What do you want him to do? Air lift the concrete in?

[NTP66]

What do you want him to do? Air lift the concrete in?

Oh, I'm not complaining at all, just amazed that this is his everyday trailer because of the size. It's got to be a huge pain in the ass to navigate small streets like mine. This is all asphalt work, BTW. Concrete requires less equipment.

[meow]

My comment was directed to that got dang marsupial

[NTP66]

With the new driveway installed, our 'major' renovations are now all complete.