DIY Home Improvement Thread..

[HOF44]

Does this seem reasonable, including materials and labor?

It really depends on the material cost. Could be in line could be high. We had hardwood, not laminate installed in our kitchen family room, which is one large area for about 4500 4 years ago. Sounds a little high for vinyl, ok for tile or wood depending on the quality of the tile or wood.

[Forehead]

It really depends on the material cost. Could be in line could be high. We had hardwood, not laminate installed in our kitchen family room, which is one large area for about 4500 4 years ago. Sounds a little high for vinyl, ok for tile or wood depending on the quality of the tile or wood.

And honestly, I don't know, there wasn't a breakdown on the estimate. I know my wife would prefer the rollout kind because she wants as few seams as possible. I'll definitely be asking for specifics. This is part of a larger project that includes painting and installing a new vanity and medicine cabinet in the bathroom, but we needed to outsource this part of the job due to time constraints.

[HOF44]

And honestly, I don't know, there wasn't a breakdown on the estimate. I know my wife would prefer the rollout kind because she wants as few seams as possible. I'll definitely be asking for specifics. This is part of a larger project that includes painting and installing a new vanity and medicine cabinet in the bathroom, but we needed to outsource this part of the job due to time constraints.

The place we used is a little flooring shop in Mapledale Plaze in Dale City. It's been 4 years and not sure how they weathered the recession, but worth getting an estimate from them. They did a really good job on our floor.

[zoony]

A good rule of thumb is to figure up your material cost ( what it would cost you) and double it

[pointyfootball]

Alright, new question. My wife and I are planning on getting new kitchen flooring put in, but we're having a company do it because we want it done in a day, and it would take us longer because we're slow doing these things. We just got a quote from one company for $3,375, and I want to know if that's a good price.

Assuming about 550-600sqft of flooring, I would think your materials cost for sheet vinyl would be less than $1,200, unless you're going with extreme top-end product. The labor of tearing up old & removing/reinstalling toilet & appliances is what is driving the price up. Seems a bit high to me, but I'm cheap when it comes to paying someone to do work inside my house. Wouldn't hurt to get a couple of other businesses out to give you an estimate.

PF

[Elessar78]

Not exactly home improvement but it's DIY: http://filmflap.blogspot.com/2011/11...frugalpod.html

I'm going to make this so we can take better video of my soccer team's games.

[pointyfootball]

Not exactly home improvement but it's DIY: http://filmflap.blogspot.com/2011/11...frugalpod.html

I'm going to make this so we can take better video of my soccer team's games.

Wouldn't a 10' step ladder work just as well? And be easier to "build"?

[Park City Skins]

Ask for a breakdown of the estimate. Contractor should be able to do that.

[Elessar78]

Wouldn't a 10' step ladder work just as well? And be easier to "build"?

We have parents with issues of standing on a 10' ladder for 60 minutes. haha. Plus we can keep this more steady than hand held that high.

[pointyfootball]

We have parents with issues of standing on a 10' ladder for 60 minutes. haha. Plus we can keep this more steady than hand held that high.

Gotcha. I used to have a kid on my soccer team who's dad was a professional videoagrapher (sp?) and he would give a fantastic video to me after each game. Was nice to have when I had a chance to watch & learn from it.

[Park City Skins]

We have parents with issues of standing on a 10' ladder for 60 minutes. haha. Plus we can keep this more steady than hand held that high.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Okay. Now I have to go back to the attic to see if they braced parts of the roof to a couple of the nonbearing walls or didn't make sure the walls below some of the rafters were supported in the crawl space. Speaking of the crawl space. Before I make any improvements to the house above,I'm going to have to take care of that wonderful situation I showed earlier. I think/hope I have a plan. I've done some retro fit stuff,so I know Simpson makes some good post to concrete connectors and I'll be getting some post to beam connectors as well. After some time leveling and stringing and such,I'll jack up the beams,(sloooooowly and possibly over a week or more),then remove the existing post,put in the concrete to post connector,cut a new post then install it. Rinse. Repeat. A lot. Sigh.

[Elessar78]

We've been getting pummeled with snow for about 12 hours and it's forecast to keep going until 11 am tomorrow. I've just cleared about 45 feet of crushed rock driveway. Is paving a driveway a DIY job or is this best left to the pros?

[Major Harris]

My big project creeps along. Almost all sub-flooring is laid,roughing in bathroom tomorrow then will lay final two sheets of sub....

[Rypien 91]

Direct TV installed another line into our extra bedroom and somehow where the line comes down from the ceiling, it now leaks. This has been a while, so no way does direct TV pay for this (wish they would), what's the best way to fix this? It is starting to make it's way across the ceiling and peeling the popcorn off the ceiling.

[twa]

Direct TV installed another line into our extra bedroom and somehow where the line comes down from the ceiling, it now leaks. This has been a while, so no way does direct TV pay for this (wish they would), what's the best way to fix this? It is starting to make it's way across the ceiling and peeling the popcorn off the ceiling.

never seen them run it through the ceiling,generally through the wall(I would suspect the mount or another source)

wherever they went thru at simply apply silicone or if thru the roof, roof sealer(outside of course)
if the water is running down the cable into the wall,applying a bead around the cable a few inches away from the wall will help