The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[turboneticsSS]

Well I just found this thread and will be visiting often. Bought my first house along with an acre in september last year, an older house (built in 1930) nothing catastrophic has gone wrong yet but I'm realizing that owning a house is just one long to do list of fixing stuff and upgrading other things. Current projects are tearing up the carpet and pulling up the million and a half carpet staples so that I can refinish the original hardwood under it, when it warms up Im hoping to get a quote to get my driveway paved and I need to replace all the plywood on my detached garage because its rotting. I will be back for pictures and infinite questions for those who have been in this game for years.

[Deceus]

I needed this project like a hole in my head but it's almost done. Got primer and stain on it yesterday. Managed to get a coat of paint on the sides and 2 coats of poly on the top since it was 60 today.

Had to drag everything back upstairs after taking that pic to drill holes for the outlets and got away with a 2" hole saw for the dual monitor mount. Hopefully getting this thing together this weekend and starting on the car.

[HAULN-SS]

A few in progress pics on this damn kitchen remodel I undertook. Started off with this project to move everything up to give me room for a taller refrigerator. Ended up with this many thousands later. I am tired. New lights, new fridge, new sink, new counters, new backsplash, raised cabinets, extended island, new microwave, paint.

https://imgur.com/a/u4dAqiN

Before


After

[Sully]

Came out nice. Is there something in that bulkhead above the cabinets? I feel like with that work, I would just tear that whole thing out and do cabinets to the ceiling.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Deceus]

And it's done ... mostly.



The new monitor setup is going to take some getting used to it but I love how much space I have. Couple of small imperfections here and there but the desk itself fit like a glove.

[JPolen01]

Wow that thing fits in there snug. Nice work. Once the monitors are in you'll be like NASA mission control.

[.RJ]

Came out nice. Is there something in that bulkhead above the cabinets? I feel like with that work, I would just tear that whole thing out and do cabinets to the ceiling.

I'm guessing plumbing.  Tearing the whole thing out probably means a LOT of drywall work to relocate stuff.  

Looking good, I like it.  What's the overhang on that island countertop?  We're in the middle of our kitchen reno and that's one of the things we're trying to figure out, trying to balance counter space vs walking space around the island vs space from the ledge into the goofy sunken living room.

[HAULN-SS]

Yes the bulkhead had some wiring in it i didnt want to relocate. It also cotained the previous microwave hood ducting. I thought about taking the cabinet trim to ceiling, but it was an awkward gap of about 8 inches. The real solution is to put in 42 in cabinets instead of 30, but i dod not want to spend the money on brand new cabinets since these are only a couple years old..

The island overhangs are 12 inches on the back and side you can see. This is about the max without putting in some kind of suppprt. Those supports are super expensivr btw, like 900 fpr 3.

[.RJ]

Things are more or less moving along with a few surprises along the way. 

[Sijray21]

Looks great so far! Can't wait to see see more of this after it's finished.

Good surprises or bad ones?

[HAULN-SS]

What were the surprises?

[.RJ]

What were the surprises?

Buckle up...

The hot water heater took a shit, no fault of the renovation work, so that had to be replaced and in doing that had to unfuck the hvac system.  The heat pump was wired so that it would never produce heat.  Stupid.  That's all fixed.  

We found the previous kitchen reno had lopped off one of the floor joists and it wasnt connected to anything.  They fixed that... 

In addition to all of the other shit we've found since moving in like the broken appliances.

And then yesterday we woke up to a basement drywall & carpet full of water, someone fucked up something with the water lines to the kitchen sink and they leaked.

[WRXtranceformed]

Ahhh homeownership. It's the American dream right?

If it makes you feel any better, I'm already looking at replacing our hardwoods because the stuff they used for this spec home wasn't good and it's chipping at the edges of each board already. That, and they put the 1st level concrete expansion joint right smack dab in the middle of the entire kitchen and living room so we have about an 1/8th of an inch gap in the hardwood all the way across the house. That's causing the chipping to accelerate. We are super careful on our floors too, no shoes in the house and wife uses a gentle process to clean them...it was just a trash product they installed. Our house is coming up on 3 years old.

[Jake]

Speaking of subcontractors and new homes and terrible work...

My parents moved to a new home, new construction and all that nice stuff, in Bethany Beach last week. Beautiful place. It has been built by the worst, cannot-give-fewer-fucks subcontractors. We're talking many items not being square, awful finishing work, fixtures being the wrong items vs what they selected, awful concrete pours on the porch and patio, vents not weighted so the slightest breeze makes them flap and make noise, and (cherry on top) the entire interior was painted the wrong color when they did the walkthrough.

Beazer has been good about making things right, but good lord, the laziness is just epic. Apparently we dealt with similar issues at our last home (Van Metre) but I was about 10 so I don't remember all the details from that time.

At least nobody took shits in the bathtubs.

[Sijray21]

At least nobody took shits in the bathtubs.

did this actually happen...?

spending the money on a new build these things would be ridiculous. What's the recourse for stuff like this? are you just left pounding sand unless you want to file a lawsuit?

[Jake]

At least nobody took shits in the bathtubs.

did this actually happen...?

spending the money on a new build these things would be ridiculous. What's the recourse for stuff like this? are you just left pounding sand unless you want to file a lawsuit?

You'll have to ask Lee about the poopy bathtubs, that's an anecdote from his time in construction in Chantilly or somewhere.

Mom & Dad's place has a warranty with various stages of guarantee. I think they have 30 or 60 days to go through the whole house and make Beazer fix literally everything they see wrong. After that, bigger items like systems and appliances are covered for longer but interior finishing may not be. Dunno. They are currently the most diplomatic, polite form of raging mad (see where I get it from?) and Dad especially as a realtor. He is looking to sell in this area and has already asked some of the Beazer management how he's expected to sell their new construction when his home was delivered in such careless shape.

Needless to say, they're bending over backwards to make it all right. But you shouldn't have to threaten anything - maybe their subs aren't paid enough, maybe their manager isn't doing his job, maybe... whatever. It shouldn't be on my folks to do the job of a contractor but here they are.

[D_Eclipse9916]

At least nobody took shits in the bathtubs.

did this actually happen...?

spending the money on a new build these things would be ridiculous. What's the recourse for stuff like this? are you just left pounding sand unless you want to file a lawsuit?

Unfortunately this is just part of buying a house. My moms house is almost double the price of ours and while some of the quality items are better; shoddy and lazy work is everywhere.

The worst fallacy is going into a new home and having high expectations. They use the cheapest subks compared to what you would subk on your own.

[Jake]

Unfortunately this is just part of buying a house. My moms house is almost double the price of ours and while some of the quality items are better; shoddy and lazy work is everywhere.

The worst fallacy is going into a new home and having high expectations. They use the cheapest subks compared to what you would subk on your own.

Yeah, it happens at any price point. Kind of a problem with the industry and how OEM --> contractor --> subs goes.

I'm not surprised by things being un-square as that's laziness. What amazes me is that their build sheet wasn't looked at or followed in some big cases. Having to move plumbing lines, replace every interior light fixture, and repaint the entire interior because "oh, we didn't know those were even options we sold!" is some bullshit.

[Kaan]

I don't generally have OCD (see my garage bomb)... but when stuff isn't square and/or level... my eye twitches. I've done SO MANY 30 minute projects to square up our house. Sylvia laughs when I come running with a level and a square... but she does love the deck.

there are so many lazy home builders/subs that I almost want to build our next house (smaller sq/ft, more property)... micro manage the foundation guy (I know one good builder personally and I'd hire him)... and then spend my weekends on the house. but knowing me it might keep the sun off you by the time I retire.

[JPolen01]

That's what you find with any "mass produced" home builder. If you want quality then you need to find a boutique/custom builder. But you'll pay for it.