The Home Ownership Thread

[texas_jack]



Finally finished rehabbing my deck last night, finishing up the staining at 1 am. Went from this: To this: Just say NO! To deckover paint and excess railings.

I assume that's ground level and hence the no railings right?

 

[BobStrauss]

Right, it's just a small step up from the grass to the deck. I am, however, going to have to put a few railings in near the porch, but nothing significant.

That's my project for next weekend, along with hard-wiring my string lights to an outdoor dimmer switch.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Looks great Bob! Mahogany is awesome stuff, I've used some scraps as stakes in the ground for my pine trees....a year later of being in the ground and they're still holding up.

 

[otc]

Nice. **** railings. Don't need that **** unless you're selling.

 

[Gixxer603]

Is that your dead assistant on the steps

 

[Piobaire]

Okay, fireplace wall sounds like it's going to cost about double what I had mentally budgeted. I won't have all the numbers for another 10 days or so (have to go pick the exact fireplace still) but I can see where this is headed. It's just like on any DIY show in that budgets are just automatically blown.

 

[ChrisGold]



Okay, fireplace wall sounds like it's going to cost about double what I had mentally budgeted. I won't have all the numbers for another 10 days or so (have to go pick the exact fireplace still) but I can see where this is headed. It's just like on any DIY show in that budgets are just automatically blown.

What are you putting up on the wall? Stone? In my development, the family rooms where people went with the option to go all the way up the wall (13') with stone look 100% better than the ones who stopped at the 5 or 6 foot height. I know that those who have gotten quotes to retrofit it have been shocked at the $ involved.

 

[Piobaire]

No stone. The wall is nearly 20' and the center portion will be bumped out about 1'. We're going to use a 12 x 24 dark grey porcelain tile on that, all the way up, and there will be a radius about 16" down from the 13 foot ceiling that will go across the entire wall. The tile will also go on the 16" above the radius (but not on the radius). On either side the wall will be drywall with one floating shelf (which will be at different heights on each side). There will be a hearth and it will be trimmed mainly in the same tile but in strips of mosaic vs. the big tiles on the wall. We're looking at a 60" Primo or Mezzo from Heat and Glo.

 

[ChrisGold]



No stone. The wall is nearly 20' and the center portion will be bumped out about 1'. We're going to use a 12 x 24 dark grey porcelain tile on that, all the way up, and there will be a radius about 16" down from the 13 foot ceiling that will go across the entire wall. The tile will also go on the 16" above the radius (but not on the radius). On either side the wall will be drywall with one floating shelf (which will be at different heights on each side). There will be a hearth and it will be trimmed mainly in the same tile but in strips of mosaic vs. the big tiles on the wall. We're looking at a 60" Primo or Mezzo from Heat and Glo.

Sounds awesome. I've got one large floating shelf in my stone. That is a lot of tile work, so knowing what others in my area have paid, I know that it's an expensive job. It does become a rather nice focal point for a room. In my house, the ceiling goes from the 13' up to 19' on an angle, and it would look very empty without that feature. Good luck on the project.

 

[msg]

In contract on a home, inspection uncovered a few issues that I'd appreciate perspective on from those of you who might have experience. Home was built in 1923 and is ~2900 sq feet, including a finished basement.

1) There is asbestos lining the pipes connected to the boiler. The pipes are exposed in the boiler room. But, the rest of the basement is finished and there's no visible pipes or asbestos otherwise. I'm looking up asbestos contractors now, but I'm curious if others have had to deal with this? It's expected given the age of the home, but I have young children and want there to be no risk. My sense it's a well-understood process to remove or contain the pipes, but it's still an unknown.

2) The boiler is from the 50s and needs to be replaced. Currently, the heating source is cast-iron radiators. The home is single-zone and there are 4 radiators on the main floor and then 3 radiators on the second floor, one in each bedroom. I happen to think they're ugly and don't like how they take up space, but radiant heating is efficient. Anyone replaced radiators? We may have to do replace or re-build hardwood floors on the main floor, as, over times, for some reason the owners decided they wanted wall-to-wall carpet. The upstairs bedrooms do have hardwood floors. So, the carpet is coming up; we think there's hard wood underneath, but can't tell. If we do have to re-do the floors, I wonder if radiant in-floor heat would be an option? No idea on cost yet, but I like the idea that heating system wouldn't be visible or be taking up space. Also, with young kids, I don't like the idea of something heated to 180 Fahrenheit sitting nearby. The finished basement has electric baseboard.

 

[Piobaire]

Abatement of asbestos is down to a science. Have no worries about that. I'll let others weigh in on the heating.

 

[CBrown85]

Keep the radiators. Having children in the home should never influence design.

 

[brokencycle]

I don't know where you're buying, but electric baseboard heaters are expensive as hell to run. If I run mine for a few hours a day in the winter, they easily add $50-100/mo on my electric bill - probably more than it costs to run my AC in the summer.

I think you'll be shocked by how much it costs to replace radiators and all that. Have you considered radiator boxes/covers? That gives you some shelf space while preventing the kids from getting burned.

As pio said, asbestos abatement shouldn't be a big deal (but might be pricey).

 

[PhilKenSebben]

In contract on a home, inspection uncovered a few issues that I'd appreciate perspective on from those of you who might have experience. Home was built in 1923 and is ~2900 sq feet, including a finished basement.

1) There is asbestos lining the pipes connected to the boiler. The pipes are exposed in the boiler room. But, the rest of the basement is finished and there's no visible pipes or asbestos otherwise. I'm looking up asbestos contractors now, but I'm curious if others have had to deal with this? It's expected given the age of the home, but I have young children and want there to be no risk. My sense it's a well-understood process to remove or contain the pipes, but it's still an unknown.

2) The boiler is from the 50s and needs to be replaced. Currently, the heating source is cast-iron radiators. The home is single-zone and there are 4 radiators on the main floor and then 3 radiators on the second floor, one in each bedroom. I happen to think they're ugly and don't like how they take up space, but radiant heating is efficient. Anyone replaced radiators? We may have to do replace or re-build hardwood floors on the main floor, as, over times, for some reason the owners decided they wanted wall-to-wall carpet. The upstairs bedrooms do have hardwood floors. So, the carpet is coming up; we think there's hard wood underneath, but can't tell. If we do have to re-do the floors, I wonder if radiant in-floor heat would be an option? No idea on cost yet, but I like the idea that heating system wouldn't be visible or be taking up space. Also, with young kids, I don't like the idea of something heated to 180 Fahrenheit sitting nearby. The finished basement has electric baseboard.

Go with covers. I have a 1780 famhouse that had radiators added in the 1800's and it has covers. My personal taste has had me redo the radiators and get rid of the covers, however,the covers did their job very well. I looked at having them replaced so I could install a Waterboiler instead of steam, I got a quote at roughly 13000 for new base board style radiators(plus new piping etc).Replacing the radiators is going to be crazy expensive. On the other hand, if you have beautiful radiators under the years of paint, you may be able to recoup some of that by not scrapping them.

Good luck!

Marc

 

[msg]

Thanks, everyone. Those of you with floor radiant heating, how has that worked out?