For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

As you can see how much crap I had to deal with from warped concrete floor and not square walls. I was ready to drop kick a contractor whoever built this old house because everything was so screwed up it forced me to do things I would of never done.

1) they built a sloping mound of concrete around the toilet drain so I had to build up the area around it with mortar so I could try to level it as best I could without having to break entire concrete up. You can see this slope by looking at back wall.

2) The walls were so unsquare you could see this in the corners which I managed to really get looking good with some good chalk work.

3) The bottom edges didn't matter because the base molding covers it up and the shoe molding makes it all look finished.

4) Truly the biggest bitch was getting the toilet level due to the crap work they did around the drain. I fought and fought with the toilet levels until I finally was able to get it how it should have been.

So long story short, everything might not be great or been done right but with a little time and energy you can make it come out how you want.

Materials needed
Dry wall
Dry wall nails
Wainscoting
Electrical receptacle
Wire
Chair molding
Ceramic tiles
Vanity
Toilet
Chalk
Paint

I believe I did the whole thing under $500.

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Should've been on renovations reality

[mike24forever]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

You gentlemen have beautiful homes and are extremely talented. Very envious of those who are capable of such work. My wife and I have a design meeting tomorrow for our new kitchen, new wood floor throughout the entire house (walnut) and a new driveway. With this work and that done by Mike Holmes I won't recognize my own home.

We also had all our windows and doors replaced. It makes a huge difference.

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Has anyone installed a reverse osmosis system in their home?

Definitely looking to do one because I simply do not trust the water.

I think it's a good investment.

[PadresFan]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Not sure if many remember, but we moved out of our house 2 years ago. We ended up renting the house rather than selling it, which turned out to be a great decision. Since, we have a lot of equity in the house and are now able to re-fi, which will lower our payment and allow us to take money out. Since we have to occupy the house, we are moving back in December.

We have some ideas for the house. Since it will be vacant for a little bit, we are able to replace carpet, maybe some appliances and other small things. We are looking forward to the transition back especially since my parents are doing a lot better health-wise.

[Knight165]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

At first I didn't think the Wainscotting would look good like that.
But the finished product looks EXCELLENT!
Nice job.

I may do my laundry room like that now.

Very cool.

M.K.
Knight165

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

So my wife wanted the old style sliding barn door to cover our pantry.

Like this
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1413812399.493981.jpg

But she wanted to do a light grey stain instead. So I built the entire door and had it ready to install hardware when she hit me with "uhhhhhh i think i would like the door to be a little wider". So I was then stuck trying to figure out how to widen this damn thing. This is what I came up with.

Going to stain the new section tonight and installing track and wheels this week. Oh and the door is HEAVY now, holy crap.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1413812580.498688.jpg


Sent from da lil phone.

[PadresFan]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Well, we officially moved back into the house today. Our previous tenants, who happened to be friends of ours, left our house an absolute mess. Could not believe all the work we have to do. So irritated.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Finished the door couple weeks ago, but never took a pic. Last thing is install the jumper plates so it cant come off the rail and a handle.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1417534532.555944.jpg


Sent from da lil phone.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

After taking some advice from a relative to save more money and buy a new home, I'm close to pulling the trigger. Found a community I like and very doable commute to work.

2 questions. Since I'll be working directly with the builder, do I still need a real estate agent? They are offering up to $10K in free upgrades---what would be worthwhile? My gut says use most of it in the kitchen.

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Man those upgrades go fast, stairs rail, doors, and poof, the free money is gone like that.

Ask what the base model looks like vs the upgraded one and you'll see.

Someone in here bought a home newly built, I think Scooby... so hopefully he can chime in.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Man those upgrades go fast, stairs rail, doors, and poof, the free money is gone like that.

Ask what the base model looks like vs the upgraded one and you'll see.

Someone in here bought a home newly built, I think Scooby... so hopefully he can chime in.

I walked through the maxed out model home today and asked for a list of possible upgrades. Rep. said they have thousands to choose from and easiest thing would be to make a wish list. Will probably stop in this weekend to take another walk through the model and specifically ask what comes standard.

Didn't realize that there is a premium charge for lot location. Anywhere from $2K to $3K based on how many trees around your lot.

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Man when putting up a new home all of the extras can get expensive, but since you're trying to move into a community even moreso.

[Redacted01]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

After taking some advice from a relative to save more money and buy a new home, I'm close to pulling the trigger. Found a community I like and very doable commute to work.

2 questions. Since I'll be working directly with the builder, do I still need a real estate agent? They are offering up to $10K in free upgrades---what would be worthwhile? My gut says use most of it in the kitchen.

I went through a builder and they had their own in house real estate agents. They handle all the paperwork, and it saves them money and keeps the cost down a bit.

Man those upgrades go fast, stairs rail, doors, and poof, the free money is gone like that.

Ask what the base model looks like vs the upgraded one and you'll see.

Someone in here bought a home newly built, I think Scooby... so hopefully he can chime in.

And $10,000 is possibly plenty (depends on your builder...). My builder had tons of choices all standard for things like doors, stair rails, carpets, flooring, tile, fixtures, countertops, handles, knobs, etc. If you don't count that I'm finishing a daylight basement, since that was my choice of a lot that caused the daylight, I'm at... $9,800 in extras (and many of my "extras" are really just redesigns from the base plan), but that's before some of my other credits have been applied for things I got written into the purchase agreement, but actually just moved stuff in the house. You consider yours is paid for up to $10k, that's a deal. But 23 is right in that it matters where you start. If it's the most basic of basic, then you'll be spending a good $5-$10,000 over that $10,000, and possibly more. The builder I went through is slightly higher end at the plans I went with. Their real high end ones were something else... but so were the prices.

It really depends on your builder. A friend of mine at work built a house last summer, and her extras were mostly done at cost but the initial cost of her house was high. Mine was the opposite. She thought I was getting a steal for the cost of house and finished basement. But then she thought I was getting upcharged on some of my extras compared to what she paid for some of the same things.

At the end of the day, know what you are willing to spend and do all your numbers years out. Not to mention, rates will be going up soon (mid-2015), so keep that in mind if this won't be done until later this year, your mortgage could instantly go up an extra $50, $100, $200, etc. a month all because that rate is now closer to 4.25-4.5 instead of 4 on a 30 year.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

UPDATE: Got a chance to walk through 4 more model homes in my preferred community. Maybe it was just the floor plan, but 1500 sq. ft. felt TINY. No longer an option.

It's a $12,500 price jump to the next largest size of 1800 sq. ft. but only a $3,500 price increase from that middle size to the largest size of 2200 sq. ft.

Is this typical?