Official Home Owners Tips

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Anyone know anything about air exchangers? I've lived in my house for nearly a year and I still have no idea how to even use it. The unit is in the laundry room and it suddenly started making a loud buzzing noise. It wouldn't stop so I had to unplug it.

[Phobia]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

What do you guys do for insect control? I'm debating on having a quarterly system contracted with the local exterminator here. For 85 dollars they will come out every 3 months to spray inside, the outside perimeter and the crawl space.

I use this Dave.

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Animal-Pest-Control/Bayer-Advanced/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbx4wZ3pp/R-100638301/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

I spray the entire house twice a year. A bottle of this last around 2 years for me.

Steps
1) I spray around entire outside foundation of house
2) Spray around all windows and doors on outside of house
3) Lastly spray around any openings on outside such as ducts, air entry spaces, soffit vents, etc

Then
4) I move inside and spray all doors and windows
5) Spray around baseboards of every room
6) 6 Months repeat process

I have no issue with insects and I live in a very wooded area with a lot of trees. My road is called "Live Oak" for a reason lol

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On home ownership it is really like Dave said it separates men of the boys. You can get by paying people to do all your work for you. Such as paying a yard man, paying a general handy man to do things around house, etc. But if you expect to save money and really learn to maintain your house. Learn to do things on your own.

For instance I can give some back story on my home ownership. I purchased me a "fixer upper". It was built in 1964, appraised for 174,000, I purchased the house for 98,000. So I have 50,000+ in equity and came away with a good deal. Square footage is 1,600. But this house had some updating to be done.

Kitchen was this orangey pink formica counter tops, also it lacked counter space. Entire house was also hard wood parkay floors, which needed updating. The master bath was also in dire need of remodeling.



So to save money on the remodel I decided to do everything myself.

1) First I installed ceramic tiles and extended the countertops with a bar


Then I installed ceramic tiles in the floors for the kitchen & living room


2) Next I redid the master bath by installing ceramic tiles on the floors & counters. Also installed one of those raised bowl sinks.


This took me around 8 months to a year to complete. Because like mentioned in here earlier, when you do it yourself expect it to take longer than you intend. Life gets in the way.

Then I installed all new windows in the house to replace those cheap single pane windows. I went with the low E argon filled double paned windows to save big time on electric bill.


This is still not complete but I am steady knocking out windows and installing one when I get a free weekend.

Lastly I am installing all new wood floors at the moment to cover those parkay floors. I have the hall done, spare room, and computer room done. I have just the master bedroom left which I plan on completing in the next couple weeks.

Here is pic of floors in the spare room


So roughly couple years deep into remodels but the house appraisal will go up greatly and I have save TONS of money. If you plan on really being a home owner expect unexpected costs and being handy with your hands when something breaks or needs repairing.

Good luck boys.

[cjonesfan921]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

I use this Dave.

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Animal-Pest-Control/Bayer-Advanced/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbx4wZ3pp/R-100638301/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

I spray the entire house twice a year. A bottle of this last around 2 years for me.

Steps
1) I spray around entire outside foundation of house
2) Spray around all windows and doors on outside of house
3) Lastly spray around any openings on outside such as ducts, air entry spaces, soffit vents, etc

Then
4) I move inside and spray all doors and windows
5) Spray around baseboards of every room
6) 6 Months repeat process

I have no issue with insects and I live in a very wooded area with a lot of trees. My road is called "Live Oak" for a reason lol

---------------------------------------------------------------------

On home ownership it is really like Dave said it separates men of the boys. You can get by paying people to do all your work for you. Such as paying a yard man, paying a general handy man to do things around house, etc. But if you expect to save money and really learn to maintain your house. Learn to do things on your own.

For instance I can give some back story on my home ownership. I purchased me a "fixer upper". It was built in 1964, appraised for 174,000, I purchased the house for 98,000. So I have 50,000+ in equity and came away with a good deal. Square footage is 1,600. But this house had some updating to be done.

Kitchen was this orangey pink formica counter tops, also it lacked counter space. Entire house was also hard wood parkay floors, which needed updating. The master bath was also in dire need of remodeling.



So to save money on the remodel I decided to do everything myself.

1) First I installed ceramic tiles and extended the countertops with a bar


Then I installed ceramic tiles in the floors for the kitchen & living room


2) Next I redid the master bath by installing ceramic tiles on the floors & counters. Also installed one of those raised bowl sinks.


This took me around 8 months to a year to complete. Because like mentioned in here earlier, when you do it yourself expect it to take longer than you intend. Life gets in the way.

Then I installed all new windows in the house to replace those cheap single pane windows. I went with the low E argon filled double paned windows to save big time on electric bill.


This is still not complete but I am steady knocking out windows and installing one when I get a free weekend.

Lastly I am installing all new wood floors at the moment to cover those parkay floors. I have the hall done, spare room, and computer room done. I have just the master bedroom left which I plan on completing in the next couple weeks.

Here is pic of floors in the spare room


So roughly couple years deep into remodels but the house appraisal will go up greatly and I have save TONS of money. If you plan on really being a home owner expect unexpected costs and being handy with your hands when something breaks or needs repairing.

Good look boys.

That's extremely impressive. You could not even tell that it wasn't done by a "professional", nice work.

[Stu]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

I'm usually not a huge fan of ceramic tiles for kitchen countertop but yours came out great Phobia! Did you replace the kitchen cabinets as well or just replace the doors and drawers?

The kitchen is our next major project. We need to replace the countertops and floors. The previous homeonwer didn't correctly install the floor tiles so a number of them are cracked. Not to mention they are white untextured tiles so literally every piece of dust, dirt, etc shows up on them.

[Burns11]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Anyone know anything about air exchangers? I've lived in my house for nearly a year and I still have no idea how to even use it. The unit is in the laundry room and it suddenly started making a loud buzzing noise. It wouldn't stop so I had to unplug it.

Knowing nothing about them, I would guess it's the fan motor.

A place I turn to a lot is http://www.doityourself.com/forum/, lots of pros around that place that will give you great answers.

[Phobia]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

For the record guys the wood floors at bottom is the only real pic from the house. The other pics I just found picture similar to what I used. Tough to find exact materials but just wanted to give a idea of how the advancement was from old to new.

The cabinets we painted white and replaced all the hardware with nice shinny chrome knobs & handles. To be honest about to do something else with the cabinets WHITE shows EVERYTHING! So thinking about sanding them and staining them. Just dread it due to all the dust that will be in home from this project.

[Holic]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Anyone know anything about air exchangers? I've lived in my house for nearly a year and I still have no idea how to even use it. The unit is in the laundry room and it suddenly started making a loud buzzing noise. It wouldn't stop so I had to unplug it.

Could be a number of things really. Fan motor or something loose is my guess. Have a picture or the model #?

[Holic]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Nice work Phobia! I remodeled my kitchen and den earlier this year myself in the span of 5-6 weeks. Really feels good when you do it all yourself and it turns out great huh?

[Holic]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

For the record guys the wood floors at bottom is the only real pic from the house. The other pics I just found picture similar to what I used. Tough to find exact materials but just wanted to give a idea of how the advancement was from old to new.

The cabinets we painted white and replaced all the hardware with nice shinny chrome knobs & handles. To be honest about to do something else with the cabinets WHITE shows EVERYTHING! So thinking about sanding them and staining them. Just dread it due to all the dust that will be in home from this project.

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get the cheap plastic drop cloths. Use some masking tape to lay it down everywhere and cover the doorway(s) leading to other rooms. You could also take the drawers and face of the cabinets off and do the sanding project outside. That'd greatly reduce the dust inside.

[Phobia]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Nice work Phobia! I remodeled my kitchen and den earlier this year myself in the span of 5-6 weeks. Really feels good when you do it all yourself and it turns out great huh?

Thanks!

Yea man I wish I could of got it done that fast but work full time, school full time, then outside obligations with friends and family cuts into time big time. It feels damn good to know you did it on your own, then of course you get everyone asking how you did this, and what made you think of doing that. Its a man thing I guess lol

[DaveDQ]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Great looking work, Phobia.

[luv_mist]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

So I'm starting to look around and see what books I can start reading. Just had the windows freshly installed into the house on the top level. Freaking close to $5000+ out of my pocket. I did get a sigh of relief though. A guy told me how his bill was before he installed windows and after he installed windows. I'm glad I never had the chance to experience the raping of my wallet.

On another note, there are so many projects I have to start considering and I don't even know how to begin. I order that Home Depot book off of Amazon. I'm going to just order a few of them and start using them when I get the time and money to tackle them. Hopefully within 5 years, I should be solid. Anyone ever fool with installing fans in ceilings when there wasn't a light fixture in? I might start taking a bunch of pictures and putting them in my arena. Use that thing for something.......

Any suggestions for necessary tools that I should really start investing in? I'm trying to start saving a few now as a matter of fact.

[C the Lyte]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Any suggestions for necessary tools that I should really start investing in? I'm trying to start saving a few now as a matter of fact.

Not to go all Gran Torino but duct tape, WD-40, and an adj. wrench are necessities!!!

Also, just get a small mechanic tool set and that should do for a while.

[Phobia]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

So I'm starting to look around and see what books I can start reading. Just had the windows freshly installed into the house on the top level. Freaking close to $5000+ out of my pocket. I did get a sigh of relief though. A guy told me how his bill was before he installed windows and after he installed windows. I'm glad I never had the chance to experience the raping of my wallet.

On another note, there are so many projects I have to start considering and I don't even know how to begin. I order that Home Depot book off of Amazon. I'm going to just order a few of them and start using them when I get the time and money to tackle them. Hopefully within 5 years, I should be solid. Anyone ever fool with installing fans in ceilings when there wasn't a light fixture in? I might start taking a bunch of pictures and putting them in my arena. Use that thing for something.......

Any suggestions for necessary tools that I should really start investing in? I'm trying to start saving a few now as a matter of fact.

I have installed 3 where a typical old box light was. Now that is pretty simple and requires just basic carpentry work (building supporting joists & supports) & simple wiring.

Tools

1. Sawzall or Jigsaw
2. Nail gun, or Hammer & nails
3. Wire Caps
4. Electrical Tape

Now I am confused about your "no lighting" situation. How is there a light source in the room you want to add the fan?? Another words you should have wiring to a switch you will have to run wiring down the wall and to. These will operate the fan and light on fan plus power the it. Locating your power source is first order

[Stu]

Re: Official Home Owners Tips

Beyond the basic tools that everyone has the ones I couldn't live without are my mitre saw, table saw and air compressor/nail guns. The mitre saw and table saw are critical for any carpentry products. You can technically do a lot of the same stuff with a circular saw but the speed and precision are much better with the right tools.

I never thought I would really need an air compressor and nail guns but now that I have it, I couldn't live without it. This is a pretty good starter set for a reasonable price:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100672212/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=porter+and+cable&storeId=10051