Started a remodelling project...

[375supermag]

Hi...
My wife and I just started to remodel the estate today.
Project has been in planning for a little while but the first part has begun.

We had new granite countertops installed today. Contractor did a very good job and the whole thing was completed in only a couple of hours.
Tomorrow the plumber comes in and reconnects the sink and hooks up our brand new dishwasher.
The old one started leaking and it wasn't cost effective to repair it.

Next task is refacing and painting the kitchen cabinets. They are now a light oak but her worship wants them redone in an off white finish. That contractor is scheduled to do the onsite work in a couple weeks and he will take the cabinet doors to his shop to do them.
Then we have new carpeting to be throughout a large portion of the house.
Once that is completed then we have another contractor installing new French doors from the dining room on to the deck.
Final project is new flooring in the kitchen and dining room.
I would like to do the cabinets myself but poor health makes that kind of project a bit too much for me to do efficiently.

My major contribution will be some minor drywall repairs here and there and helping to paint. My wife believes that most of the interior rooms need repainting, so I will go forth intrepidly with brush and roller in hand.
Pray for me...

[KMac]

I feel for you. I am on the backside of our remodel and I am beat down and tired.
Extended the cabinets and replaced the doors and refaced the drawers. New backsplash and replaced the granite counter tops with marble.
I installed all of the plumbing for the new sink and garbage disposal .
Replaced all off the electrical outlets and light switches.
I am moving back in today after moving everything out to refinish the wood floors.
Painted almost every surface in the house.
The one good thing about it is the almost overwhelming sense of relief that you get when you can see that you are almost finished.

[375supermag]

Sounds like you had a big remodel.
Congratulations on nearing the finish line.

[KMac]

Thank you. I hope yours goes well.
We had a lot of contractor issues that I hope you don’t have that kept our house tore apart for a couple of months.
It really is worth it once you get it finished though.

[lightman]

Hope it continues to go well for you. We just finished a bathroom remodel. Had a walk in granite shower built. That turned into new cabinets and top, new commode, and new paint. About 6 weeks from start to finish. It went pretty smoothly but we're not happy with the paint. If I was up to it I could have done a better job.
We plan to do the kitchen next year. I posted a thread asking about counter top material a while back. This project has grown too. It went from counter tops to new cabinets, appliances, fixtures and floors. One reason that it got moved to next year. Go Figger!!!

[Freightman]

Moved to a new old house, kitchen was "bad " to say the least budgeted 6K new cabnets ,stove ,dishwasher,tile, paint ect, missed the budget by 1800$. What is sad my kids and I was all the labor and it still almost 8K now she wants new paint, I said not now I am going to the range!head will stop hurting in a little while. :veryconfu:bigsmyl2:

[bedbugbilly]

Sounds like you are coming good on your project and you and your wife will enjoy it when it's all done.

Last summer, we moved from our house of 40 + years to a condo in town. The place 14 years old - was a rental all that time but to only two elderly couples so condition was good but still needed work. We did all the painting - 10 foot ceilings throughout with the exception of one room. I bought one of the rolling scaffolds from Harbor Freight - one of the best $200 investments I ever made. We put new flooring down as well plus a variety of repairs. We still have to re-do the kitchen - not all the way but I want to move the refrigerator and replace some of the cabinets to give the wife more counterspace and storage. The cabinets and vanities all got painted white - a LOT of work. But, the worst is behind us and we both say we will never move to a fixer-upper again. I've always done all the work - remodeling, electrical, plumbing, etc. but it's amazing how "age" catches up with a person. It hurts to have to hire some of it done but it sure beats beating your body up doing it yourself. And . . . no matter what a person budgets, it's never enough. But, the expense is two fold for me - it makes things nice and the best thing is that it makes my wife happy - she deserves it after having to put up with me for nearly 50 years! LOL

Good luck with your project and when it's all done, get up every morning, have a cup of coffee and then a second one and the two of you enjoy it all!

[smokeywolf]

Just had over 3K of wood repairs done and will commit tomorrow to 10K of concrete work. Still have drywall and several other odds and ends to do that will likely add up to another 8 to 10K.
This is all to undo nearly 30 years of neglect while I was working unpredictable shifts in an unstable industry.
Once all done, it's for sale and we're out of Kali.

[shooter93]

Since I'm a builder/cabinetmaker by trade my house has always been " a work in progress" The last house I did over I actually finished it for the people who bought it.

[KMac]

Once all done, it's for sale and we're out of Kali.
Same here. Gonna sell and get out of Dallas hopefully to the Texas Hill County.

[leeggen]

All the wives remodel work was done while she was gone to see grand kids. I would find out what she wanted to end to look like and then send her to the kids. Usually a week later she comes home to a finished room. We done one remodel and the mess drove her nuts. ( good luck for me) So from then on she left and the work began. In this house when you begin a simple remodel it becomes a nightmare with how the house was built. The guy that built it----well I won't go there.LOL One wall was ruff cut lumber on the wall with drywall under it. She decided she was tired of looking at that wood and was planning a remodel of it. At christmas that year she went to babysit the kids and 2 weeks later when she came home it was done. Started as she went down the drive and finished it the night before she came home. Just a simple strip and refinish, yeah right.
She was really happy with it so it was worth the time.
Remodel jobs can be real simple and some just never end.
CD

[lightman]

My problem is that I can't do everything like I could do in the past. I do and did better work than most of what I pay for and that makes me mad. I've worked with a lot of Craftsmen but they are harder and harder to find. They are all retiring and no one is taking their places.

[jsizemore]

After 25 years my CDs are out of the boxes and on shelves. Got enough space leftover for bullet storage. No longer have to worry about tripping over them on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

[knifemaker]

Oh boy, do not mention remodeling project. We have just finished a major remodeling of the farm house my wife inherited from her late parents. It is a Victorian house built in 1884 on the Sacramento River. The 1930's interior wiring was removed and replaced with new wiring and panel boxes to bring it up to code. The roof was redone with cedar wood shakes and the exterior was painted and some restoration work done to the "gingerbread" on the house. Expensive but worth it on how it turned out.

[CastingFool]

In '97, we bought a large fixer upper. 21 yrs later, we're still working on the house. Seems like every simple project quickly escalates in magnitude. Sometimes it was fixing things previous owners had done. One actually used duct tape, to tape the corners in a basement closet, and painted the tape. In another instance, they used 1x3 stick on computer labels to cover up a crack on the drywall. In a basement bedroom, I found 7 hidden junction boxes in the walls. I upgraded 7 interior doors to 6 panel wood doors. Couldn't use prehung doors as they are designed for std 2x4 construction walls. Our walls are plaster walls, much thicker than drywall. Had to buy 1x6 lumber, rip it down to the correct width, so I could make the door jambs. I did make a fixture to help rout out the mortises for the hinges, and door latches.

[smokeywolf]

Same here. Gonna sell and get out of Dallas hopefully to the Texas Hill County.

Love Texas and Texans, but won't move from one border state to another border state.

[MrWolf]

Love Texas and Texans, but won't move from one border state to another border state.

Seems no matter where you move you will still border another border state; even if it is just another liberal state.

[smokeywolf]

Seems no matter where you move you will still border another border state; even if it is just another liberal state.

Concrete guys are here doin' the prep for a new driveway, 2 new walkways and small patio in back.

We've been studying, researching for nearly 6 years. Politics, tax structure, cost of living, housing prices has steered us to the Ozarks. Climate is not the best, but a long way from the worst. Need A/C in the Summer but don't need a snow-blower in the Winter.
Ticks and chiggers, but no gov. Moonbeam, Feinswine, PugLousy, Camel-a Harris. No anchor babies in the State Senate (kevin leon) plotting against citizens, trying to take your born rights away, while advocating for illegal aliens.

[gwpercle]

I'm so sorry to hear that. The worst experience of my life was a home remodeling project.
Never again !
The biggest problem was the ignorant general contractor....Me !
Gary

[DocSavage]

We had to redo our first floor apartment due to my wife's disabilities,redid the kitchen,bathroom and new woodflooting thru the whole apartment. I won't list all the repairs as it was a laundry list of things to be done but you have no idea on what you're going to find when your working on a house built in 1845. The biggest surprise was a Fireplace that was walled over. I will tell you also that this little piece of mass destruction was $100 K but worth it

[David2011]

Love Texas and Texans, but won't move from one border state to another border state.

I know the area. The Texas Hill Country is not a border state. Parts of Texas certainly are but not the hill country. Insiders don't consider all of Texas to be the same place. As you drive through the Hill Country the most prominent features off of the highways are hunting blinds on towers.

[smokeywolf]

David2011, Hill Country is real pretty and one of the choicest places to live in Texas. Had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in Kerrville and a couple of days in San Antonio last Summer. I've a friend who has lived in Texas all or most of his life, graduated from A&M and has lived in Hill Country for most of the last 20 years. His neighbors are not so good; not old school.