Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Bone to pick
This goes out to all the smug people out there who have never done it but think they could do a better job or look at you like you don't know what you're doing and make some snitty ass comment. Maybe they rent - maybe they paid a premium for someone else to have renovated their house - maybe they paid a general contractor to do it for them while they drank cosmos and told their friends about how they are "working" on a major renovation. FUCK OFF! Do it yourself and then we can talk - until then you can kiss my velvety ass cheeks and live with being an asshole.
Update
So one thing I have learned is that major renovations take on a life of their own. Unless you are very experienced, or unless you have an experienced hand helping you plan, things will change. And from what I hear, things change anyway. Things have certainly changed for me recently and I have been set back, but I actually feel better (sort of) and have a better plan.
What happened? It can all be boiled down to two things: The "order of things" and "the kitchen".
1. The order of things. So I thought I was ready to stain my concrete floors after spending over a month cleaning them... Turns out I'm not! Why? Well I guess I could but then it would be a real chore to protect them from dirt/scuffs/etc. while all other things get done in my house. Furthermore, if I stained them now, I couldn't stain everything because the kitchen is not done and portions of the floor currently covered by cabinets and/or the pantry may be exposed later. Also, the guest bathroom is not demo'd because I need an operating toilet while I work. So I can't do those floors either! After talking to some wise renovators, I decided it was best to hold off until my drywall work is done and my kitchen is done and the guest bathroom is demo'd. That way I can stain the entire house and be efficient about it - no putting away the tools, coming back later to stain this or that room. More efficient to stain the entire house at once!
2. The kitchen. So given #1 above, I turned my focus back to my kitchen design, which I thought was about done. I spent weeks drawing it up in Google Sketchup, which is a cool program that let's you see what things will look like in 3-D, and it's free to download! Anyway, I busted my rear, read a book, and figured I could draw it up myself given I'm an engineer and all. I did my best, and I did OK, but I wasn't comfortable with my design because I'm not an architect. And designing kitchens and cabinets is complicated if you are not experienced with it! Therefore, I submitted my design to my good friend Tim Whitehill who is a professional architect and a great guy. After batting it around with him for awhile, he took it on as a extra-curricular project and helped me come up with a solid design. It's not all either of us wanted it to be because of space/layout constraints - but it's better than what I drew up. I'll try to post the designs so you can look at them. By the way, I owe Tim a huge debt of gratitude! He is a bad ass and would not let me pay him for his services - he says moonlighting stresses him out! Hopefully all the beers I bought him suffice - but I also plan to buy him a bottle or something.
Right, so now that the kitchen design is done, it turns out I have no need for ANY of the existing cabinets. That sucks because I had originally planned to leave the existing cabinets, which were well built, in place and have my kitchen contractor extraordinaire build a few custom cabinets around the existing ones. So now that my kitchen design calls for a total revamp, it's time to reconsider that approach. A few custom cabinets is one thing - but all custom cabinets is another because they are expensive! My contractor quoted my at $150 per linear foot of custom cabinet. My design calls for somewhere in the neighborhood of 33 feet of cabinets, which is about $5K just for cabinets!! I knew custom cabinets were expensive, but I thought I'd only need a few. But given the design calling for all new cabinets, pre-fab cabinets seem the most cost effective way go. I hear IKEA and Gold Star are the way to go. Gold Star is like IKEA but higher quality and better service for a bit more money. I am planning to have both (and LOWE's) price out my kitchen.
Also, given the design rendering all existing cabinets useless, that means I have a lot more demo to do! Furthermore I've decided to go ahead and demo the guest BR and either get a porta potty or buy a porta potty from Cabella's. I was talking to my neighbor, who has done a lot of renovating, and he says his guys just pee in the bathtub and go to the corner store if they have to make poopy. Bottom line is I don't want to sacrifice a ton of efficiency in order to have a working bathroom. I'd rather spare the comfort and get the job done quicker/cheaper. Calling your contractor out a second time to drywall the bathroom and doing the floors in the BR after the rest of the house is done is inefficient and costs more.
So this past weekend, I had friends over (Mike Stratton, John McNeal, Jeanne) and we demo'd the entire kitchen (and drank beer and pitched washers). Then, after a kickass and much needed few hours of mountain biking with my good friend Mike Stratton, my dad and I knocked out the hallway closet and hallway header on Sunday . On Monday I hauled all the rubble to the dump - btw it is $47 per pickup load of trash dropped off at the dump here. I didn't get all of it, but think I can cram the remainder into my COA trash can to get picked up every Friday and get rid of it over the next few weeks. Also, I have an enclosed fireplace so I may burn a good portion of broken trim boards, etc. Of course I am saving good 2x4's and such that come out of the walls/pantry/headers/etc. to use on other projects.
Next steps are to finish demo-ing the guest BR and haul off all debris. THEN I will be ready for the drywaller to come in and do the entire house! Oh yeah, and I'm looking into matching the existing texture (roll-on eggshell) instead of having the entire house textured. The texture costs as much ($750) as the drywall ($750)! I'll let you know how that turns out. After drywall/tape/float/texture is done - then comes floors, covering floors, cabinets, master bath vanity, trim, counter tops, plumbing install, interior paint, final coat of floor sealer, MOVE IN.
What happened? It can all be boiled down to two things: The "order of things" and "the kitchen".
1. The order of things. So I thought I was ready to stain my concrete floors after spending over a month cleaning them... Turns out I'm not! Why? Well I guess I could but then it would be a real chore to protect them from dirt/scuffs/etc. while all other things get done in my house. Furthermore, if I stained them now, I couldn't stain everything because the kitchen is not done and portions of the floor currently covered by cabinets and/or the pantry may be exposed later. Also, the guest bathroom is not demo'd because I need an operating toilet while I work. So I can't do those floors either! After talking to some wise renovators, I decided it was best to hold off until my drywall work is done and my kitchen is done and the guest bathroom is demo'd. That way I can stain the entire house and be efficient about it - no putting away the tools, coming back later to stain this or that room. More efficient to stain the entire house at once!
2. The kitchen. So given #1 above, I turned my focus back to my kitchen design, which I thought was about done. I spent weeks drawing it up in Google Sketchup, which is a cool program that let's you see what things will look like in 3-D, and it's free to download! Anyway, I busted my rear, read a book, and figured I could draw it up myself given I'm an engineer and all. I did my best, and I did OK, but I wasn't comfortable with my design because I'm not an architect. And designing kitchens and cabinets is complicated if you are not experienced with it! Therefore, I submitted my design to my good friend Tim Whitehill who is a professional architect and a great guy. After batting it around with him for awhile, he took it on as a extra-curricular project and helped me come up with a solid design. It's not all either of us wanted it to be because of space/layout constraints - but it's better than what I drew up. I'll try to post the designs so you can look at them. By the way, I owe Tim a huge debt of gratitude! He is a bad ass and would not let me pay him for his services - he says moonlighting stresses him out! Hopefully all the beers I bought him suffice - but I also plan to buy him a bottle or something.
Right, so now that the kitchen design is done, it turns out I have no need for ANY of the existing cabinets. That sucks because I had originally planned to leave the existing cabinets, which were well built, in place and have my kitchen contractor extraordinaire build a few custom cabinets around the existing ones. So now that my kitchen design calls for a total revamp, it's time to reconsider that approach. A few custom cabinets is one thing - but all custom cabinets is another because they are expensive! My contractor quoted my at $150 per linear foot of custom cabinet. My design calls for somewhere in the neighborhood of 33 feet of cabinets, which is about $5K just for cabinets!! I knew custom cabinets were expensive, but I thought I'd only need a few. But given the design calling for all new cabinets, pre-fab cabinets seem the most cost effective way go. I hear IKEA and Gold Star are the way to go. Gold Star is like IKEA but higher quality and better service for a bit more money. I am planning to have both (and LOWE's) price out my kitchen.
Also, given the design rendering all existing cabinets useless, that means I have a lot more demo to do! Furthermore I've decided to go ahead and demo the guest BR and either get a porta potty or buy a porta potty from Cabella's. I was talking to my neighbor, who has done a lot of renovating, and he says his guys just pee in the bathtub and go to the corner store if they have to make poopy. Bottom line is I don't want to sacrifice a ton of efficiency in order to have a working bathroom. I'd rather spare the comfort and get the job done quicker/cheaper. Calling your contractor out a second time to drywall the bathroom and doing the floors in the BR after the rest of the house is done is inefficient and costs more.
So this past weekend, I had friends over (Mike Stratton, John McNeal, Jeanne) and we demo'd the entire kitchen (and drank beer and pitched washers). Then, after a kickass and much needed few hours of mountain biking with my good friend Mike Stratton, my dad and I knocked out the hallway closet and hallway header on Sunday . On Monday I hauled all the rubble to the dump - btw it is $47 per pickup load of trash dropped off at the dump here. I didn't get all of it, but think I can cram the remainder into my COA trash can to get picked up every Friday and get rid of it over the next few weeks. Also, I have an enclosed fireplace so I may burn a good portion of broken trim boards, etc. Of course I am saving good 2x4's and such that come out of the walls/pantry/headers/etc. to use on other projects.
Next steps are to finish demo-ing the guest BR and haul off all debris. THEN I will be ready for the drywaller to come in and do the entire house! Oh yeah, and I'm looking into matching the existing texture (roll-on eggshell) instead of having the entire house textured. The texture costs as much ($750) as the drywall ($750)! I'll let you know how that turns out. After drywall/tape/float/texture is done - then comes floors, covering floors, cabinets, master bath vanity, trim, counter tops, plumbing install, interior paint, final coat of floor sealer, MOVE IN.
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