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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

Replaced the garbage disposal at the local Habitat ReStore. You know it's time when water goes straight through the disposal and exits where the electric power wire attaches. I am not a fan of the new proprietary connector method of hooking up the electrical part. Need to have exactly 1 3/8 inches of wire outside the sheathing. No more, no less and make a right angle in all three exactly at that distance. Not fun in BX metal sheathed cable when you also need a plastic bushing so the metal doesn't wear through the plastic insulation on the wires.
 
birdman said:
Replaced my leaking kitchen faucet this morning!

View attachment 8876
View attachment 8877
I think the hardest part about plumbing is fitting into tight awkward places.
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I'm always impressed that the little pudgy dude in This Old House can fit into those spots. It's like his gut has molded itself over the years around all those usual spots under the sink. I did my garbage disposal once when I was younger, thinner, and more in shape, and it was a super pain in the ass.

Speaking of which, my Samsung TV has a shitload of free channels, most quite forgettable. However, some are quite good. I got hooked on their Antiques Roadshow channel for a long time, but have now moved on to their This Old House channel. It's so much better than all the home improvement shows on TV because they actually show you how to do real, practical things. Granted, they have access to all the right tools, but the explanations are clear and spot-on. A lot of it is, "Why didn't I ever think of that?" trick of the trade stuff.
 
We're planning to re-model our 1250 sq. ft. main level and would like some advice from you younger folks (don't hear that too often, do you). We have no plans on selling soon but want to make it attractive to eventual buyers in the 30-45 age group, the folks who are buying homes that come up for sale in our neighborhood. Our home is a 3250 sq ft, 3-level colonial in one of the better Roanoke County neighborhoods, with 4 bedrooms and 3 full, and 1 half bath. A room in the finished basement could be a 5th bedroom. Zillow says it's worth $500k, but that might overstate it.

We have hardwood floors in the foyer and carpet in the dining, living, and family rooms. The kitchen, 1/2 bath, and sunroom addition are tile. I don't want any carpet - is hardwood still a prime consideration, or is an high-end LVP a decent alternative since we have dogs? I'm guessing there's a $4-5,000 difference in cost. I'll probably go with a matching tile for the kitchen and bath.

We haven't used our formal dining room in years - are they still in vogue? Two millennial couples I know use their dining rooms for casual dining and a multipurpose room for their children, which seems more practical. Our kitchen is on the smaller side, so I want to expand it into the dining room, mainly for added cabinets and counter space. I'd probably put a high-top table and a TV in it and use it as more of a pub room for now.

Thoughts?
 
Living rooms in the typical family house floor plan do seem somewhat out of vogue to me but that is completely anecdotal from houses I go into.

Lot of using the living rooms as home offices. Our living room was once the toddler playroom. It’s now a place where the dogs sleep during the day and I have coffee. If I didn’t already have a basement office space I imagine that’d become the office.

We have our dining room set up as a dining room but sounds like yours in that it’s basically a museum and a place to winter our outdoor potted plants and used maybe 3x a year for “dining” when we have like family visiting and numbers greater than our normal family setup.
 
WFU71 said:
We're planning to re-model our 1250 sq. ft. main level and would like some advice from you younger folks (don't hear that too often, do you). We have no plans on selling soon but want to make it attractive to eventual buyers in the 30-45 age group, the folks who are buying homes that come up for sale in our neighborhood. Our home is a 3250 sq ft, 3-level colonial in one of the better Roanoke County neighborhoods, with 4 bedrooms and 3 full, and 1 half bath. A room in the finished basement could be a 5th bedroom. Zillow says it's worth $500k, but that might overstate it.

We have hardwood floors in the foyer and carpet in the dining, living, and family rooms. The kitchen, 1/2 bath, and sunroom addition are tile. I don't want any carpet - is hardwood still a prime consideration, or is an high-end LVP a decent alternative since we have dogs? I'm guessing there's a $4-5,000 difference in cost. I'll probably go with a matching tile for the kitchen and bath.

We haven't used our formal dining room in years - are they still in vogue? Two millennial couples I know use their dining rooms for casual dining and a multipurpose room for their children, which seems more practical. Our kitchen is on the smaller side, so I want to expand it into the dining room, mainly for added cabinets and counter space. I'd probably put a high-top table and a TV in it and use it as more of a pub room for now.

Thoughts?
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I can only speak for myself but even the nice LVP just feels off vs hardwoods to me, and feel like it would immediately detract value mentally just because it still carries some of the stigma from when it was a cheaper option only (I know they have gotten a lot better in the high end range but 🤷‍♂️)

Also with dogs I'd rather have a hardwood I can always sand down/refinish vs LVP that has to be replaced entirely when scratched up.
 
I think a living room still plays in a home that isn't open floorplan too, but expanding kitchen is never a bad idea 😂
 
I have nothing to add except that having multiple dining rooms or living rooms sounds nice.

Crying in 850sqft
 
06deacon said:
Living rooms in the typical family house floor plan do seem somewhat out of vogue to me but that is completely anecdotal from houses I go into.

Lot of using the living rooms as home offices. Our living room was once the toddler playroom. It’s now a place where the dogs sleep during the day and I have coffee. If I didn’t already have a basement office space I imagine that’d become the office.

We have our dining room set up as a dining room but sounds like yours in that it’s basically a museum and a place to winter our outdoor potted plants and used maybe 3x a year for “dining” when we have like family visiting and numbers greater than our normal family setup.
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While we still call it the living room, it's basically a home office and music room (piano, keyboard, and a couple of guitars).
 
cookoutdeac said:
I think a living room still plays in a home that isn't open floorplan too, but expanding kitchen is never a bad idea 😂
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Yeah, we're also considering removing the common, non-loadbearing wall between the living and family rooms. The resulting great room would be around 26x24.
 
WFU71 said:
Yeah, we're also considering removing the common, non-loadbearing wall between the living and family rooms. The resulting great room would be around 26x24.
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I'd only do this at this point if you have other areas in the house that could be used as a dedicated home office without sacrificing a bedroom. I feel like post-covid the biggest selling points are less about the big open floorplan and more about how the home can be maximized into different, separated areas. Caveat to this is having a good sight-line from the kitchen to one of the 'play zones' if you don't already have one.
 
lbE08 said:
I'd only do this at this point if you have other areas in the house that could be used as a dedicated home office without sacrificing a bedroom. I feel like post-covid the biggest selling points are less about the big open floorplan and more about how the home can be maximized into different, separated areas. Caveat to this is having a good sight-line from the kitchen to one of the 'play zones' if you don't already have one.
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There's an additional 12x12 office with bookshelves in the finished basement. We use it as a small theater room - 60" TV, Polk MagniFy Mini home theater soundbar system, dorm-size fridge, and a couch.

We had teenage daughters when we purchased this house. It was a great gathering place for their friends throughout their HS and college years. We had as many as 12 college kids spend the night at a time - girls upstairs in the bedrooms, boys in the basement, and me in a recliner on the main level ;)
 
cookoutdeac said:
I can only speak for myself but even the nice LVP just feels off vs hardwoods to me, and feel like it would immediately detract value mentally just because it still carries some of the stigma from when it was a cheaper option only (I know they have gotten a lot better in the high end range but )

Also with dogs I'd rather have a hardwood I can always sand down/refinish vs LVP that has to be replaced entirely when scratched up.
Click to expand...

We have LVP and it very obviously feels different than hardwoods but it still looks good. We don’t have a dog but we have two small kids that beat the hell out of it and it is holding up.

I could potentially see switching to hard woods after the kids are older but LVP I think has a more universal appeal given the durability/cost.
 
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