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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

How hard and how expensive would it be to install crown molding? I'd like to do this for the whole house at some point. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a living room, eat-in kitchen, and hallway. The house was built in 2000 and has settled some so there are some nails popping through the finish coat on the ceilings. Crown molding would look good and hid all that.

Not expensive, but moderately difficult. Cutting the pieces to the perfect length while getting the mitre angles correct can be a bitch.
 
Not expensive, but moderately difficult. Cutting the pieces to the perfect length while getting the mitre angles correct can be a bitch.

This. I did my own, but I've also been using a compound mitre saw since I was 8. Assuming you're just going to paint them rather than stain them, white caulk is your friend. It can easily cover minor mistakes.
 
tsy - something like that door would certainly work, though I doubt I could find one just the right size for my odd doorway. I was more thinking just cutting a hole into the middle of the door and putting a register vent thingie in there:

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That would be your easiest bet. That wouldnt be bad at all.
 
That would be your easiest bet. That wouldnt be bad at all.

I think one of my friends has some of the power tools I'd need also.

So I'm thinking I will need to buy a simple drill of some sort to go along with my house. To put up blinds, curtain rods, shelves and stuff like that. I have friends who say I can borrow their drills but it would probably be best to have my own. gah owning power tools who am I? Looks like I can get a pretty simple one for like $60, any recommendations?
 
I think one of my friends has some of the power tools I'd need also.

So I'm thinking I will need to buy a simple drill of some sort to go along with my house. To put up blinds, curtain rods, shelves and stuff like that. I have friends who say I can borrow their drills but it would probably be best to have my own. gah owning power tools who am I? Looks like I can get a pretty simple one for like $60, any recommendations?

As redneck as this sounds, at your housewarming party, I can bring the tools and have the thing installed in 20 minutes. Assuming I get an invite.

If you aren't using them every day, I'd suggest going with your basic DeWalt drill. Obviously you get what you pay for, so beware of the cheap stuff. Most of what I've got is DeWalt and Milwaukee, but unless you use it multiple times a week I wouldnt suggest spending the money on Milwaukee.
 
As redneck as this sounds, at your housewarming party, I can bring the tools and have the thing installed in 20 minutes. Assuming I get an invite.

If you aren't using them every day, I'd suggest going with your basic DeWalt drill. Obviously you get what you pay for, so beware of the cheap stuff. Most of what I've got is DeWalt and Milwaukee, but unless you use it multiple times a week I wouldnt suggest spending the money on Milwaukee.

aww thanks! I do want to have the door installed before I move into the house though, so it'll already be there by the time there's any housewarming party.

Most likely I'll use the drill frequently for two weeks as I put blinds and curtains up, then not again for a year. So cheap DeWalt should be okay!
 
Sooooo. After checking our cabinets more closely during the inspection yesterday, it looks like we may have to look into replacing them all.

Have any of you replaced your cabinets completely before? What was your experience?
 
Im about to replace all the fixtures in my guest bath. Im going to have extended guests this summer, and it needs a significant overhaul to support heavy use. Should all be done within a few weeks so Ill try and take some before after pics. Bascially ripping out some fixtures that werent performing well and giving the room a more contemporary look.

Have already bought a new ToTo 'double cyclone' toilet, Xylem vanity with sink and matching Xylem mirror and some Kohler Sconces. Also going to replace the shower goors with 1/2" custom frameless glass.
 
I haven't replaced them, but installed the cabinets in my basement. Some of the older homes, the cabinets are actually built into the house as opposed to newer cabinets that are made offsite and assembled onsite. Do you know which kind you have? If they are relatively new cabinets, its as simple as taking all the doors and shelves out, then unscrewing them from the wall. They're typically not screwed together, just screwed into the studs. If they're built in, you're going to have more of an adventure.
 
I haven't replaced them, but installed the cabinets in my basement. Some of the older homes, the cabinets are actually built into the house as opposed to newer cabinets that are made offsite and assembled onsite. Do you know which kind you have? If they are relatively new cabinets, its as simple as taking all the doors and shelves out, then unscrewing them from the wall. They're typically not screwed together, just screwed into the studs. If they're built in, you're going to have more of an adventure.

I didn't get a chance to check that out, but I will at my earliest convenience. The house is 27 years old, so I'm not sure where we'd stand on that front.
 
Sooooo. After checking our cabinets more closely during the inspection yesterday, it looks like we may have to look into replacing them all.

Have any of you replaced your cabinets completely before? What was your experience?

disclaimer: haven't actually done it yet, but have friends who have, and since we're about to go through it, they were giving us some advice.

if you go through something like lowes, they'll come out and design a whole plan for you for something like $75. then, if you actually use them to put in the cabinets, that $75 gets credited back to you.

though our friends said custom cabinets can actually be cheaper (something about supplies being in china).

that's all i've got for you.
 
I'm wary of using Lowes/Home Depot, but I'm definitely going to look into them.
 
I didn't get a chance to check that out, but I will at my earliest convenience. The house is 27 years old, so I'm not sure where we'd stand on that front.

My parents home (built in 1984) has built in cabinets, and mine (2008) were built offsite. Usually, the built in cabinets will not have a backer on them, so when you open the cabinets you'll see the existing wall behind. That's one of the easiest ways to tell.
 
This. I did my own, but I've also been using a compound mitre saw since I was 8. Assuming you're just going to paint them rather than stain them, white caulk is your friend. It can easily cover minor mistakes.

We did our baseboards and quarter round with a mitre saw and really enjoyed using it, but from what I understand crown molding is a lot more difficult with the compound cuts. Our neighbor is a contractor so we might just pay him to do it for us.
 
Question...we had to pull off our fireplace borders to get behind our walls for the surround sound, and we glued them back up with construction glue after spray-painting the stones black. Our hearth got pretty dirty from paint drops and different things, so I'm wondering if they sell paint that we could use to just paint the stone black. I don't want to use spray paint since there's no way to take the hearth outside to do it.
 
Getting a new A/C unit next week. Spent $4,850 on a Lennox Elite something or other. Includes HVAC installation/integration (already replaced the furnace two years ago) and cleaning. Comes with a 10 year warranty, one year free maintenance ($90/year going forward).

No way was I going to install that myself, but did I get ripped off? What are y'alls feeling about home appliance insurance?
 
Getting a new A/C unit next week. Spent $4,850 on a Lennox Elite something or other. Includes HVAC installation/integration (already replaced the furnace two years ago) and cleaning. Comes with a 10 year warranty, one year free maintenance ($90/year going forward).

No way was I going to install that myself, but did I get ripped off? What are y'alls feeling about home appliance insurance?

I'm pretty jaded on that shit right now. I know it's not exactly the same, but we've been in a fight with a home warranty insurance provider over some appliances. It was included by the seller when we closed, but we won't be renewing, that's for damn sure.
 
Yeah, it seems like everyone I've heard from has different feelings based on how far along they are in their mortgage though. Most people who have been in the house like 2-3 years rave about it, but others that are farther along say its a rip off, don't do it, etc. They probably have you filed as a long time client and thus are trying to get their money back even though you just took over the old policy.

We've had the house for four years now, so I feel like I missed that window. Already paid cash for furnace, A/C. Hot water heater is probably next but not much after that coming down the pike. Probably will not be upgrading the kitchen any time soon.
 
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the water heater in the house I am buying is like 30 years old. I need to decide if I should ask for the sellers to replace it or for us to renegotiate so I can have more money to replace it, or expect that it dies soon and let the home warranty replace it
 
my home warranty came in handy twice. the first time involved lots of asking for supervisors and yelling and maybe even some crying. then it finally involved calling my realtor and complaining about them and asking if i could just file a complaint or something. she called them and bitched and then they finally covered it.

the second time, a pipe burst and flooded my basement and everything, so both the home warranty and the insurance company were involved (warranty fixed the pipe, insurance fixed the damage caused by the burst pipe). when i was talking to the insurance company, they were like "sorry, but insurance doesn't cover normal wear and tear, so we can't pay for the pipe itself." and i said "no worries, the home warranty already covered that." their response was "wow, we have never once heard of somebody having a good experience with a home warranty."

mine is due to expire in a week. we're not renewing this time. i'm glad i had it for the first year since i really had no idea what all was wrong with the house. but for the last two years (even when fixing the pipe), it hasn't been worth it.
 
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