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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

VaDeac said:
How much do ikea cabinets run? I fucking hate my kitchen cabinets.
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Our kitchen is small. We will have a total of 11 cabinets and it's going to run about $2,500 with tax. I was initially skeptical, but damn do people love these things. http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/kitchen-planning/

You can offset a bit of the cost by putting them together yourself and the rail system makes installation very easy. Level the rail and you can just hang your cabinets. No need to worry about shimming.
 
It has been almost a year of homeownership for me, which mean the home warranty that was included when I bought the house is up for renewal. I'm leaning toward not renewing, but curious what other people have done or would recommend.

The warranty is $550 plus $75 fee any time someone comes out. During the past year, I have used it three times. First was my own stupidity, I thought my AC was broken but it was turned off at a circuit breaker I hadn't seen on the outside of the house. Second time, I had a drain trap break and plumbers had to come fix, there were 2 plumbers there for around 2 hours. And the third time my furnace stopped working and I had that repaired/serviced, and it required two trips. It was $60 fee this year so I think I came out on top with the plumbing and furnace issues.

However, for $550 + $75, I'm not sure it's worth it. My house is 64 years old, the water heater is 30+ years old, AC is 7 years old, oil furnace is old and expensive, dishwasher is 5 years old, fridge & oven are around 12 years old. If I'm reading the policy right, the maximum they will pay for HVAC or water heater needs in one year is $1500.

I was rooting for the water heater to break this year since it's well past life expectancy. That's the likeliest potential problem.

Thoughts or advice?
 
My wife and I have never renewed past the first year (which the seller paid for in each instance) because it was always a fight with the warranty company to get stuff repaired. Fortunately, we've had newer homes with newer components and not having a warranty hasn't been a huge issue for us.
 
With a furnace that old, and a water heater that old, both could go any time now. The water heater, as you noted, is way past its life expectancy.

The big issues for you are the furnace and the plumbing, including the water heater.

You could check with a local servicing company and find out what they charge for service contract on the heater. That might be a better way to go. Repairing the old oil furnace will be more and more difficult. The parts will be harder to get and more expensive.

What material(s) are your pipes made from? If they are galvanized steel/iron or black iron, they may be reaching the end of life as well. They will be breaking, as your trap did. If you have copper, it should be good for a while yet. If you have plastic, it means somebody replaced piping somewhere along the line. 1950's houses didn't have plastic pipe. Most had copper water lines and cast iron waste lines.

Check the limits on your policy. $1500 should cover a new water heater, but won't cover a new furnace.
 
I was in a similar situation last year with my warranty (although my HVAC is in good shape) and did not renew. I subscribe to the philosophy that you should only insure against things that would be truly catastrophic financially. The policies are written, of course, so that the insurance company makes a profit most of the time. And that's on top of their administrative expenses. If the max payout is only $1,500 for your riskiest items, that only saves you $900 when you subtract the premium you paid. Doesn't seem like there's that much upside to me. But I'm also the guy who said to use the plunger on the tub, so take it with a grain of salt. Maybe it would make sense to get an opinion from a local HVAC guy on the life expectancy.
 
Thanks folks. I'll try to get some clarification about the coverage limits before I completely write it off. And check my pipes and also what kind of coverage there would even be on pipes.
 
You might find you are better off throwing the $550 in a savings account and drawing on that when stuff needs to be fixed.

Or, depending on coverage, you might find that the cost of the policy gets returned in services. If it doesn't limit your costs on the big ticket items, its not a very good policy. That is what I look at insurance for: to limit the costs in case of major catastrophe - such as needing a new furnace, or major repairs on the old one.
 
Anyone have any advice on frequency for having exterminators spray? We've been in our house since January, just noticed that there are some carpenter ants down around the deck and carpenter bees, and we've been having what seems like an abnormal amount of spiders and stink bugs (I admittedly need to seal the doors better). But how frequently do you get your home sprayed? My dad recommended twice a year (I think he means for the ants/bees though) and my buddy said they did quarterly. The exterminator recommends monthly for the stink bug, and I don't know how often for the normal spray.

Side note, plumber came to fix a leaky toilet yesterday. Found a clogged drain underneath. Tried snaking. Told my wife (she's at home during the day) he needed a bigger snake. 3 more plumbers have to come by with apparently a much heavier duty snake, and they spend 2-3 hours unclogging the drain line on the bottom floor of our house. Found a lot of baby wipes and other stuff. Thanks previous owners!
 
We get our house sprayed quarterly (cost $70 per spray) and it works remarkably well. We live in a pretty wooded area and never see any kind of bugs.
 
my parents back up to woods in central NC and get sprayed monthly.
 
bmoneydeac said:
We get our house sprayed quarterly (cost $70 per spray) and it works remarkably well. We live in a pretty wooded area and never see any kind of bugs.
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We spray twice a year (but live in a very urban area so no need to go 4). It works phenominally. We started noticing an increase in bugs earlier this week and the dude will be here on Wednesday. Won't need him back until the fall.
 
Thanks for the advice guys! I'll discuss it with my wife tonight.
 
I bought a one gallon garden sprayer at Lowe's for $15 and some pesticide concentrate (Sevin brand I think) for $15 for what should be ten uses. I used it last year and only had a handful of stinkbugs and no other issues.
 
The closet in my master bedroom has bypass sliding doors and I do not like them. My biggest annoyance is that I can only access half of the closet at a time (#firstworldproblems). I want to switch them out to normal hinged doors that open outward, so I can use the inside of the doors for a full length mirror and hooks, but that seems like an uncommon choice for a closet. The door opening is just over 70 inches wide so two doors would each be about 35 inches wide, opening out into the room. My current furniture set-up would allow that without a problem, but upon further consideration I am wondering if switching to bi-fold doors might be smarter, to minimize how much the open doors encroach into the room. I'd lose the potential to use the inside of the door though. Also it seems like it's a bit of a non-standard width opening in general so I don't know if I'd run into trouble finding doors that would fit.

suggestions on choosing a type of door? I don't know if I could DIY it either...
 
RollTheQuad06 said:
The closet in my master bedroom has bypass sliding doors and I do not like them. My biggest annoyance is that I can only access half of the closet at a time (#firstworldproblems). I want to switch them out to normal hinged doors that open outward, so I can use the inside of the doors for a full length mirror and hooks, but that seems like an uncommon choice for a closet. The door opening is just over 70 inches wide so two doors would each be about 35 inches wide, opening out into the room. My current furniture set-up would allow that without a problem, but upon further consideration I am wondering if switching to bi-fold doors might be smarter, to minimize how much the open doors encroach into the room. I'd lose the potential to use the inside of the door though. Also it seems like it's a bit of a non-standard width opening in general so I don't know if I'd run into trouble finding doors that would fit.

suggestions on choosing a type of door? I don't know if I could DIY it either...
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You have pretty much hit the pros and cons of the possible options. How much space for hooks and hanging things do you have inside your closet? Some closets don't leave a lot of room between the hanging clothes and the doors.

The 70 inches shouldn't be a big deal. It is just 2 inches short of 6 feet, or 72 inches, which would allow for two 36 inch doors (standard) or 4 18 inch bi-fold panels. It is not hard to trim an inch from a 36 inch door or 1/2 inch or so (gotta leave some room for the bifold hinges) from each of the four panels of a bifold set of doors. If you look, you may find that the current doors are actually 36 inch doors, and that filler pieces have been installed at each end to give the doors the overlap. Is your opening actually somewhere around 70 1/2 or 701/4 ?
 
Deaconblue said:
You have pretty much hit the pros and cons of the possible options. How much space for hooks and hanging things do you have inside your closet? Some closets don't leave a lot of room between the hanging clothes and the doors.

The 70 inches shouldn't be a big deal. It is just 2 inches short of 6 feet, or 72 inches, which would allow for two 36 inch doors (standard) or 4 18 inch bi-fold panels. It is not hard to trim an inch from a 36 inch door or 1/2 inch or so (gotta leave some room for the bifold hinges) from each of the four panels of a bifold set of doors. If you look, you may find that the current doors are actually 36 inch doors, and that filler pieces have been installed at each end to give the doors the overlap. Is your opening actually somewhere around 70 1/2 or 701/4 ?
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thanks. I'd remeasure a dozen times before I bought or cut anything, but the file of house measurements I keep on my phone says the opening is 70 3/4. The current doors are not actually pre-made doors, rather wood paneling (to match the whole room) reinforced along the back.

I think I'd have at least 4 inches of space between the doors and the hanging clothes for hooks. mostly it would be scarves and maybe purses to hang up, and also that full length mirror I'd like instead of having to climb on furniture to get a full reflection.

My concern on cutting doors down, is that I thought most doors were hollow core, which to me means that if you cut into them there wouldn't be a solid edge anymore, just an empty spot.
 
RollTheQuad06 said:
thanks. I'd remeasure a dozen times before I bought or cut anything, but the file of house measurements I keep on my phone says the opening is 70 3/4. The current doors are not actually pre-made doors, rather wood paneling (to match the whole room) reinforced along the back.

I think I'd have at least 4 inches of space between the doors and the hanging clothes for hooks. mostly it would be scarves and maybe purses to hang up, and also that full length mirror I'd like instead of having to climb on furniture to get a full reflection.

My concern on cutting doors down, is that I thought most doors were hollow core, which to me means that if you cut into them there wouldn't be a solid edge anymore, just an empty spot.
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You are correct that most inside doors are hollow core. However, they have solid edges that can be trimmed a little for situations just like yours. The trim you need would be minor - just over 1/4 inch cut from each side of the two doors, if you did that. Or probably OK (need to check the doors you get, specifically) to take 5/8 or maybe a bit more (to leave room for them to close properly and easily) from the edges of the two doors where they come together.

If you really want to use them for hanging stuff, you might want to consider getting solid core doors ("exterior") so you have something to screw hooks etc. into. Also, use three hinges, not two, on each door to carry the weight better so they don't sag.
 
thanks for the suggestions. I'd have to see the price differential to know if it would be worth getting solid doors... hanging things wouldn't be worth hundreds of extra dollars expense! Habitat ReStore tends to have a lot of doors, maybe I could buy some old exterior doors there cheaply for indoor use. I want a new front door and basement entry door but don't trust used doors for exterior use. Doors are complicated!
 
RollTheQuad06 said:
thanks for the suggestions. I'd have to see the price differential to know if it would be worth getting solid doors... hanging things wouldn't be worth hundreds of extra dollars expense! Habitat ReStore tends to have a lot of doors, maybe I could buy some old exterior doors there cheaply for indoor use. I want a new front door and basement entry door but don't trust used doors for exterior use. Doors are complicated!
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Good ideas. Used doors can save big bucks if you can find what you need. May be able to find some odd size (35 inch+/-) or so doors there.

The other way of doing it is to put a few pieces of 1x4 on the inside of the door running from edge to edge, attached (screw/nails/glue) at the edges where the solid parts of the door are. Then put your hooks etc. into the 1x4's. Then you won't have to worry about the weight pulling the hooks out of the thin veneer.
 
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