Building and Construction - Home Remodeling Blog (My Five mistakes to avoid)

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Home Remodeling Blog (My Five mistakes to avoid)

BeneathTheStairs@gmail.com

2007-12-26, 1:25 pm

These are my five mistakes to avoid.

Five Mistakes to Avoid

5. Clean the grout off the tile while it is still wet. This caused us
many hours of hard work. In fact it took as long to clean up the tiles
as it did to lay them.

4. Don't depend on your friends for critical parts of the project.
Your friends are probably well meaning and want to help. But family
and work get in the way. They hate to tell you no. You are better off
moving along and hiring out the work or doing it yourself. If later
your friend comes back and wants to help get them to come over and do
something else.

3. Don't believe the material that comes with the sander from the "Big
Box" Home Improvement stores. If your hardwood floor is clean and
doesn't contain many finishes, they may work. Our floor contained
decades of varnish and wax. The sander bounced and gouged. We ended up
on the floor with varnish stripper stripping off the old finishes and
then hand sanding them to repair the damage done by the big sander.

2. Be careful what you throw away. In our case we threw away bathroom
fixtures. We were just trying to clear the junk out of the house. Now
I wish I had those fixtures. Many of the fixtures in my house are
original to the house and I could use the old parts for replacements
(50 year old plumbing is not easy to find).

1. . Try not to change plans. In our downstairs we had a bathroom. We
decided to make it into a mud room. We removed old plumbing
connections and moved doors. Then we went back to the original
bathroom and had to rework plumbing and doors. Sometimes changes can't
be helped but try to think thru everything ahead of time. This change
alone costs us tens of hours and hundreds of dollars.

This list and more are found at my blog.
http://personalgenesis.blogspot.com/

Robert Allison

2007-12-26, 1:25 pm

BeneathTheStairs@gmail.com wrote:
> These are my five mistakes to avoid.
>
> Five Mistakes to Avoid
>
>
>
> 5. Clean the grout off the tile while it is still wet. This caused us
> many hours of hard work. In fact it took as long to clean up the tiles
> as it did to lay them.
>
> 4. Don't depend on your friends for critical parts of the project.
> Your friends are probably well meaning and want to help. But family
> and work get in the way. They hate to tell you no. You are better off
> moving along and hiring out the work or doing it yourself. If later
> your friend comes back and wants to help get them to come over and do
> something else.
>
> 3. Don't believe the material that comes with the sander from the "Big
> Box" Home Improvement stores. If your hardwood floor is clean and
> doesn't contain many finishes, they may work. Our floor contained
> decades of varnish and wax. The sander bounced and gouged. We ended up
> on the floor with varnish stripper stripping off the old finishes and
> then hand sanding them to repair the damage done by the big sander.
>
> 2. Be careful what you throw away. In our case we threw away bathroom
> fixtures. We were just trying to clear the junk out of the house. Now
> I wish I had those fixtures. Many of the fixtures in my house are
> original to the house and I could use the old parts for replacements
> (50 year old plumbing is not easy to find).
>
> 1. . Try not to change plans. In our downstairs we had a bathroom. We
> decided to make it into a mud room. We removed old plumbing
> connections and moved doors. Then we went back to the original
> bathroom and had to rework plumbing and doors. Sometimes changes can't
> be helped but try to think thru everything ahead of time. This change
> alone costs us tens of hours and hundreds of dollars.
>
> This list and more are found at my blog.
> http://personalgenesis.blogspot.com/

I have heard this type of thing many, many times. Being a
contractor, I am often called in to help out after the non
professionals have had their turn. I encourage anyone
considering doing their own remodeling to at least consult
with a professional before starting and possibly during the
process. A professional contractor can forsee many things
that the homeowner can't, and can give good, accurate advice
about the process.

Make a friend in the construction business and pay him for his
advice. Most of them will be glad to help and can save lots
of time and money.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

europeanvic

2007-12-26, 5:25 pm

On Dec 26, 1:53=A0pm, Robert Allison <rimsho...@spamless.net> wrote:
> BeneathTheSta...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I have heard this type of thing many, many times. =A0Being a
> contractor, I am often called in to help out after the non
> professionals have had their turn. =A0I encourage anyone
> considering doing their own remodeling to at least consult
> with a professional before starting and possibly during the
> process. =A0A professional contractor can forsee many things
> that the homeowner can't, and can give good, accurate advice
> about the process.
>
> Make a friend in the construction business and pay him for his
> advice. =A0Most of them will be glad to help and can save lots
> of time and money.
>
> --
> Robert Allison =A0
> Rimshot, Inc.
> Georgetown, TX- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I agree, use professionals for remodeling, that is the best think to
do, but I disagree about friends. They could be pretty useful in the
little stuff like cleaning. I never hire professional company to
move, I always been helped by friends.

europeanvic

2007-12-26, 5:25 pm

On Dec 26, 5:27=A0pm, europeanvic <victausha...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 26, 1:53=A0pm, Robert Allison <rimsho...@spamless.net> wrote:
>
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>
[color=darkred]
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[color=darkred]
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> I agree, use professionals for remodeling, that is the best think to
> do, but I disagree about friends. =A0They could be pretty useful in the
> little stuff like cleaning. =A0I never hire professional company to
> move, I always been helped by friends.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

And by the way all the times my friends did better job that
professional movers.

www.planorealestateadvisor.com

Big_Jake

2007-12-26, 9:25 pm

On Dec 26, 11:57 am, BeneathTheSta...@gmail.com wrote:
> These are my five mistakes to avoid.
>
> Five Mistakes to Avoid
>
> 5. Clean the grout off the tile while it is still wet. This caused us
> many hours of hard work. In fact it took as long to clean up the tiles
> as it did to lay them.
>
> 4. Don't depend on your friends for critical parts of the project.
> Your friends are probably well meaning and want to help. But family
> and work get in the way. They hate to tell you no. You are better off
> moving along and hiring out the work or doing it yourself. If later
> your friend comes back and wants to help get them to come over and do
> something else.
>
> 3. Don't believe the material that comes with the sander from the "Big
> Box" Home Improvement stores. If your hardwood floor is clean and
> doesn't contain many finishes, they may work. Our floor contained
> decades of varnish and wax. The sander bounced and gouged. We ended up
> on the floor with varnish stripper stripping off the old finishes and
> then hand sanding them to repair the damage done by the big sander.
>
> 2. Be careful what you throw away. In our case we threw away bathroom
> fixtures. We were just trying to clear the junk out of the house. Now
> I wish I had those fixtures. Many of the fixtures in my house are
> original to the house and I could use the old parts for replacements
> (50 year old plumbing is not easy to find).
>
> 1. . Try not to change plans. In our downstairs we had a bathroom. We
> decided to make it into a mud room. We removed old plumbing
> connections and moved doors. Then we went back to the original
> bathroom and had to rework plumbing and doors. Sometimes changes can't
> be helped but try to think thru everything ahead of time. This change
> alone costs us tens of hours and hundreds of dollars.
>
> This list and more are found at my blog.http://personalgenesis.blogspot.com/

#6

Never do work "the first time" on your own house, where you have to
look at it. Get some rental houses, or help friends and family with
their tiling, hardwoods, painting, landscaping or whatever. Nothing
worse than looking at your own rookie mistakes for the next 2
decades...

JK

BeneathTheStairs@gmail.com

2007-12-30, 5:25 pm

On Dec 26, 8:56=A0pm, Big_Jake <I.do.realest...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 26, 11:57 am, BeneathTheSta...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>
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>
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com/[color=darkred]
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> #6
>
> Never do work "the first time" on your own house, where you have to
> look at it. =A0Get some rental houses, or help friends and family with
> their tiling, hardwoods, painting, landscaping or whatever. =A0Nothing
> worse than looking at your own rookie mistakes for the next 2
> decades...
>
> JK- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I didn't say don't use friends. I said don't depend on them for
something that is critical in your work plan. If you have to have
something done before you can move on it may be better to hire it out
or do it yourself. I used a couple of friends (one who is a contractor
and one who is a trim carpenter (my brother)). But they have lives
also and their schedule doesn't always fit mine. I also used friends
to move and we had some friends help clean.

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