The official "Home improvement" thread

[DonkeyPunch]

Searched the forums, didnt see one so I figured I'd start one.

How many homeowners are here? and what have you done besides move all your shit in and live there? I'll start. Just closed on my house last week, and already I have to gut my entire kitchen, the perks of buying an as-is estate sale house I guess :/

The main drain stack from the upper level bathroom backed up and froze at one point I guess, casuing a massive crack for it to spew shit water all over my kitchen walls inside the drywall. So everything has to be yanked and replaced, I'm going to re-design it to be an open concept soince the layout of the kitchen sucked ass anyway. Anyway on to the pictures.

Found mold when I removed the cabinet directly in front of the drain stack




kept removing cabinets and what do you know... more mold.



Finally got all the moldy drywall out to expose the stack



and then I found the grand canyon -___-



eveyrthing underneth was rotten as well, including the cabinets, framing and subfloor







So my wife and I were up till 1am this morning gutting the rest of that wall.






Tonight when I leave work its time to take some measurements and head to hom depot to compile a price list. Basically gonna remove all the framing in the last picture and build an idland with a cook top, relocate the sink to the wall on the right under a window and move some other cabinets around. I'm also pulling up tile and subfloor tonight, so wish me luck on that. i'll keep this updated but fee free to ad your own home mods in as well!!!!

[TheNeek]

this thread is disturbing

[Jlyons617]

Can you remove that last stud on the right side? it almost looks like it's load bearing.

[DonkeyPunch]

Can you remove that last stud on the right side? it almost looks like it's load bearing.

Yes, there is a support beam that runs acoss the top of that frame work, the only reason I can think that the stud is doubled up in that area is for the door frame.

[KarlSpackler]

I'm a general contractor. Fuck home improvement. I deal with the shit all day, don't want to deal with it when I get home.

I also live in a new house so it makes it easy

[DonkeyPunch]

I'm a general contractor. Fuck home improvement. I deal with the shit all day, don't want to deal with it when I get home.

I also live in a new house so it makes it easy

Thats how I felt when I worked at an automotive repair shop. I didnt even want to do basic maint on my cars.

Spent about $900 in unfinished cabinetry last night, going to pick up a used range hood and wall oven/mocrowave combo off craigslist today after work. Then out comes the tile flooring and wall framing and start re-routing the plumbing

[Withers]

Holy shit dude


Our fall/winter plan is to build a fire pit in the backyard, paint our (2 story) entryway and start over on our photo wall.

[TheNeek]

We are closing in on refinishing every surface in our house, including our 850sqft garage. The previous owners painted the whole house a blush color, including the ceilings.

[DonkeyPunch]

Holy shit dude


Our fall/winter plan is to build a fire pit in the backyard, paint our (2 story) entryway and start over on our photo wall.

I have asll the stuff for a fire pit in my garage, was gonna be the next proiject but this got in the way.

We are closing in on refinishing every surface in our house, including our 850sqft garage. The previous owners painted the whole house a blush color, including the ceilings.

I **** painting with a passion. almost as much as I **** hanging drywall.

Cabinet shopping last night: Took 4 hours but we got everything we needed, chose all unfinished stuff so we could save thousands of bucks and make it whatever color we wanted....



and the clam snagged this today at the Habitat store for $84.00 I should be able to finish this remodel under $3k easy.

[TheNeek]

Peel and stick flooring on the closet doors.

[DonkeyPunch]

now thats an awesome idea.

[TheNeek]

now thats an awesome idea.

It adds some weight too, so it feels like a solid wood door. Just make sure the clearances work before you add the material. This stuff was 2mm thick and it's about at the limit. The stuff I bought was 6" wide too so it fit a 24" and 36" door perfectly.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

It adds some weight too, so it feels like a solid wood door. Just make sure the clearances work before you add the material. This stuff was 2mm thick and it's about at the limit. The stuff I bought was 6" wide too so it fit a 24" and 36" door perfectly.

^ That is brilliant.

[DonkeyPunch]

Small update from over the weekend.

Picked up this $1200 range hood for $200 on craigslist. Wouldnt fit in the guys kitchen and it had been sitting in his garage for a while.



Tore more shit apart....







Cabinets arrived,,,,,





SO then we were hung up on what type of flooring we wanted for the kitchen. we went back and forth with tile options and finally agreed on just doing laminate flooring throughout the entire downstairs, that way everything would flow nicely and we didnt have to lay down wonderboard, and worry about tiles settling and cracking. Managed to get 800sqft of this stuff into my passat wagon on top of the two windows we needed to move up to locate the kitchen sink under.

Found this flooring for $0.59 a square foot which allowed us to buy the premium pad for it and redce some of the noise in our house.





finally got all the tile ripped up....



then pulling the 1/4" base and old laminate tile up after that.

Decided to take a quicik break from the kitchen and focus on the living area so we could centraliaze everything in the dining room and kitchen that way I could work. Plan is to do this room first, move all the stuff into it and then finish the rest of the house once the kitchen is done.

My wife is always helpful thank god.






Got half of it done this morning at 1:30 AM. went to bed and now I am at work on my second 20oz redbull.

[andybob]

Nice work.

Can't help to think you took a little step back covering up that hardwood floor though.