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Home improvement - where to start?
- Thread starter Random Guy
- Start date
I put it there to show the plumber where the crack is (and covered it back up with clay because i don't need the neighbors to smell sewage for a week or so). That area is more dug out now for this coming Wednesday repair (inspection on Thursday). By the way, took me all of 15 minutes to to get homeowner's permit from the City and $148.90. Two different plumbers quoted me $300 and $400 to get the permit.
In older parts of SF, single family homes are not pressed up against the street (in before new requirements came into effect)
Also, different zoning rules for RH1 vs RH2 have different requirements too. Besides, don't most homes out on the ocean side of the City have driveways?
Me doing some of the hard larbor for the plumbing repair should mean I am not loaded. Wouldn't a rich person farm that stuff out so they could spend their time (more valuable than money?) sippy mai tais in Tahiti?
But I concede that me and my spouse owning a home in SF means we have more than a few pennies to rub together......and a few more means I might be able to buy a small plain coffee from Peets.
A guy down the street from us, per Joe the ex- SFPD across the street from me, had a collapsed sewer line from his yard to the main (under sidewalk to middle of street) and that ran him $16K. His situation is different from mine (thank-Cthulhu) and needed City work too. He was responsible for all the stuff on his property, which ends where the sidewalk meets the actual street...the landform relief there is way more drastic than mine too.“Had” money, until this home improvement project started about 22 years ago
his ungrateful nephews will not thank him for the multi million dollar gem he leaves them one day
oh wait that second part might be me never mind. Little punks
As for the "multi-million dollar gem" going to the nephews, I think I would be more likely to deed it all over to the one niece who writes me back than any of the nephews....certainly not the one now flying for United or the one who was gifted (!) a $60K downpayment from my brother-in-law's "rich" grandmother (in true weird grandmother fashion, she gave a pittance to her daughter, a little more to the grandchild (my brother-in-law) and $60K to the great grandson (oldest nephew) and $65K to the great granddaughter (oldest niece). And the other ones, well, yeah, good money after bad is not a way to build a dynastic legacy .
But even there, ha, that niece better put that college degree to good use first because who knows how many garage sale surfboards she'll have to pay to get rid of upon my untimely demise.
Had to rent a concrete saw this weekend to allow the plumber better access to the pipes (to allow for the tie-in to the new line). Only took 1.5 hours to cut about 8 ft worth of 4 inch concrete. Even with hearing protection, my ears are still not in love with me.My back is sore just looking at fotos of that trench.
Ow!
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I work occasionally on the bottom rung of the construction world and am so glad to live in a condo.
We are paying top dollar for a full Re siding from a large regional company that gives a true lifetime warranty on parts and labor and they have all the stellar reviews one would expect from a high price outfit. Permits for work and dumpster were easy and we got them ourselves. The sales “consultant” has gotten a little less impressive now that the contract is signed but I think we are still on track
she texted my wife “oh, I didn’t budget for the chimneys, you never mentioned them so we will leave them as is” and my wife politely but firmly said “YOU TOOK ALL THE PHOTOS and the chimneys are in half of them- did you think we were just going to Re side the entire house in blue board and batten with white trim and leave the little chimneys with their original white 30+ year old plain white vinyl slats? It’s PART OF THE SIDE OF. THE HOUSE”. She quickly acknowledged that yes; that does make sense and don’t worry I will order the additional material” because she knew full well she just plain screwed up.
there are a couple of other little air head moves from the consultant but sounds like they have all been settled. However she doesn’t have a start date for us yet. When we signed, she was all gung ho “as soon as you have the building and dumpster permit we will have a crew of 10 guys there and within 4 days you will have an entirely new exterior.
that was a few weeks ago now lol
she texted my wife “oh, I didn’t budget for the chimneys, you never mentioned them so we will leave them as is” and my wife politely but firmly said “YOU TOOK ALL THE PHOTOS and the chimneys are in half of them- did you think we were just going to Re side the entire house in blue board and batten with white trim and leave the little chimneys with their original white 30+ year old plain white vinyl slats? It’s PART OF THE SIDE OF. THE HOUSE”. She quickly acknowledged that yes; that does make sense and don’t worry I will order the additional material” because she knew full well she just plain screwed up.
there are a couple of other little air head moves from the consultant but sounds like they have all been settled. However she doesn’t have a start date for us yet. When we signed, she was all gung ho “as soon as you have the building and dumpster permit we will have a crew of 10 guys there and within 4 days you will have an entirely new exterior.
that was a few weeks ago now lol
Nothing gets the neighborhood dads fired up like a dumpster delivery. I know I'd strap on New Balances and walk over to see what you got cookin.
Dumpsters are more like building inspector magnets than dad magnets. In some areas you can have them dropped on sat, load up your dirty work, and then have them picked up on sunday. No pesky inspectors around on weekends.
Pro tip right there
Yessir!
That was one of the first things on the list to get rid of / correct. I hate it too!
Then we ran into that big header that is supporting a king post to the ridge beam.
Minor set back. Already got that solved.
But the photos are just the tip of the iceberg.
It's a whole redo and I wasn't really prepared for that or ready for that but my people are pushing me to do it and I'm all onboard with it now. It really needs it.
Smaller projects usually snowball into a full redo anyway. So at least you just jumped right into the deep end.
The weekend was "fun" with the cement saw and more digging to the point where the iron pipe meets the clay and site of another crack (red circle). Good think the plan from the beginning was to abandon-in-place the old and replace entirety with iron. The other pipe is the abandoned in place water line (red line)....replaced about 20 yrs ago.
At the sidewalk, yesterday after work, found the main break. Had to prop it up a little to make it marginally more useful for next 12 hrs. Actual plumbers laying new pipe today. Should be done by 2 PM, then inspection tomorrow before I back fill it. Spray-painted the gas line to make certain everyone is aware of things.
At the sidewalk, yesterday after work, found the main break. Had to prop it up a little to make it marginally more useful for next 12 hrs. Actual plumbers laying new pipe today. Should be done by 2 PM, then inspection tomorrow before I back fill it. Spray-painted the gas line to make certain everyone is aware of things.
Digging by hand is the hard part. Moving it enough and you learn how to use leverage both in loading and moving the wheel barrow. It’s like duckdiving. Minimum effort, maximum progress.
Take a long handled square shovel. Extend your arm with the bottom of the shovel on the ground. Lift the shovel to waist level with your arm fully extended. Now do it with the shovel full of dirt.
We use 4” PVC for drainage from the houses to the septic tanks. Surround it with a big cushion of sand and gravel. Probably not allowed there? I fkn hate cast iron pipe.
You have not lived until you have had to wheelbarrow concrete on a uphill narrow path or on planks with air underneath
I tried many of those careers in my early 20s.
All I can say is Thank Cthulhu there is a demand for weirdos like me in media sales
All I can say is Thank Cthulhu there is a demand for weirdos like me in media sales
1 Mainly used a sharp shooter shovel, and in the bigger areas, used a long handled spaded shovel.
2 Moved dirt with wheel barrow, not too far away (don't have photo of the pile). Also filled the rolling compost bin (as provided by the garage company for all SFH in the CIty) with the wet gunk at the bottom of the hole.
3 SF requires cast iron. Inspection tomorrow, so no cheating allowed.
4 Backfilling will require a fair bit of stomping about to compact it.