Home improvement - where to start?

[PJ]

Just finished rockscaping the front yard.
Found a great free source of rocks/boulders and went to town terracing.
I'm over stacking rocks for a while.
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Nice!
My father told me that he though that of the trades the masons work was the hardest since they were always physically moving weight. I think he was right. My wife, my son and I leveled off a 20' x 30' patio with a 3 foot paver type block retaining wall. Moved about about 6 yards of dirt to level the slope then 14 yards of Item 4 and leveling gravel then covered it with pavers - 17 pallets of block and pavers in all. Man that was a lot of work! I used 3 sizes of pavers large, med & small. My son wanted all large so it would go faster - we realized that would have been a mistake. The large pavers (about 15" x 7") were so heavy - the smaller ones were a welcome relief.

 

[Will there be snacks]

Just finished rockscaping the front yard.
Found a great free source of rocks/boulders and went to town terracing.
I'm over stacking rocks for a while.
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Nice work.

 

[Will there be snacks]

This thread has been going for years so it prompted me to look back on what we accomplished back in 2021. Ohhhh the anguish, but so worth it.

At one point in my youth I couldn't even imagine that I'd ever do something like this in my life. I joke that I learned so much but never want to do it again.


Giving real meaning to the phrase "rip the roof off this place". It's a given that you're moving out when you can star gaze from every single room.

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Widened the garage by 3 feet (which required moving the Gas and Electrical infrastructure and digging all the way out to the street) and enclosed part of the side yard for a mud room / laundry room.

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Staring to take shape...

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All new mechanical, electrical and plumbing. The HVAC moved from a downstairs closet into the attic. You can see some of the radiant barrier roof boards they used on the upper left of the image...

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Abandoned all legacy copper pipes under the slab and plumbed with Pex throughout. Pex terminated in copper that is. We had a pretty darn good plumber.

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The walls had zero insulation before, now every wall, interior & exterior, is insulated...

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New garage slab. We immediately epoxy coated this...

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Dream come true...

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I guess I wasn't following this thread back then. Heck of a project. Did you have somewhere to stay nearby during?

 

[92122]

I guess I wasn't following this thread back then. Heck of a project. Did you have somewhere to stay nearby during?

Yes, rented a condo for $2,200 a month about 2 miles away. So fun paying that and your mortgage. We pushed hard and moved back into the downstairs after 6 months, but were really done in like 10 months.

Good thing was we were on the job site more days then not and caught so many things along the way that we course corrected with my project manager and superintendent.

 

[2surf]

Nice work.

That's really good work. Beautiful job. Show us the street view.

 

[Mr Doof]

Nice. Our source of cobbles ran out before we could finish a storm water swale/faux river project. Anytime you can score free rocks take them!

The free rocks thing is a thing!

First roof redo for the goat shed we call our residence, we swept off all the pea gravel on the roof, lowered it in buckets, then sold it per bucket for $0.10 per bucket.

Contracting guy came by and we just loaded it into his truck bed and he gave me a $20 and we both felt like we had made a steal.

Next day my inner thigh and lower back made me rethink who "won" that exchange.

Does anyone here have any experience with earthquake retrofitting? Our house was built in 1926 and hasn’t been bolted. We recently got selected to receive a $3000 FEMA grant and are starting to get estimates. Anything to look out for? Dealing with contractors as a homeowner is all new to me.

1 I am biased against contractors. As bad as used car salesmen. I have a sampling of three and it took just one to ruin it for the other two.

2 Our house is bolted. With quality! drill, hearing protection, some basic knowledge (buy a book about it, read the darn thing sober), and time, you could do it. No one cares more about your place than you after all. At our 1930 house, they missed a few spots in the sill resting on the foundation, I rented a concrete drill, bought a new 5/8 inch concrete bits, some lag bolts (and washers and nuts), and some epoxy, and and by Sunday evening thought, "in 12 more hours, the epoxy will have set and maybe my house won't fall apart during the next 7.0." So far it hasn't.

3 See if you can find some Absorbine (sp) Junior. Get your significant other to use it on your back once the work is done. If she does more than you, well, pony up soldier and apply it to her. In either case, this scent will stay with you till you're both dead. Learn to make this work for you.

4 If you hire out, and yeah, I can see why you'd want to, beware of the termite thing. Read on up IDing termites. Scholarly articles first. Per California bldg code, contractors without pest control license are not allow to recommend termite remediation.

5 Joists can always use some love...zero reason you cannot do it yourself.

 

[92122]

I have Moens in the bathrooms and kitchen and all are pretty wrecked by corrosion/mineral deposits regardless of cleaning after about 6-8 years.

Did mostly Moen throughout, partially due to the generally mid tier pricing, but also because of the styles I wanted. A Moen Voss ain't that cheap at ~$250.

Maybe Hansgrohe and others are better, but we have an old Moen kitchen sink faucet that is still in use from the previous owner so that dates it no newer than 2008. No issues.

 

[sdsrfr]

Did mostly Moen throughout, partially due to the generally mid tier pricing, but also because of the styles I wanted. A Moen Voss ain't that cheap at ~$250.

Maybe Hansgrohe and others are better, but we have an old Moen kitchen sink faucet that is still in use from the previous owner so that dates it no newer than 2008. No issues.

I think their older stuff i better than the newer.

I have a 5yr old moen in the other bath that already has the hard water corrosion stains. Works fine so I’m in no rush to replace it but it is a data point. The moen fixture in my kitchen is easily 10yrs old and while falling apart, hardly has any corrosion.

we just ordered 2 moen bathroom fixtures and 1 kohler for the kitchen. We wanted to go all kohler but the finish we needed was back ordered a few months.

I’ll be under the sinks this weekend.

 

[Will there be snacks]

I’ll be under the sinks this weekend.

Fun times. Laying on your back halfway into a cabinet feels amazing.

 

[PJ]

Also I replaced all my shutoff valves with these BrassCraft 1/4 turn ball valves or whatever version of them fit in each place . In general I've found ball valves to be better for shut off purposes with the added benefit that they are very easy to exercise since its just a 1/4 turn. I exercise them every 6 months or so at least to keep them from getting stuck with the faucet or toilet running just in case I dislodge something while moving the valve. Even though these are sold at Home Depot I think they are such a commodity that there may be only one level of quality is this type of valve. I have had my 6 in use for 14 years and no problems, no leaks or corrosion.

 

[Will there be snacks]

Also I replaced all my shutoff valves with these BrassCraft 1/4 turn ball valves or whatever version of them fit in each place . In general I've found ball valves to be better for shut off purposes with the added benefit that they are very easy to exercise since its just a 1/4 turn. I exercise them every 6 months or so at least to keep them from getting stuck with the faucet or toilet running just in case I dislodge something while moving the valve. Even though these are sold at Home Depot I think they are such a commodity that there may be only one level of quality is this type of valve. I have had my 6 in use for 14 years and no problems, no leaks or corrosion.

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good tip. re-did the wax ring on one of our toilets a few years back and the shutoff dripped the whole time.

 

[sdsrfr]

Also I replaced all my shutoff valves with these BrassCraft 1/4 turn ball valves or whatever version of them fit in each place . In general I've found ball valves to be better for shut off purposes with the added benefit that they are very easy to exercise since its just a 1/4 turn. I exercise them every 6 months or so at least to keep them from getting stuck with the faucet or toilet running just in case I dislodge something while moving the valve. Even though these are sold at Home Depot I think they are such a commodity that there may be only one level of quality is this type of valve. I have had my 6 in use for 14 years and no problems, no leaks or corrosion.

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Really appreciate this post as I will be testing the integrity of 6 different valves in my house this weekend…

 

[ElOgro]

Really appreciate this post as I will be testing the integrity of 6 different valves in my house this weekend…

New hoses? That’s what gets gummed up for us. Fixtures that cost twice as much don’t last twice as long here.

Have you thought about a water softener system?

 

[sdsrfr]

New hoses? That’s what gets gummed up for us. Fixtures that cost twice as much don’t last twice as long here.

Have you thought about a water softener system?

Yep, planning to swap them as a preventative measure. I expect they are 10yrs old and their braided jackets are fraying at the ends. Peace of mind to replace with the fixture, imo.

in my reading, it seems the hoses gum up onto the shutoff valves so you often end up replacing those too.

Funnily, the instructions for the new fixtures recommend flushing the existing hoses for at least 10minites before hooking into your new fixture.

Actively looking into whole house water treatment. It seems a lot of them are either not so great or require a subscription with regular service intervals. I have friends in Valley Center with some very nice systems that have the subscription maintained plan.

 

[grapedrink]

Actively looking into whole house water treatment. It seems a lot of them are either not so great or require a subscription with regular service intervals. I have friends in Valley Center with some very nice systems that have the subscription maintained plan.

The subscription plans are pricey. I was quoted by Culligan many years back for $40/month. Seems like the subscription would pay for the unit after 3-5 years, then you are stuck handing over money forever. Who knows

 

[ElOgro]

Yep, planning to swap them as a preventative measure. I expect they are 10yrs old and their braided jackets are fraying at the ends. Peace of mind to replace with the fixture, imo.

in my reading, it seems the hoses gum up onto the shutoff valves so you often end up replacing those too.

Funnily, the instructions for the new fixtures recommend flushing the existing hoses for at least 10minites before hooking into your new fixture.

Actively looking into whole house water treatment. It seems a lot of them are either not so great or require a subscription with regular service intervals. I have friends in Valley Center with some very nice systems that have the subscription maintained plan.

I think gummed up wasn’t a good term. Ours get clogged up with mineral matter from the shutoff valve to the user. We get water delivered by a truck, 10k liters, comes from a deep water well.

@npsp will know something about home water treatment. There’s probably a happy medium filtration system out there.

 

[sdsrfr]

The subscription plans are pricey. I was quoted by Culligan many years back for $40/month. Seems like the subscription would pay for the unit after 3-5 years, then you are stuck handing over money forever. Who knows

My thoughts exactly. Pay for hardware that locks you into a monthly fee, and sol. I’m in Carlsbad so not well water but at the same time all my spigots basically have their hoses glued on bc of the problem.

 

[ElOgro]

My thoughts exactly. Pay for hardware that locks you into a monthly fee, and sol. I’m in Carlsbad so not well water but at the same time all my spigots basically have their hoses glued on bc of the problem.

 

[SteveT]

That's really good work. Beautiful job. Show us the street view.

 

[sdsrfr]

Dishwashers -

my opening from kitchen tile to bottom of the counter is 33 5/8”, FML.

but, I noticed the dishwasher isn’t actually sitting on the tile, it drops another half inch when pushed all the way in.

anyone have experience dropping the feet on the front of the dishwasher to wiggle it into 33.5”? We’re specifically looking at Bosch dishwashers.

im quickly reading that my alternative options is find an ADA dishwasher or cut my counter.