The Home Improvement Thread

Dangerous to have outside contractors see that. Under Gov Blackface edict they have to report signs of spousal abuse

Heilung4eva wrote:
I'd think you need to work on the cause, not the symptom.

We're sending the cause away to college in less than two years. Problem solved.

Space wrote:
We have several internal doors and doorframes that are in desperate need of repair or replacement. I won't say how they got broken. Who do we contact? A handyman? Some kind of carpenter? Some kind of door company? Do they get the door for you, or are you supposed to have it? These are all interior doors, not doors that lead to the outside.

depends on the answer to "repair or replacement".
- repair: handyman/general contractor
- replacement: either a competent/experienced handyman, or a door/window company (they often do both).


unless you have very specific requirements for your interior doors, i'd go the handyman route.  a door company is likely overkill and will be expensive*.  measure your doors, then go to a big hardware store and see what door-and-frame sets they have.  they get a handyman to install them.  ideally, have the handyman over beforehand and show him what you want replaced - he might have suggestions, etc.

*we are currently having several windows and the front door replaced by a top-shelf door/window company.  total bill will be more than what we paid for our new car.

Space wrote:
These are all interior doors, not doors that lead to the outside.

thanks for the clarification.

sweetcell wrote:

Space wrote:
We have several internal doors and doorframes that are in desperate need of repair or replacement. I won't say how they got broken. Who do we contact? A handyman? Some kind of carpenter? Some kind of door company? Do they get the door for you, or are you supposed to have it? These are all interior doors, not doors that lead to the outside.

depends on the answer to "repair or replacement".
- repair: handyman/general contractor
- replacement: either a competent/experienced handyman, or a door/window company (they often do both).


unless you have very specific requirements for your interior doors, i'd go the handyman route.  a door company is likely overkill and will be expensive*.  measure your doors, then go to a big hardware store and see what door-and-frame sets they have.  they get a handyman to install them.  ideally, have the handyman over beforehand and show him what you want replaced - he might have suggestions, etc.

*we are currently having several windows and the front door replaced by a top-shelf door/window company.  total bill will be more than what we paid for our new car.

Space wrote:
These are all interior doors, not doors that lead to the outside.

thanks for the clarification.

Thanks. Very helpful. Until yesterday, I think we were in the "repair" category. But now for at least one of them, I'd put it in the "replace" category.

Not sure how much repair is necessary, but I work for a home repair and painting company, so I looked up something similar for replacement that we did in the past year or so. We're on the pricier side, but I feel like the numbers give a decent breakdown.
For a new door, of reasonable quality, assuming it's door with frame, you're probably looking at $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 for a new door and labor.
  That's likely assuming the following: 2 workers x 8.0 hours to remove and install new, trim out or finish around as necessary, $300-$500 for the door, and another $100-$200 for other materials, as/if necessary.

I hate my job.

Space wrote:

Heilung4eva wrote:
I'd think you need to work on the cause, not the symptom.

We're sending the cause away to college in less than two years. Problem solved.

Mason and Madison attendees still come home on the weekends

Yada wrote:

Space wrote:

Heilung4eva wrote:
I'd think you need to work on the cause, not the symptom.

We're sending the cause away to college in less than two years. Problem solved.

Mason and Madison attendees still come home on the weekends

I think Virginia Tech is the VA school to choose if you want to get the furthest away from your parents. Plus it's a better school than the two you mention.

Ugh,
  After shelling out $20-ishK for foundation reinforcement, I'm debating supplementing the under-powered electric heating part of our HVAC system (a heat-pump system with an electric aux heat that from what the latest in my string of HVAC guys has classified as undersized). Leaning towards a 95% efficient unit (a subsidiary model from Trane). He wants almost $11k for labor and materials, including running some exhaust and ducting to connect it to the existing system. It's just hard with such a specific trade, to comparison shop without making the time to actually comparison shop. Wondering if anyone else has had comparable work done recently.
  We've been paying upwards of $400-$500 for electricity during the winter months since we've been currently supplementing the system with electric space heaters. It's huge secondary home "repair" in a year when I was hoping to spend around $10,000.00 originally for the foundation work, but we're also punishing our system. Just not sure if it's 1.) fairly prices (I think so, based on my administrative knowledge of the type of work). 2.) actually going to offset our heating costs. and 3.) actually going to add comfort for the price (currently with all that we do, we are never actually comfortable climate-wise for all the money spent).
   

we had a heat pump installed a few years ago, because our propane bill in the winter was getting stupid.  was a relatively simple job, i was told, clocked in at about $7k.  it brought our heating costs down, but the payoff period will be more than a decade (at current propane and electricity costs).  heat pumps aren't as good as furnaces, they don't produce quite as much heat in most conditions so can take a while to heat up the house (they are good at keeping things steady tho).

if you're hesitant to spend that much $$ on a heat pump, an alternative might be to look at other ways of cutting the heat bills by attacking the root causes: need insulation? new windows or doors?  etc.

sweetcell wrote:


if you're hesitant to spend that much $$ on a heat pump, an alternative might be to look at other ways of cutting the heat bills by attacking the root causes: need insulation? new windows or doors?  etc.

This 100%
You can buy a heat sensor for around 200 and check all around and address that issue

Those little heaters are crazy inefficient

You may want to look into a wood burning stove too

The new ones are crazy efficient (once started, I can put in 3 logs an it will keep the house warm fo me 8 hours
Install is the biggest cost… helps if you can get wood cheap/free. 

Who fucking mows their lawn at 7 in the morning? That's what my neighbor is doing. My wife just yelled out the window at him and called him a "devil Mexican bag of shit."

Space wrote:
My wife just yelled out the window at him and called him a "devil Mexican bag of shit."

Seriously?

hutch wrote:

Space wrote:
My wife just yelled out the window at him and called him a "devil Mexican bag of shit."

Seriously?

The real punchline is the guy has a quarter acre lot and he uses a riding lawnmower.

I will give him props for being one of the few other men in the neighborhood who mows his own lawn, instead of paying for it. (how do I get my teenage daughter to do it, like the guy down the street does?)

I meant your wife! You can’t yell that at people!!!

hutch wrote:
I meant your wife! You can’t yell that at people!!!

Classic space deflection

Yada wrote:

hutch wrote:
I meant your wife! You can’t yell that at people!!!

Classic space deflection

Nobody does it better. Dude is an artist.

Like Greg Maddux painting the corners…

hutch wrote:
Like Greg Maddux painting the corners…

ROFL

hutch wrote:
I meant your wife! You can’t yell that at people!!!

She's from a loud working class Lithuanian family from Chicago. She yells whatever she wants. Often. Besides, he's on a riding lawnmower wearing noise cancelling headphones. He's not going to hear anything (hoping his wife and kids didn't hear it from indoors.)

Another neighbor used to let their barking dog out every day, including weekends, at about 6am. It would wake me up every weekend (I was already up on weekdays.) Not the yelling type, I printed a flyer with the Fairfax County noise ordinance rules and let it under their door. They've followed the rules every day since. Different ways to kill a problem.

The ironic thing is legally you can make all the noise you want in Fairfax County starting at 7am. And that's exactly when he started uo the lawnmower. Stiull doesn't make it cool.

This isn’t the Argentine neighbor right? Cause if it is you guys got to move stat…