The Home Improvement Thread

[TacoXpo]

This is probably more for @Oswego or @Anathollo
Any idea what doors like this cost for parts and install?
View attachment 10577

Thinking about removing the 6 back windows in the sunroom with some doors like that.
Picture of the sunroom.
View attachment 10578

IMO - you would be better served with something more conventional for when you sell it. IMO it is about creating attraction for the widest bell curve of buyers. Some say you only need one buyer. I say we need 5 buyers to ensure the seller gets the most for their home. Industrial things are typically good in very trendy areas but trend is like fashion - it changes with the seasons. Think Beanie Babies.

 

[TacoXpo]

They are not cheap and you have to be careful for water intrusion but I have 2 clients that installed these type of folding glass walls. One had to install steel due to a second story but I love the idea.

Folding Glass Walls - Solar Innovations ®

 

[tx_shooter]

They are not cheap and you have to be careful for water intrusion but I have 2 clients that installed these type of folding glass walls. One had to install steel due to a second story but I love the idea.

Folding Glass Walls - Solar Innovations ®

Will have to remember those when my Sammich Maker and I relocate.

 

[Anathollo]

I have a client that does construction in a certain large liberal city. He makes sure there are 3 items that they can 'correct.' He knows they inspectors in that city are too damn lazy and they want to swing their dicks - so he distracts them with simple things so they will get out of his building and move on to the strip club.

That's standard practice. I'm not gonna post what I used to do in those regards... but let's just say most inspectors are really bad.

 

[Anathollo]

Will have to remember those when my Sammich Maker and I relocate.

You'll look at the price and run they are crazy expensive.

 

[tx_shooter]

I have been working on a deal for the .25 acre lot beside my house for the last year or so. Today I filed the paperwork with the county clerk to transfer to property to me finally. Now I have a whopping 1.25 acres. I know it is not a lot for some places; but in this subdivision I now have 5 lots (.25 acre each). I am hoping to later split off two lots on one side to build and sell a spec home on when I get ready to move to my next house.

For now I am going to start cleaning the lot and trying to encourage some good trees to grow to add value to the lot.

 

[Anathollo]

I have been working on a deal for the .25 acre lot beside my house for the last year or so. Today I filed the paperwork with the county clerk to transfer to property to me finally. Now I have a whopping 1.25 acres. I know it is not a lot for some places; but in this subdivision I now have 5 lots (.25 acre each). I am hoping to later split off two lots on one side to build and sell a spec home on when I get ready to move to my next house.

For now I am going to start cleaning the lot and trying to encourage some good trees to grow to add value to the lot.

View attachment 10583

Hell yea! Congrats man!

 

[balakay]

Have another item to add to my "glad I did it myself to save 4 or 4 hundred dollars in labor, but I'll never do it again" list. Blew 32 bags of insulation into my attic this morning. Fuck that. I have 10 more bags left that I'll blow in after a month or so of letting this settle. After that, if I ever need anything insulated, I'll just pay to have it done.

 

[Silverback]

I need to do that above the garage, they said I needed 41 bags but they would let me use the machine for free. One of these days.

 

[balakay]

I need to do that above the garage, they said I needed 41 bags but they would let me use the machine for free. One of these days.

Wait until winter. You'll thank yourself. I just bought the GreenFiber stuff from Home Depot. I bought a pallet (42 bags). I used 32 of them today. I'm going to let it settle for a month or so then use the other 10 to finish off above the spare bedroom and fill in the low spots of what I did today if any show up after it settles.

 

[Silverback]

How much did the insulation run you?

 

[balakay]

How much did the insulation run you?

The pallet was like $385 after tax. Plus a refundable $250 deposit on the machine as well as $5 refundable insurance on the machine. This was at HD. Lowes I think deposit is cheaper but the insulation is the same price

 

[Silverback]

I need to pull the trigger on it this winter. I have speaker wire and airlines for the compressor all ran through the attic now so there is no reason not to insulate over the garage any more. Might add a few more T8 light housings with LED bulbs. That's about it.

 

[balakay]

I need to pull the trigger on it this winter. I have speaker wire and airlines for the compressor all ran through the attic now so there is no reason not to insulate over the garage any more. Might add a few more T8 light housings with LED bulbs. That's about it.

It took about 3 hours to do the 32 bags. But that included two 20 minute breaks because it was way too fucking hot up there. And my attic is very short and I had to just kind of scoot around while sitting on the rafters. If your attic is somewhat easy to move around and you do it in the winter when it's not miserable up there, you should be able to do a pallet in an hour and a half to two hours.

 

[Silverback]

I can move around up there without crouching, but their is a maze of trusses EVERYWHERE.. my garage is pretty big and there are zero supports out in the middle so the builder used trusses... so getting around up there will be tough, it was a real bitch running speaker wires and putting up ceiling fans over near the edges. Did you get a price on how much someone would charge you to blow it in for you? I will probably do it myself though.

 

[CowboyTaco]

Check Groupon for that. I see deals on blown in insulation somewhat regularly... At least I think.

 

[Silverback]

Check Groupon for that. I see deals on blown in insulation somewhat regularly... At least I think.

Good call... will check that.

 

[Oswego]

They are not cheap and you have to be careful for water intrusion but I have 2 clients that installed these type of folding glass walls. One had to install steel due to a second story but I love the idea.

Folding Glass Walls - Solar Innovations ®

Good ol PA company. They do good work. Whenever a job I'm bidding can't handle the budget that comes with a Nannawall product I use Solar Inovations as a "alt deduct" to the specified. I think Nannawalls can't be beat but their pricing sure as hell can be. Nannawall also has some long lead times due to their structure: Gernams do the engineering, Panamanians do the fabrication, then it's shipped to Canada only to then be imported into the US. Loooooong lead times

Will have to remember those when my Sammich Maker and I relocate.

You'll look at the price and run they are crazy expensive.

even though they are super $$$$ for residential I would not recommend any of the less expensive options like CRL or PRL. Whatever you do never put anything in your house from CRL but shower door hinges. I did a sliding stacking wall at the Constitution center in Philly and the CRL crap fell apart in 2 months then I spent the next two years trying to get it to work. In the end we just gave up and told the client it was their problem and our warranty was no longer valid (Only good for a year as it was). They specified the junk product and we gave them what they wanted....pure junk.

 

[Anathollo]

I need to pull the trigger on it this winter. I have speaker wire and airlines for the compressor all ran through the attic now so there is no reason not to insulate over the garage any more. Might add a few more T8 light housings with LED bulbs. That's about it.

In that case, DO NOT use blow in insulation. Just use bats. You'll thank my later when you're trying to track down a wire or busted airline in your attic.

Edit: @Silverback- I used R-38 bat insulation in my attic on the house I live in now and it’s been great! I’m really impressed with it and it’s a ton better than the R-30 they sell at homeless despot.

 

[Anathollo]

Finally installed the large sail that goes over my mom's pool. It was a bitch to put up and took about ten hours total over two days to set up along with multiple helpers. Hopefully I don't have to mess with it for awhile... At least the kiddo's will have shade and the pool temperatures will stay a little cooler.
This damn sail took about a week's worth of labor to get everything ready again to go back up.

Yeah I was too busy to snap one at the end. I'll post one up later when I get home.

Forgot to post pics of the sail. I blocked out houses and all that for a little privacy.
The blue part is what was patched where the sail ripped from a random tornado that came through our properties.

These are the two pads I put in to help the pole hold stay in place. The galvenized pole is ten foot in the ground and filled with concrete and the sail still pulled it forward. We then added the guy wire to the back but that eventually started to pull out despite how far into the ground we got it.
The pad around the pole is 1500# worth of concrete and the pad at the back is around 1200# of concrete. I didn't get a great finish on top because I don't really care how it looks at the back plus my concrete trowels walked off (I just found them the other day)