The Home Improvement Thread

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

What does it cost to replace a bathtub? Outside of the cost of the tub I mean... basically I need the tub removed, then I need to fix something going on underneath there that's causing overflow from the tub to leak through the floor to the ceiling below, then reinstall and re-seal the tub.

Check if insurance will cover it if it was something that happened prior to purchasing the place.

We had our tub leak and it they opened it up and plumbing was off the ceiling below came apart.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Doesn't necessarily need to be a retrofit light but I already cans in the ceiling so that is the easiest.

Those lights are pretty cool. But I can't help with the design of some of them that you could accomplish a similar look by gluing a tea saucer to some type of extension to a pot light.

If I only wanted to see what the lighting might look like, that's what I'd do. I couldn't really find an example of these in any lighting show room for sale in Calgary with a quick search, so you might have to just buy one and see what it looks like.

One of the comments in the one you linked says there's another version that's 1/4 of the price. Maybe contemplate that?

[timun]

Originally Posted by sketchyt

I am not handy by any measure.

But my furnace exhaust looks something like this (the left one):


It blows air against my stucco and is starting to discolour (I assume) because of it. I can't turn it 90 degrees as it's solidly attached. Can I secure another 90 degree elbow to it so it faces down then facing out and have everything still work properly?

As DoubleF suggested, I would just put something on the wall to protect it from the discoloration.


That said, I just wanted to chime in before you do something you shouldn't: DON'T put a 90° elbow facing down on the exhaust at any point. Your furnace is a condensing model that very deliberately tries to get water to condense out of the flue gases and fall back into the furnace; the flue pipe needs to be sloped back to the furnace. If you put a 90 pointing down on it you'll likely just cause issues with condensate pooling and icing up.

You can usually terminate the exhaust with a 45° elbow, a tee fitting, or a horizontal extension to get it away from the house. Your furnace's installation manual should have this info in it. The horizontal extension would solve your problem, but the permissible length is usually limited (I typically see max 12" extension for a 2"Ø pipe, or 20" for 3"Ø; again, this should be in the installation manual).

[puckedoff]

Met with these guys for a quote before we did our basement. Their showroom was very swanky, which for me as a penny pincher was actually a bit off putting. We ended up not using them, I am sure they had some successful projects but in the news for the wrong reason currently -

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...hers-1.6934052

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

Met with these guys for a quote before we did our basement. Their showroom was very swanky, which for me as a penny pincher was actually a bit off putting. We ended up not using them, I am sure they had some successful projects but in the news for the wrong reason currently -

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...hers-1.6934052

As someone on the design end of projects, a contractor with a showroom of any level is all sorts of extreme hilariousness to me.

[timun]

^It's especially amusing to me as most residential projects (other than new neighbourhood development) are bespoke one-offs. You're not going to get precisely what a contractor would show off in their "showroom", and frankly you don't want that anyway. All you need to know from a contractor is the quality of their means and methods, which you're not going to get from a show piece at an office. They'll spend waaaaay more effort making something pretty to show off to prospective clients than they would spend on your house. The best thing you can hope for is photos from previous projects, and testimonials from other customers.

[pylon]

This is a good thread and I want to chime in with my recent experience gutting my old rental condo.

I'm pretty handy, and can take on most lighter tasks, decks, fences, drywall repairs laminate flooring etc.... But never been a gut it and re-do it kinda guy. I called a contractor and had an estimate to basically gut a 900 square foot condo built in 1982 and modernize it. $68,000, and likely 4-5 months once he lined up all the trades got material etc. Did some back of the napkin math and gave myself 1 year. so about 6-7 months of lost rent. I figured I could pull it off for around 25k.

Youtube is now an absolute treasure trove for DIYers, and so many professionals are willing to give up their secrets for clicks and views. I'm in the home stretch of my total gut job. I went down to the studs in the bathroom, stripped popcorn and re-textured ceiling, knocked out a non load bearing wall, refloored and painted the entire place, new casing, new prehung doors, built new kitchen cabinet doors from scratch.... the whole shooting match. All off youtube tutorials where I got stuck.

The only thing I abandoned was the counters and paid a professional to epoxy pour them after I butchered them and had the bedrooms carpeted by a professional. The only catch, being a condo is I had to have my electrical and plumbing 'connected' by a journeyman, and my neighbor being a GC lined it up for me for $500. Basically they tightened screws in switches/receptacles and finished tightening the plumbing connections.

I'm 10 months in and in it for about $22,000 at this point and that includes $4000 upgrading all my tools to top of the line cordless everything and buying a professional airless spray system. I'm just down to the fine strokes. Baseboards, casing, hang closet doors... finishing stuff, It should be done in another month. All while doing Sundays, and 3 evenings a week. It's going to be satisfying walking through it when it's done, and I'll have top end tools when I decide to tackle my 12 year old house in the next couple years.

There's two Canadian youtubers that are absolutely magical for DIYers:

Vancouver Carpenter:
https://www.youtube.com/@vancouvercarpenter
This guy is the man for casing, drywall, framing etc....I went from a the biggest loser with drywall to professional results after a bit of trial and error.

Home Renovision guy out of Saskatchewan I think.
https://www.youtube.com/@HomeRenoVisionDIY

These guys are both professionals, and have hours and hours of awesome tutorials. And being Canadian, their material suggestions make stuff way easier to find in Canadian hardware stores.

Anyway, don't get too intimidated to take things on. I've learned things the last 10 months I was terrified to do before that. And never cheap out on tools. Especially your miter saw. When I went to a pro-grade, Makita that came suggested by cabinet makers all I can say is, wow what a difference.

Cheers

[opendoor]

Vancouver Carpenter is pretty good, as he stays in his lane of what he knows and is good at (primarily finish carpentry and drywall).

HomeRenoVision guy is a bit of a hack though, and I'd be wary about taking a lot of what he says at face value, particularly with mechanicals. Some of the stuff I've seen him say about HVAC is flat out wrong, and I've also seen some pretty hokey electrical stuff (like plugging a range hood into an outlet that wasn't actually mounted to anything, just floating around in the wall behind the hood).

That's the problem with YouTube. The most popular channels are going to be the ones that cover the most content and make it look the easiest. And being accurate or an expert doesn't necessarily help with view counts. My advice for anyone using YouTube to learn this stuff would be to try to find actual professionals doing each type of thing. A handyman who shows you how to wire something, install cabinets, install a bathtub, alter your HVAC system, and then install flooring, isn't going to be as good of an example of quality work compared to an electrician, cabinetmaker, plumber, HVAC tech, or flooring installer.

[Fuzz]

HomeRenovision is great for timing saving tricks and the sort, but I agree with Opendoor on some of the stuff, like electrical and plumbing. And then you have to check local code, which may be different than what he is showing and saying. Still valuable stuff, but verify yourself.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Vancouver Carpenter is pretty good, as he stays in his lane of what he knows and is good at (primarily finish carpentry and drywall).

HomeRenoVision guy is a bit of a hack though, and I'd be wary about taking a lot of what he says at face value, particularly with mechanicals. Some of the stuff I've seen him say about HVAC is flat out wrong, and I've also seen some pretty hokey electrical stuff (like plugging a range hood into an outlet that wasn't actually mounted to anything, just floating around in the wall behind the hood).

That's the problem with YouTube. The most popular channels are going to be the ones that cover the most content and make it look the easiest. And being accurate or an expert doesn't necessarily help with view counts. My advice for anyone using YouTube to learn this stuff would be to try to find actual professionals doing each type of thing. A handyman who shows you how to wire something, install cabinets, install a bathtub, alter your HVAC system, and then install flooring, isn't going to be as good of an example of quality work compared to an electrician, cabinetmaker, plumber, HVAC tech, or flooring installer.

If I DIY, I personally wouldn't touch in wall electrical, in wall plumbing or gas. Swap a fixture, shower head, toilet... sure. But the rest of it, I wouldn't touch myself. I know a guy who is super handy and he does everything other than in wall plumbing, HVAC and electrical. He charges me a special rate as a favor and it's hard to justify DIY when I could pay the dude a few hundred bucks to do it much faster and properly vs what I'd end up doing.

Some of these shows are great for making sure you're not getting ripped off on blinker fluid and dumb stuff like that. But it's also useful to know so that you can help the contractors plan around things.

Also, being open to ideas that improve the speed of a reno help too or spending more to save more. Any work around is amplified hundreds of times. If you do this for something that's a minute, that's still a few hours. Then, there's hundreds of these things. For instance, if the contractors (or you) can work indoors and it saves them 6-8 hours over the project, it might be worth that savings when compared to a cleaning indoors vs outdoors. That's also only calculating time walking back and forth and not factoring in some of the set up/take down stuff they do daily if not allowed to do it directly inside. Or if paying movers $500 to move everything to a different floor of the house will save contractors $1,500 tip toeing around furniture, then it's worth it as well. The tool upgrade Pylon mentioned is another one of these. It might cost you $500, but if the time savings and hourly savings exceed $500, it's a no brainer. You save money, probably time AND someone gets a free tool upgrade as well. Everyone is happier.

When I did grey pipe replacement, I chatted with the guy and asked him how he planned to do it etc. I also asked him what part of the project he wishes were a more "in a perfect scenario". "DoubleF, that soaker tub. I can't get into it." I told him he could cut a nice square entry hole into the side tile in a specific spot and we'd replace it with a plastic access panel once he was done. Same as a hole in the wall where he needed to open up for the pressure valves. "Let's do a plastic access panel vs patching up dry wall?" We both won.

Other things like DIY prep for demolition. Why pay someone their hourly rate to unscrew cabinet doors and electrical outlet covers? Save a few hundred to a few grand doing it yourself depending on the size of the place.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

HomeRenovision is great for timing saving tricks and the sort, but I agree with Opendoor on some of the stuff, like electrical and plumbing. And then you have to check local code, which may be different than what he is showing and saying. Still valuable stuff, but verify yourself.

The extent of my electrical work was changing out light switches, fixtures and receptacles. Any electrical work where things need to be wired to the electrical panel, I'll always call a pro. I'd never want to have that conversation with an insurance adjuster if my house burnt down.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

If I DIY, I personally wouldn't touch in wall electrical, in wall plumbing or gas. Swap a fixture, shower head, toilet... sure. But the rest of it, I wouldn't touch myself. I know a guy who is super handy and he does everything other than in wall plumbing, HVAC and electrical. He charges me a special rate as a favor and it's hard to justify DIY when I could pay the dude a few hundred bucks to do it much faster and properly vs what I'd end up doing.

Originally Posted by pylon

The extent of my electrical work was changing out light switches, fixtures and receptacles. Any electrical work where things need to be wired to the electrical panel, I'll always call a pro. I'd never want to have that conversation with an insurance adjuster if my house burnt down.

I don't know, I think as long as the person actually takes the time to learn what they're doing and it's all permitted and inspected, working on electrical, plumbing, or HVAC is totally doable (though I agree on gas).

I re-wired my entire house and redid the panel when I renovated and it was great. I was pretty slow compared to a pro because I made sure to triple check everything, but I was able to totally bring my 40-year old house up to current electrical standards for a couple thousand dollars (excluding light fixtures).

Same with bathrooms. By doing all the work, I've been able to totally gut bathrooms for $2-3K. It's a lot of work and it absolutely takes way longer than hiring a pro, but I enjoy doing it.

Obviously you need to know your limits though. Anything involving my roof, gutters, or soffits, I call a pro because I know I'd probably end up falling off the roof or ladder and breaking my neck.

[Fuzz]

I wired my garage myself, and passed inspection no problem. A lot of circuits are super basic and you don't need a lot of know-how to do them. The Knight's Electrical book is a must have for anyone dabbling in electrical. So much simple good info.

https://psknight.com/

The green one on the left.


EDIT: OK, and I have no idea why it is priced in USD! But I grabbed mine at Rona, I think it was near the checkout.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I wired my garage myself, and passed inspection no problem. A lot of circuits are super basic and you don't need a lot of know-how to do them. The Knight's Electrical book is a must have for anyone dabbling in electrical. So much simple good info.

https://psknight.com/

The green one on the left.


EDIT: OK, and I have no idea why it is priced in USD! But I grabbed mine at Rona, I think it was near the checkout.

I used the wiring guide from the city of calgary, it's pretty good for the homeowners electrical permit

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

I used the wiring guide from the city of calgary, it's pretty good for the homeowners electrical permit

It's OK, but super basic. This is well worth the money if you have any "what about..." questions. Thoguh you can also contact the city TAC, TEC(?) and they can help you out too.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Check if insurance will cover it if it was something that happened prior to purchasing the place.

We had our tub leak and it they opened it up and plumbing was off the ceiling below came apart.

I don't expect to make an insurance claim for it, honestly. The damage itself is just some discoloration that can be bleached out (I've had it done before). But regardless I'm the first owner of the house, so no concerns on that front.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I don't expect to make an insurance claim for it, honestly. The damage itself is just some discoloration that can be bleached out (I've had it done before). But regardless I'm the first owner of the house, so no concerns on that front.

Outside shot, but if your house is <2 years old you'll be compliant with plumbing issues under the alberta new home warranty. Pretty outside shot but doesn't hurt to check since you're the first owner.

https://www.alberta.ca/new-home-warranty-overview.aspx

[sa226]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

What does it cost to replace a bathtub? Outside of the cost of the tub I mean... basically I need the tub removed, then I need to fix something going on underneath there that's causing overflow from the tub to leak through the floor to the ceiling below, then reinstall and re-seal the tub.

What do you mean by overflow? Splashes out of the tub just from general use? Or the overflow drain is leaking?

Tubs and showers that leak into ceiling below is often a drain attachment that has lost its seal somewhere.

Depending on the whole setup, it's probably easier to access an issue under the tub from the ceiling below, rather than rip out the whole tub.

Sent from my SM-S918W using Tapatalk

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by opendoor

I don't know, I think as long as the person actually takes the time to learn what they're doing and it's all permitted and inspected, working on electrical, plumbing, or HVAC is totally doable (though I agree on gas).

I re-wired my entire house and redid the panel when I renovated and it was great. I was pretty slow compared to a pro because I made sure to triple check everything, but I was able to totally bring my 40-year old house up to current electrical standards for a couple thousand dollars (excluding light fixtures).

Same with bathrooms. By doing all the work, I've been able to totally gut bathrooms for $2-3K. It's a lot of work and it absolutely takes way longer than hiring a pro, but I enjoy doing it.

Obviously you need to know your limits though. Anything involving my roof, gutters, or soffits, I call a pro because I know I'd probably end up falling off the roof or ladder and breaking my neck.

If I didn't have kids, it's no problem. Spend all of the time in the world figuring it out. It's the potential extra down time and then dealing with them on an empty tank of physical and emotional energy I cannot afford.

So even though I think if I had enough time, with the kid factor, I'd rather certain things get done proper with little down time.

I've considered spending a few weeks to a month to redo a basement bathroom no one uses as I can have as much down time I need. Depending on the results of that project, maybe I tackle the refresh of other bathrooms, maybe not.

But at a general level, 4-6 hours a day Friday to Sunday, with a 3 and 5 year old, I'm not sure the money is worth saving. Especially since afterwards, the wife would be like, "OK, now it's your turn" + "Daddy play with me!" immediately after doing what I'd be doing. It's too tiring.

I'd rather pay someone $60-75 an hour for around 10 hours ish ($600-750) to do the refresh a bathroom with the materials I acquire. I'd potentially help 1-2 hours a day + helping with the cleaning, disposal, demo etc. to keep those hours down. I know another guy who knows how but hates doing it. He's offered "lessons" and initial oversight for around $250 so that I'd have the skills and confidence to do it myself. But again, it's not being able to afford that 20-30 hours to do it myself without burning out somewhere else.

[speede5]

Nothing wrong with staying in your lane, or your comfort zone.

Anecdotally, I only know of one house fire that was caused by an electrical issue, that being a screw driven though a wire while installing some lights (no permit). Every other electrical fire I've heard of was an appliance, plug, extension cord etc, all things that had nothing to do with the initial wiring. I'm sure it happens, but I think if you follow code you can sleep well. I've done 2 whole homes, a couple garages, all permitted and inspected, with PS Knight as my Bible, and I've never had an issue.