The Home Improvement Thread

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Well, bought a bathtub today… bath reno incoming!

So glad to get rid of what is the worst room in the house - time to make it the nicest!

Congrats on having a tub soon.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Congrats on having a tub soon.

I bought the tub, and they had it in stock!

Made sure I don’t have to wait.

[powderjunkie]

Want to install a ceiling fan in our bedroom, but I'm 99% sure the current junction box isn't load rated. How annoying of a job am I looking at to install a brace (under an insulated attic with a popcorn ceiling)? Looks like a finicky PITA working through the small hole?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Want to install a ceiling fan in our bedroom, but I'm 99% sure the current junction box isn't load rated. How annoying of a job am I looking at to install a brace (under an insulated attic with a popcorn ceiling)? Looks like a finicky PITA working through the small hole?

Can you get there from the attic? (As sucky as it is be be in them, it may be much less frustrating)

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Want to install a ceiling fan in our bedroom, but I'm 99% sure the current junction box isn't load rated. How annoying of a job am I looking at to install a brace (under an insulated attic with a popcorn ceiling)? Looks like a finicky PITA working through the small hole?

I used this in the first house I was in. I'm sure it ####s up the VB though.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/ste...4686?rrec=true

[sa226]

I'm not sure what the code says, but you can buy ceiling fan boxs that don't have the brace. They're just rated to a lower weight. 35lbs or something.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/ibe...d90/1000805176

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Can you get there from the attic? (As sucky as it is be be in them, it may be much less frustrating)

It's pretty far from the access hatch so it probably won't be much fun, either.

We have a couple tiny electrical jobs that we'd like eventually, so I'm talking myself into just getting a pro since it may be worth it in the $$-PITA ratio, especially since we want to get a pretty big fan (so it can move lots of air running slowly).

[photon]

Was going to call to have our upstairs carpet cleaned, but the wife asked about replacing it with hardwood. The main floor is all engineered wood, and the master bedroom is engineered wood too, so it'd be the bonus room and 2 smaller bedrooms and the hall.

Anyone do this and like it/regret it? I hate carpet, but that is a lot of $$ to do and it might be hard to match the existing stuff.

Could go with something like vinyl or laminate, but would that look even weirder? Plus the resale value of the house having wood to match the rest seems better.

And the stairs, would it be better to still get carpet for the stairs?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by photon

Was going to call to have our upstairs carpet cleaned, but the wife asked about replacing it with hardwood. The main floor is all engineered wood, and the master bedroom is engineered wood too, so it'd be the bonus room and 2 smaller bedrooms and the hall.

Anyone do this and like it/regret it? I hate carpet, but that is a lot of $$ to do and it might be hard to match the existing stuff.

Could go with something like vinyl or laminate, but would that look even weirder? Plus the resale value of the house having wood to match the rest seems better.

And the stairs, would it be better to still get carpet for the stairs?

We had our upstairs + stairs replaced with hardwood and I love it. Doesn't perfectly match our main floor hardwood but we looked for a product that was pretty close in colour and we did white risers on the stairs so it breaks it up nicely.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Torture

We had our upstairs + stairs replaced with hardwood and I love it. Doesn't perfectly match our main floor hardwood but we looked for a product that was pretty close in colour and we did white risers on the stairs so it breaks it up nicely.

We also did this and have never looked back. Only difference was our entire upstairs was carpet and we have tile where the stairs land on the main floor so no worries about trying to match anything.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by photon

Was going to call to have our upstairs carpet cleaned, but the wife asked about replacing it with hardwood. The main floor is all engineered wood, and the master bedroom is engineered wood too, so it'd be the bonus room and 2 smaller bedrooms and the hall.

Anyone do this and like it/regret it? I hate carpet, but that is a lot of $$ to do and it might be hard to match the existing stuff.

Could go with something like vinyl or laminate, but would that look even weirder? Plus the resale value of the house having wood to match the rest seems better.

And the stairs, would it be better to still get carpet for the stairs?

Carpet is safer, but you can get some fairly safe wood nose risers these days. Or you can do a carpet strip with wood on the sides.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Carpet is safer, but you can get some fairly safe wood nose risers these days. Or you can do a carpet strip with wood on the sides.

Have had full hardwood stairs on a curved staircase with 3 little kids. 15 years later only one fall and it was because one of them was on their phone.

[Hemi-Cuda]

After having a clumsy 3 year old take a couple of small tumbles down our stairs, I'm very glad they're carpeted

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

Have had full hardwood stairs on a curved staircase with 3 little kids. 15 years later only one fall and it was because one of them was on their phone.

Curved staircases are much safer than straight stairs.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Curved staircases are much safer than straight stairs.

Is that true (honest question)? Seems almost counter intuitive.

[kevman]

Here's a perhaps quick one for the CP brain trust.

I've got a GC who dropped off an invoice two weeks ago and has recently followed up about payment. Our contract stipulates 7 days for payment but when I received the bill I had some questions that have not been addressed yet. When he followed up I asked if he's had a chance to address the errors yet and then I'm happy to pay. The errors with one of his subs were as follows:
Section 1 - Claims works is 100% complete and is requesting full payment but this work is not 100% complete yet.
Section 2 - Cost increase of 26% with no additional details. There were minor scope changes to this work but between deletions and increases it should be a wash. This one is minor and on it's own I'd likely pay and move on.
Section 3 - Cost increase of 51% with no additional details and no scope change. This one is more significant and I'd like to know why the estimate was so off.

Earlier in the project I paid the first invoice within days and there were deficiencies that were noticed later on. These deficiencies have never been addressed (after 8 months) so I'm feeling a little burnt on that one which is leading to my hesitation on paying an invoice for work that is not completed in full yet.

Am I being unreasonable? I'm trying to be amicable about this and see the project through but after months of delays, poor quality work and random cost increases I feel like we're being pushed around and this feels like one of my only courses of action.

Thoughts?

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Curved staircases are much safer than straight stairs.

Never bothered to check the stats. But with the less width of the stair on the inside of the curve, I would think otherwise. But then again, I might have cared more about the esthetics than my kids

[Shazam]

I was thinking about commercial curved staircases, so yeah a residential curved would probably be less safe unless the tread length matched code on the widest part, which is hard to do in a house.

[scotty2hotty]

I need to replace the eavestrough on one side of my house. Currently tin.

Any suggestions for going with Tin vs Vinyl for the replacement?

[Fuzz]

I use a short section of vinyl on my shed, and it's fine for that. I wouldn't use it on a house. Too much warping in the heat, and it's tough to have it secure enough to really get the flow consistent. If it is a long section you are better to have it made as a continuous gutter, and only a pro can do that. I used Transcanada Exteriors for my garage, and the price was reasonable and service good.