Doing projects around the house

[freebird5825]

I will readily admit that I am horrible at handymen jobs or even attempting to fix anything on my vehicle. More often than not, I will research how to do something, start it, fail miserably and then call someone in to do it at $50 an hour (it's hard to find handymen where I"m at). Conversely, I'll take a small task, research it to death and convince myself that I'll buy the wrong supplies/take the wrong approach and I'll just call someone to do it. I definitely would not be able to make a living as a tradesmen (and yes I'm a man).

Right now in my bathroom I have a small bit of grout that has come off between one of the tiles. I've left this unattended for maybe a couple of months because of my work schedule. I bought all the regrouting supplies and I"m confident I could regrout. However, before I do that I'm thinking I should take off the tile that is there to make sure there is nothing nasty like mold on the drywall or cement board. I've pushed hard on the tile and in my mind it does not seem as hard as the other tiles so it might be wet, but I'm probably just being paranoid. This probably is not a monumental task, but in researching this, I need to know what kind of surface is back there to determine what kind of adhesive I need. I have no idea what is behind the tile, so I'd end up just buying the wrong supplies I'm sure. Also, it's possible I'll crack some good tiles in doing this (I do have alot of spare tiles though). Also, if there is a problem back there, it would definitely be way over my head to tackle that. Is this something I should even attempt, or should I just call someone in and fork over my money?

there are some really great DIY books out there. reader's digest put out a great one years ago, maybe they still do. these books assume no knowledge on the part of the reader.
invest in a copy, or library loaner, and take a look. you might surprise yourself. if it's still all greek to you, call in a pro. or find a handy friend and buy many cases of beer and pizza.
i'm a woman, but extremely mechanically inclined. i don't even think about touching plumbing or AC power. no no no. one is wet and damaging and the other kills.

 

[calmloki]

It's amazing how much imperfection exists in a perfectly adequate completion of a home project. Being unable to accept what (to me) appear to be huge mistakes and errors when working on these projects, has always been a big stumbling block for me, making a two day project last an eternity. When I can say to myself, "so what? at least I'll be done with it", and finish, then often I find that it really looks just fine. That's especially true if I squint. Sometimes I don't even need to squint.

I hung a bathroom towel bar that isn't quite level, on the other hand, and that bothers me to this day. (Never, ever actually attempt to use one of those tiny levels that you get as a freebie at a conference, by the way.) If I hang more towels on the end of the towel bar that looks lower, it looks a lot better. Sometimes I think about fixing it, but it is hung on wallpaper so maybe I'll just leave it alone.

My gal can spot an out of level window or door frame or anything from 20' away - and its cost us time and money on many occasions to get the offending thing straightened. Finally had one respected carpenter come up with the right answer: "do you want it to be level or look level"? We mostly are dealing with old places and the floors, ceilings, and walls are normally neither square nor level - so more time and money gets spent discussing how to make something look as good as can be short of rebuilding the home from scratch. As for me, my gold standard when doing a project is that when i'm done you can't tell i've been there - it's just that there are electric outlets or lights or walls where there didn't used to be any.

 

[Walt34]

This is often exacerbated by poor grading of the soil around a home. A lot of homes have soil that slopes towards the house within a 3-4' area around the house, or significant slopes of the lot towards the house without a drain or swale to divert water away from the home.

I had that issue to deal with at my mother's house years ago. During heavy rain she was getting water in the basement. Fixed it with three bags of topsoil and a handful of grass seed, enough to keep the water from pooling next to the foundation wall.

 

[freebird5825]

I had that issue to deal with at my mother's house years ago. During heavy rain she was getting water in the basement. Fixed it with three bags of topsoil and a handful of grass seed, enough to keep the water from pooling next to the foundation wall.

good solution...the group of houses where i live all have basement water prooblems. they were all built by the same contractor in the late 70s. for some strange reason, mine is the only one that has sloped dirt grading next to the house. makes it interesting to mow the lawn, but it is enough to prevent water problems. i have gutters also. instead of a roll out rain disperser, i use a nice flat rock at the base of the vertical gutter drain to spread out the water flow. no lawn erosion. the rock is developing a nice little well in the middle.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, one of the best home improvement projects anyone can do is have 3-4 yards of topsoil dumped in their driveway and spread it around their foundation to get a slope of about 4-6 inches over the 3 feet. Just keep the siding or any other wood clear of the dirt. Walk around the yard with whatever dirt is left over and fill in any divots or small low spots.

 

[travelover]

Yep, one of the best home improvement projects anyone can do is have 3-4 yards of topsoil dumped in their driveway and spread it around their foundation to get a slope of about 4-6 inches over the 3 feet. ............

The backfill around the foundation settles over the years and creates a negative slope. This has kept the basement waterproofing business going for decades.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Sure does, and the problem gets worse with time. As water passes through concrete, it carries minerals away from it, which is what causes efflorescence on the surface of concrete. Add 20 years and your concrete is substantially more porous than it was when it was poured.

 

[Nords]

Man, I'm missing all the good posts.

As a result, I learned long ago to call in a professional.

We learned most of our home-improvement skills AFTER calling the professionals.

We called over 20 plumbers when we needed a bathtub replaced and a leak fixed. Only two returned our calls, only one actually visited and made an underwhelming impression with a $5500 quote. We decided to start on the demolition while we kept trying to find a plumber, and little by little the job got done for about $3500 in parts (Jacuzzi whirlpool tubs in Hawaii were really expensive in 1990).

When the professionals can make more money building new neighborhoods than working on your home, you learn a lot of self-help techniques. Especially when the guys who aren't building new neighborhoods are hardly worthy of the sobriquet "professional"...

Do gutters really have an important function?

We had an extremely annoying roof leak along the flashing of the first-story roof. It's been leaking at least since the new shingles were put on in the late 1990s and the old flashing was "re-used". (Yes, the former owner hired a "professional".) We caulked, we sealed, we waterproofed the "waterproof" roof, we even tore off the 2nd-story siding and replaced the flashing. No joy.

Out of desperation, we installed second-story gutters to redirect that water away from the first-story roof directly into the first-story gutters. Problem solved.

Now we have to replace the familyroom ceiling, but first there's some other work to be done. The room (an enclosed lanai) was "built" by laying the wall's baseplates directly on top of the lanai's Futurastone coating (instead of on the concrete) and moisture is persistently coming up under the carpet & padding. (Maybe this room was built by a "professional" too.) I'm afraid that when we finally renovate the familyroom we'll learn that it's cheaper to demolish it, pour a new slab, and start over. But, hey, at least we'll know that it gets done right.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ah, they didnt pour a footer for the bottom plates. You can fix it without demolishing, but its not pretty. Remove the siding and inner wall, support the wall structurally, cut the studs at about 8" up and remove the old bottom plate, pour a 6" footer, bolt a new bottom plate to it and then reattach the original studs to the new bottom plate. Rinse and repeat on the other sides. Reattach the siding and interior walls.

We had to do this at one corner of my wifes old house. Butthead who owned it before her liked to pour concrete and he poured a driveway and carport right up to the same level as the slab rather than tearing our some of the dirt and pouring it below slab grade like you're supposed to.

I'm guessing that was done without a permit...

Only problem with a job like this is that its pretty challenging for a regular homeowner who hasnt done it, yet it'd probably only be a 3 day job for a real pro with very low materials cost. But someone would try to charge you $8-10k to do whats really a $3000 job.

 

[Nords]

Ah, they didnt pour a footer for the bottom plates. You can fix it without demolishing, but its not pretty. Remove the siding and inner wall, support the wall structurally, cut the studs at about 8" up and remove the old bottom plate, pour a 6" footer, bolt a new bottom plate to it and then reattach the original studs to the new bottom plate. Rinse and repeat on the other sides. Reattach the siding and interior walls.

Yup. Nasty job, not looking forward to it. Luckily we don't have to tackle it until the bunny goes to his great reward.

The "builders" were considerate enough to run a line of caulk along the Futurastone outside below the exterior sheathing. I guess they wanted to stop the cold winter winds from whistling through the room.

The house is surrounded by lava-rock walls but I think we could get a concrete mixer through one of the gates. As long as the walls are torn apart we'll insulate them with radiant foil or some acoustic blocker. And, shucks, it's getting hard to find parts for these 18-year-old windows.

Then there's the "built-in shelves/ultimate computer desk" that spouse wants to add on to what would otherwise be the only remaining unmolested wall of the room.

And once we finish with the floor & walls then we'll finally be ready to tackle the cosmetic ceiling repairs!

 

[free4now]

I'd suggest using silicon caulk to replace any grout that cracked severely. The cracking does indicate problems with the underlying structure, but replacing tile backerboard is really only practical on large areas. The two times I've called in professionals for small tile repairs they both talked me out of it and suggested living with cracked tiles and grout, using caulk to keep the water from making things worse.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

until the bunny goes to his great reward.

Please. I beg you. Quit doing that!

 

[Nords]

Please. I beg you. Quit doing that!

Didn't mean to make you nervous, I was referring to another extremely hyperactive and destructive force of nature!