homebuying fun (caution: stupidly wide .jpg)

[flyboyx]

Sorry for the size. Smallest I could get on my phone

well, it looks functional. rodents have a tendency to like chewing on the insulation of that old wiring. I think if it were my home, this would be the first thing I would upgrade.

25 amps is a really odd rating for a fuse by today's standards. today's electrical code reads 30 amps for #10 wire, 20 amps would be for #12. that wire looks to be more like #12 size which might make me think the fuses could possibly be too big for your service.

[JasonC]

I read some on the old knob and tube wiring. Biggest danger is blown in insulation. I do know the attic has it, but I have yet to be up there. Pap did pop one fuse from what I remember, and it was from a bad light cord.

[roguetoaster]

Started on my roof today, fairly unhappy with the slow progress solo, but the previous installers did me absolutely no favors with their "workmanship."




Should be through the worst of the fixing previous errors and replacing wood, but do need to get it closed up tomorrow before rain, and time permitting, get the front of the garage too.

[TeXJ]

roofing by yourself...that is a tough one.

[mbonder]

f that, we have those darn illegals for that type of back-breaking work

[flyboyx]

looks like you are on your way to doing a good job roguetoast. do you have a pneumatic roofing nail gun? that will make it go about 6x faster.

[TeXJ]

+1 one for the roofing nail gun. Makes it go so much faster plus less wear on your joints.

[Schnitzer318is]

+1 one for the roofing nail gun. Makes it go so much faster plus less wear on your joints.

+2. Roofing is not fun. We did our house shortly after purchase when we were young and dumb. Definitely not the most professional job but with quotes at ~$12000 with only a couple of ply sheets replaced. We did it ourselves for ~$7000 and replaced all of the ply. The work sucked but we were young so... the money saved was well worth the sweat/aching back.

We had our first leak this last year ~12 years after doing it. Went back in and corrected the problem. Fortunately it was near the bottom at a valley so found it quickly. Cost ~$300 to fix for wood, shingles, etc, etc. Not too bad, but I definitely wish we had known a little more when we did it the first time. It is what it is right... it's kept us dry. ;D

GL rouge, keep on trucking.

[roguetoaster]

I do have the right equipment to make the job go well. Essential hand tools include a hammer, flat bar, trim bar, caulk gun (Albion if possible), chalk line, tape measure, two utility knives (one with hook and one with standard blades), metal snips (large and detail), roofing shovel (or a flat shovel with notches cut out), a bar magnet, a blower, and a nail gun (Hitachi if possible).

Roofing with laminate shingles on a straightforward roof is nothing to be afraid of, but I don't know if I would suggest that a noobie tackle a project like mine with plenty of weird interfaces and important intersections. Also, I worked at a roofing company for a few years, but as a manager, not as an installer. But to be fair, I am having a crew do the non walkable front sections, mostly in the interest of time savings, as it would take me an eon to do that by myself.


The main front section, that I am not doing.


Half of the back pictured, but I'm doing all of it. Note the very goofy roof line transition where roof lines pitch above then below each other.


Another angle, and the near section next to the dormer repeats on the non visible side.


How it looked this afternoon.


The horrible transition that came out perfectly with a bit of careful layout!

No more pics of the nearly finished sections since it was dark when I got off of the roof, and it was generally slow going today with the large amount of detail work to be done. Hoping the rain holds off until afternoon as forecast so I can get those areas wrapped up instead of just covered.

FYI, a cost breakdown:

-$5300 Materials for ~4000 sqft of actual roof (got a $1500 discount from the Owens Corning rep)
-$390 Tools that I bought just for this project
-$1900 Labor for the sections I am not doing
TBD Waste disposal (expecting $900-1100)

~$21,000 All inclusive cost to have a professional company do it, even at a very friendly price
~$12,000 Savings as a partly DIY project

[MR E30 325is]

Excellent stuff!

We did half of our roof this past summer and we saved an immense amount by doing it all ourselves.

[TeXJ]

I had my roof replaced about a couple of years ago due to hail damage...no money out of pocket and the guys had it done in one day.

[mrsleeve]

welp we went out looking for flooring today, and the quotes for materials are a bit high as its seems good Solid 3/4 hardwood is getting a bit higher than it seems it should be. and every one keeps pushing this vinyl shit, that costs about 65 to 75% of what hard wood does but with out the value adding benefits. Or the ability of being able to sand and stain when things get beat up Vs total redo. I know this new Vinyl shit looks great and is nearly indestructible but I just dont see the value of it, other than if you have a flood or if you want to swap flooring fairly frequently .

That and have been buying lots of new lighting to replace all the cheap crap that was in the place when we bought it. Its been an expensive couple days......

[rturbo 930]

Seems like that faux wood-look vinyl has overtaken hardwood (or "hardwood") as the flooring material of choice. I hate it. Every cheap, tacky, flipper reno has it all over.

[flyboyx]

sleeve, have you looked into the porcelain tile that looks like wood planks? my wife and I have used it in a few projects. mostly bathrooms, but we really like it. if you look around, you can find it for less than 2.00sq/ft. Hardie backer is about 70 cents a square foot if you need to lay tile over wood subfloor. just sayin'.....

[mrsleeve]

Flyboy, Yes we have considered that at length, as we put throughout my moms house after her passing to make it tenant proof more or less, and at the same time put in throughout my brothers house. But we live in great white north, and those homes are in Tuscon Az. so with out radiant in floor heating tile flooring is just so so cold on the foots from Oct to May, So we have ruled that out, as this house is not worth the cost to try to retro fit in floor heating into we would never recoupe it if we se. That said we like the look so we will likely go with a premium Vinyl Plank that looks like a slate tile for the mudroom and baths and quarter sawn white oak or hickory for the rest of the house. At least this is where we are leaning right now.

thanks for the thoughts though, just looking at 7-10 bucks a sq/ft just hits me as a little high, but thats paying someone to do it for a prefinished product. And the stupid top end vinyl stuff is coming in 4.50 to 6+ for materials and me putting it down. I just dont see the value of the going Vinyl stuff for the lions share of the house when there is NO real value added to the home for the investment, when compared to a few more bucks for a REAL hardwood floor