The New, Improved Home Improvement Thread

[Scottysabres]

Just got an estimate on my house for front door replacement, all windows in the house, siding tear off, re-insulate, re-side, soffit and gutter replacement. $85,000.....

[Zamboni]

14 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

Just got an estimate on my house for front door replacement, all windows in the house, siding tear off, re-insulate, re-side, soffit and gutter replacement. $85,000.....

Wow.

Are you local? I have a guy who helps me with my rental property on things I don’t feel like tackling. I would bet he could save you a few bucks. 
 

Not to mention, you could save a few bucks by buying some of that material yourself instead of relying on a company/person to buy it for you. 

[Scottysabres]

6 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Wow.

Are you local? I have a guy who helps me with my rental property on things I don’t feel like tackling. I would bet he could save you a few bucks. 
 

Not to mention, you could save a few bucks by buying some of that material yourself instead of relying on a company/person to buy it for you. 

Ya, I'm up in Wheatfield

[shrader]

9 hours ago, Doohickie said:

My son came over Saturday to help with the demolition.  Productive, destructive lad:

Need any extra help?  I know a one year old who absolutely loves destroying things.

 

And my home improvement project of the day is the fence that's currently being installed.  Am I doing it myself?  Hell no.

[Pimlach]

7 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

Just got an estimate on my house for front door replacement, all windows in the house, siding tear off, re-insulate, re-side, soffit and gutter replacement. $85,000.....

[Zamboni]

1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

Ya, I'm up in Wheatfield

It’s up to you… But I think you could save yourself a few thousand dollars. If you go to Lenco lumber in Williamsville. Pick out your door, pick out your windows, pick out your siding and other things. Then get it all delivered by Lenco to your home. I don’t think they charge that much.

then you have it on site. And you just have to get someone to come and do all the labor for you. 
 

Speaking from experience when I sided my house… That was a good way to go.

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, Doohickie said:

My son came over Saturday to help with the demolition.  Productive, destructive lad:

Together we got all the upper cabinets down.

Great news.  Can you post a picture of @Spoonmanhelping you?  He is known as an expert in demolition.  

[Doohicksie]

8 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

Just got an estimate on my house for front door replacement, all windows in the house, siding tear off, re-insulate, re-side, soffit and gutter replacement. $85,000.....

Holy moly.  We had windows replaced in our house for about $12k (although we have a couple more to do.... I have a couple of those louvered windows that I thought were cool and added to the character of the house, but the mechanisms are failing and I'm afraid I won't be able to close them if I open them).  Plus I want to get our sliding glass patio door replaced; it's old and heavy and hard to operate because the rollers are worn out.

20 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Can you post a picture of @Spoonmanhelping you?  He is known as an expert in demolition.  

@Spoonman hasn't volunteered, nor would I ask him to; he just started a new job.  Mostly just me and my sons.

[Pimlach]

8 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

 

@Spoonman hasn't volunteered, nor would I ask him to; he just started a new job.  Mostly just me and my sons.

My bad.  I thought he was on the crew.  

[Spoonman]

33 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Holy moly.  We had windows replaced in our house for about $12k (although we have a couple more to do.... I have a couple of those louvered windows that I thought were cool and added to the character of the house, but the mechanisms are failing and I'm afraid I won't be able to close them if I open them).  Plus I want to get our sliding glass patio door replaced; it's old and heavy and hard to operate because the rollers are worn out.

@Spoonman hasn't volunteered, nor would I ask him to; he just started a new job.  Mostly just me and my sons

@Pimlach Here is the real reason. Me helping break ground on the@Doohickie compound a few years back…..

 

 

[LabattBlue]

9 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

Just got an estimate on my house for front door replacement, all windows in the house, siding tear off, re-insulate, re-side, soffit and gutter replacement. $85,000.....

I know prices of everything have gone through the roof, but this is crazy. 

[Drag0nDan]

On 2/25/2023 at 12:35 PM, Pimlach said:

You seem to be handy.   No more big projects like this for me, I will help my sons with their houses but they do the bull work.  I provide the experience and finesse and try to keep them from cutting the wrong corners.   LOL.  

I would consider building all the cabinets first and doing a trial install.  Do not expect your walls and corners to be true, so you typically install the cabinets first, use shims to get them both level and plumb side to side and front to back. Then do the backsplash last - assuming tile.  Then add cabinet trim pieces to cover the seams and any gaps to the walls and ceiling.  

My experience with IKEA is limited to storage projects and shelving for my vast vintage audio equipment and record collection --- you have to be careful building them as you can weaken a joint if you don't have good alignment when fastening.  I used extra bracing on certain non-visible joints that would carry a big load.  Think about the load distribution both down and lateral.   If you do a trial install you will be glad you added extra bracing.  

Good luck with your project.  Keep us updated.  

I heard a lot of good things about their cabinets recently fwiw.  Affordable and not as cheaply made as some of the other brands you might see at a depot/lowes. 

[Scottysabres]

Ya, I've done siding, roofing, plumbing, electrical, rough framing. I have no intention of paying 85k lol.

I'll purchase the material myself, and do a majority of the work myself. 👍 

[North Buffalo]

6 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

Ya, I've done siding, roofing, plumbing, electrical, rough framing. I have no intention of paying 85k lol.

I'll purchase the material myself, and do a majority of the work myself. 👍 

Me too... except electrical and some plumbing

[Scottysabres]

5 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

Me too... except electrical and some plumbing

Neither is difficult. I will say I was laughing at that estimate, I won't post the contractors names I did get estimates from, but there were 4 of them, all local, 3 in the 70k range 1 at 85k. I get the cost, but yeesh, ya, no thanks lol.

[shrader]

1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

Ya, I've done siding, roofing, plumbing, electrical, rough framing. I have no intention of paying 85k lol.

I'll purchase the material myself, and do a majority of the work myself. 👍 

Just think, with all that you'll save, you can buy a couple trucks to haul all of the new windows/siding/other stuff to your house.

[Scottysabres]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

Just think, with all that you'll save, you can buy a couple trucks to haul all of the new windows/siding/other stuff to your house.

I got the quotes for the siding, with corner posts and J channel $34k.

I called in Anderson Windows directly, bypassing the contractors all together. I did rough framing, siding, roofing when I wore a younger man's, a skinnier man's clothes 🤣 

I can still roll. Just not at the pace I used to lol

[CallawaySabres]

I am always super impressed with people that take on those kinds of projects. I am absolutely convinced my brain does not work that way beyond a certain point. I remember the days of putting together huge dollhouses when my daughter was younger and I would not get to bead until 3am every Christmas Eve. I REALLY wish I had the carpenter brain....

[spndnchz]

9 hours ago, Zamboni said:

It’s up to you… But I think you could save yourself a few thousand dollars. If you go to Lenco lumber in Williamsville. Pick out your door, pick out your windows, pick out your siding and other things. Then get it all delivered by Lenco to your home. I don’t think they charge that much.

then you have it on site. And you just have to get someone to come and do all the labor for you. 
 

Speaking from experience when I sided my house… That was a good way to go.

Lenco is nice,I purchased some stuff from them, needed it delivered. They didn’t have anyone available (but some guy with a decent truck) was available. For $20 he took it cross town for me. BTW, not a creep. 

[Scottysabres]

5 hours ago, shrader said:

Just think, with all that you'll save, you can buy a couple trucks to haul all of the new windows/siding/other stuff to your house.

Would you believe I'm still driving my 1999 F250 lol

[apuszczalowski]

21 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Wow.

Are you local? I have a guy who helps me with my rental property on things I don’t feel like tackling. I would bet he could save you a few bucks. 
 

Not to mention, you could save a few bucks by buying some of that material yourself instead of relying on a company/person to buy it for you. 

That price doesn't seem too bad depending on the house type and size

Also depends on how many windows and what type of replacements going in.

An older 2-storey 2,000 sqft house with a bunch of odd shape (custom) windows could drive up the cost.

 

The only problem I found with buying the material yourself is that many of the better reno companies don't want to come out and just do the install work. They will only install if your are buying through them because they won't warranty the work if its not what they normally would use. A few years ago I purchased new exterior doors for my front and side from a local box store, they wanted almost $1,000 each to install $300 doors. I figured I would do it myself. When I started thinking about doing it I realized I didn't want to do it myself since my house is block walls with stucco and I wasn't sure about how to flash everything afterwards. The doors are in my garage still because everyone place we called said they would only install whats purchased from them, so you end up having to try and find a 'Jack of all trades' handyman to do it

[Scottysabres]

11 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

That price doesn't seem too bad depending on the house type and size

Also depends on how many windows and what type of replacements going in.

An older 2-storey 2,000 sqft house with a bunch of odd shape (custom) windows could drive up the cost.

 

The only problem I found with buying the material yourself is that many of the better reno companies don't want to come out and just do the install work. They will only install if your are buying through them because they won't warranty the work if its not what they normally would use. A few years ago I purchased new exterior doors for my front and side from a local box store, they wanted almost $1,000 each to install $300 doors. I figured I would do it myself. When I started thinking about doing it I realized I didn't want to do it myself since my house is block walls with stucco and I wasn't sure about how to flash everything afterwards. The doors are in my garage still because everyone place we called said they would only install whats purchased from them, so you end up having to try and find a 'Jack of all trades' handyman to do it

I can install the windows myself, along with the siding, but ya, it's 4400sqft of siding, it's sizable. I have to tyvek warp, throw up the new insulation board and so on. The real pain in the arse is needing a 2nd extension ladder and another set of hands to keep the vinyl siding running level and square. But, we'll get'er done. This will be my last siding hooray. Next year will be the roof and gutters. Then the kitchen 2 years after that. I'll be 55/56 by then, that's it. I told the wife, choose the look you want both in and out of the house wisely, because there will be no do-overs. 🤣 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Scottysabres

[Doohicksie]

14 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

so you end up having to try and find a 'Jack of all trades' handyman to do it

Fortunately for me I'm barrio-adjacent and those kinds of guys are looking for work on Nextdoor all the time.

[LabattBlue]

7 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

I got the quotes for the siding, with corner posts and J channel $34k.

I called in Anderson Windows directly, bypassing the contractors all together. I did rough framing, siding, roofing when I wore a younger man's, a skinnier man's clothes 🤣 

I can still roll. Just not at the pace I used to lol

Just the siding “materials” are $34k?  A bunch of plastic?  Holy Cow!!!!

[Scottysabres]

Just now, LabattBlue said:

Just the siding “materials” are $34k?  A bunch of plastic?  Holy Cow!!!!

That's before sales tax lol