I have an older home that needs several things done: new roof, porch repair, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and remodeling of the kitchen and bathroom. What are the advantages of using a general contractor to do the work, as opposed to hiring companies that specialize in one kind of home improvement?
I have had my kitchen re-done, and the final part of the job was to get the decorating done. A friend of mine who is a professional decorator has being doing the job for me at a reduced rate, but one of my other friends is convinced that I had still paid too much. Can you please tell me how much you think the job should have cost? (Then I’ll tell you how much I have paid! lol)
The job consists of:
2 coats of paint (the kitchen is about 2 and half metres by about 4 metres)
removing the old vinyl floor tiles that were there,
laying and grouting new ceramic tiles (for which he moved the appliances out for me, and put them back in when he’d finished)
re-plastering the walls where necessary,
mosaic tiling all around the walls above the work-tops up to the level of the sockets.
It is about 4 days’ work in total.
If you are a decorator, how much would you charge for all this please?
(or if not, how much would you pay for this work?)
Thank you.
I am remodeling my kitchen and the house is a 960 sq. ft. 1972 home in Canton, OH. The home was purchased for 75k and valued at 86.5k. I will be painting the cabinets white, replacing the handles (approx $200), getting a formica countertop w/sink (priced at Lowe’s for $1250, after 10% off for opening a charge card), tile floor (71cent tile, with $3 per sq. ft. installation from a friend of mine) approximately $600, new stainless steel refrigerator, dishwasher, over the stove microwave, and stove (priced at $2300, not installed). Please comment on whether you think it is worth putting $4k in a kitchen of a lower end home with only a 140 sq. ft. area. By the way, Canton, OH, is ranked as 4th or 5th cheapest places to live in the country. Houses on the street sell in the range of $65k – $100k (some homes are over 1,300 sq. ft. though).
We are going to remodel our kitchen. The original cabinet material is oak. We would like to change it to something which has less pattern. We narrow it down to maple or alder. Could anyone tell me pros and cons about these two materials?
Thanks a lot!
My husband and are about to embark on remodeling our kitchen. We plan on keeping our cabinets and painting them white since they’re in decent condition. However, we started ripping the laminate backsplash (original to the house) and it started peeling off some of the drywall paper. Photo here: http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s160/…
Now it’s all yellowed and it’s an uneven surface. We have no idea what to do. Our only idea at this point is rip the rest off, skimcoat, sand and wallpaper over it with a faux tile wallapaper.
We really want to tile, but we’re not sure if we can tile over plain drywall if we decide to take down the upper cabinets and replace the yellow-glued drywall. Should we use cement board instead? Or what are our other options here? Some good ideas would be great!
(and by “ripping” off the rest, I mean using an iron to soften the glue and peel it off the wall with less damage)
Hello everyone, I have just remodeled my kitchen which is a little over 12×12 feet. I am looking at some in ceiling speakers but cant make a real decision. I have been looking at Polk, Boston Acoustic, Niles, Pioneer and some others. I only want them for music, I would like a great sound but I don’t need to rattle the dishes either. I was looking at a pair of 6.5″ to 7 or 8″ max dia. And would like to stay within $200. Any suggestions to help me decide would be greatly appreciated.
I have a town house in southern California. It is 1650 square feet, 3bd/2.5 ba, has a yard and 2 car garage.
I want to do some light remodeling: new kitchen cabinets, granite countertops in kitchen and bathrooms, update bathroom tubs, and other things. My whole project will cost about $27,000 for materials. No labor costs.
My wife and I plan to remain living in the town home for at least another 5 years because starting a family. We will have our place paid off (& will be debt free) in a few months and may possibly sell it one day if our neighborhood gets bad. But we may never move because real estate is SUPER expensive near the beach where we live.
Is $27,000 too much to invest in my town house? My reason for the updates is not for resell but to make our home more custom.
I want us to be happy with what we have so we don’t go house poor buying a fancier house.
Also, should we save our money for 18 months to pay for the project in full, or should we get a loan?
I have really been questioning myself with this decision. A few months ago my 13yr old cat was diagnosed with diabetes. We followed normal protocal and started her on insulin (lantis) after a couple months we did not notice a big difference and the vet concluded she was insulin resistant. Already in the hole a couple thousand dollars for treatments and test the vet now wants to go back and do some of the same test again to see why she is insulin resistant. I am out of money and my cat does not seem to be happy any more. She use to me so full of life and so active now she spends the entire day laying on the tile floor in the bathroom. In addition she drinks so much water she is often urinating all over the house and in some instances I have had to bath her because she is resting in her own urine. Her breathing has gotten bad but she continues to eat constantly, in fact she has an enormous appetite and she has maintained the same weight. I am confused on what to do?
We had my husbands brother in-law mud portions of our bathroom, replace a few drywall sheets behind the washer and dryer area, hang up a vanity light, add a wood sheet and lay thick vinyl tiles requiring grout. He also added trim throughout our bathroom, two bedrooms upstairs, and small path upstairs. He also moved our washer and dryer and hooked it back up. The floor in the bathroom alone took 2 hours.
What would you consider a fair price for labor? We supplied the materials. He made several trips, but he lives pretty close.
The carpet in our apartment is very old and nasty .. I wanted to install new carpet but after I calculate the cost I’m a bit iffy. I have a 3 year old daughter and I’m currently pregnant (due on halloween) & since my husband is the only one working were on a fix income. Let me add .. I’m not iffy on the cost of the carpet what I’m iffy about is the cost of installation. The two rooms that I wanted to get done is the living room and bedroom. Should I just install vinyl tile myself then lay a rug over it? btw under my carpet is just (pad &) concrete… What should I do??
Btw carpet cost that I calculated is $375 .. not including the pad … pro-installer is $200 (for basic) .
I am also going to be installing a new bathtub, doors, screens tile, and a few extra.