Home Owner Thread

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Don't do a drop ceiling it's out dated. Unless there is an overwhelming need for access.

Paint it black or drywall it.

Also get a couple of quotes on the drywall. Not saying you can't do it yourself but often you can get people very good at drywall for not super expensive. You might even be able to hang it yourself and let someone else do the tape.

Also, the best drywallers tend to be the worst people.

If you have a drywaller who comes across as professional, well-spoken and trustworthy, he's going to be terrible. That guy who looks like there's just leftover shards of meth tumbling around between his ears is probably the best damn drywaller you've ever met.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Don't do a drop ceiling it's out dated. Unless there is an overwhelming need for access.

Paint it black or drywall it.

Also get a couple of quotes on the drywall. Not saying you can't do it yourself but often you can get people very good at drywall for not super expensive. You might even be able to hang it yourself and let someone else do the tape.

I'd personally paint it or drop ceiling. There might not be a current need for access, but it completely sucks if you get a leak or something and don't have access.

 

[Cavatt]

I got my driveway cemented. There was a flower bed right next to the house and driveway, so I had them concrete over it and now my basement is magically much dryer.

10k to do it. Yikes. My neighbor was doing it and so I went in because it saved a couple grand and I wouldn't get it done cheaper later.

 

[PITCavsFan]

Consumed materials it was like $210. The brushes were like another $15 but I can reuse those. I bought a mixing drill bit attachment that was like $8. I also bought a pressure washer and leaf blower which were $40 and $15 used.

My driveway is 2000sq ft. It's fairly long and had a large square block area in the back. From what I read most normal driveways can be done in a weekend. One day crack filling and cleaning the driveway then the next seal coating it.

For me I broke it up alot more because I knew my body wouldn't take trying to do it in hard long hours. Also my dad left his old car in my driveway and now the registration has lapse on it so I couldn't just put it in the street for two days while I did the whole thing. So I split it into 1000sq sections.

Crack filling took 1.5 each of the two times I did it. Waiting like 20 minutes for it to melt and just over an hour of finding cracks and filling them. I think this was where the most savings really was because they charge by the linear foot to do crack filling and it would have added up to alot. I think each box does 200 linear feet so I probably did close to 400ft.

If I had a better pressure washer I think it would have been alot quicker, it took me probably 2 hours each of the two times I did it. That also included leaf blowing. I'm really not sure how long a good pressure washing would take. We had to brush it down with soapy water so that took a while and the pressure wasn't great so getting the dirt to move down the driveway was time consuming.

The actual seal coating took 2.5 hours each time. Once you find a groove in doing it's the easiest of all of the stuff you need to do. The narrow but long part of the driveway was easier to do mostly because I didn't have to constantly move the buckets around. I could push them back with my foot a couple feet as I was going.

So probably 12 hours in total to do 2000 SQ feet. The amounts of cracks and how many you actually want to fill could reduce this. Also a good pressure washer would bring it down too. The professionals use those large walk behind blowers on wheels which might let you get away with not washing your driveway at all but I think professionals sometimes use a different kind of sealer.

If I were to do it again I'd do it on a cooler day in the mid summer. You can use a cheaper sealer, the one I got could be put down when overnight temps go to 40 degrees, normal stuff is 50-55 for night time temps. That would save me about $50. Also there would be less leaves to deal with. Getting wet from washing the driveway might have been nicer in the summer than when its in the low 60's.

Our drive is about 800 sq. ft., but the quote is only $200. I enjoy DIY as much as I can, but I'll leave this one to the pros. Thanks for the info.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Our drive is about 800 sq. ft., but the quote is only $200. I enjoy DIY as much as I can, but I'll leave this one to the pros. Thanks for the info.

I'm currently debating getting my asphalt fixed, or just saying screw it and getting it cemented.

 

[PITCavsFan]

I'm currently debating getting my asphalt fixed, or just saying screw it and getting it cemented.

I'm a couple more years of forgetting to seal it away from the same decision

 

[inliner311]

Our drive is about 800 sq. ft., but the quote is only $200. I enjoy DIY as much as I can, but I'll leave this one to the pros. Thanks for the info.

Yea for that small driveway and price I'd let the pros do it too. You will ruin a set of clothes and a pair of shoes in the process. I'm kind of addicted to buying tools so having an excuse to buy a pressure washer and a leaf blower kind of factored in to the process.

If I can figure out a easier way to clean the driveway I would probably do it again in the future. I didn't mind sealing or crack filling at all. The washing the driveway was just really annoying.

 

[inliner311]

I got my driveway cemented. There was a flower bed right next to the house and driveway, so I had them concrete over it and now my basement is magically much dryer.

10k to do it. Yikes. My neighbor was doing it and so I went in because it saved a couple grand and I wouldn't get it done cheaper later.

We have a small patch of land between our house and the neighbors driveway. It's maybe 6 feet wide. Most people forget about it in our neighborhood and ivy tends to just grow. When my current neighbors moved in they decided they wanted to make it look nice. They ends up pulling out the ivy and planting flowers then put a bunch of mulch down.

Next big storm we got our basement leaking all over the place. The mulch must have change the way the rain ran off and allowed it to settle into the ground more than drive it away from the house. The water table must have risen also because the floor was getting random puddles from water coming up.

We had to go over and tear out everything. Then we had to reform the soil back to where it caused the rain to run away from the house. It took multiple storms to figure out how to get it back to normal.

If it happens ever again I think I'm going to get cement pavers and make a crude side patio like area to make sure the rain doesn't soak into the ground in that area.

 

[Cavatt]

We have a small patch of land between our house and the neighbors driveway. It's maybe 6 feet wide. Most people forget about it in our neighborhood and ivy tends to just grow. When my current neighbors moved in they decided they wanted to make it look nice. They ends up pulling out the ivy and planting flowers then put a bunch of mulch down.

Next big storm we got our basement leaking all over the place. The mulch must have change the way the rain ran off and allowed it to settle into the ground more than drive it away from the house. The water table must have risen also because the floor was getting random puddles from water coming up.

We had to go over and tear out everything. Then we had to reform the soil back to where it caused the rain to run away from the house. It took multiple storms to figure out how to get it back to normal.

If it happens ever again I think I'm going to get cement pavers and make a crude side patio like area to make sure the rain doesn't soak into the ground in that area.

Yeah you really need grading to keep the water flowing away from the house. For us it was the worst of both worlds where the old blacktop driveway was sloping towards our house and then there was dirt only right next to the foundation, so it just ran down there like a drain and held against the foundation.

The guy was a Porsche mechanic, but they did all kinds of weird things. Like they got a new roof, but the insulation was damaged because they had a leak, so they removed the insulation, but didn't replace. So, upstairs was hot as hell even in early spring. They had central air, but also had window units because without the insulation it was hot as hell still, oh and to top it off, they CUT the windows to fit the AC instead of just raising the window. So, now i have 3 cruddy ancient window units permanently installed until I can replace the windows.

They cut 100 year old window frames to fit these things. I have never heard of that and can't reason my way through why anyone would think it was a good idea. It's so much more work to have something nobody would want.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Going to finish my basement this winter. Any DIY tips?

I'm going to frame and hang the drywall and then put waterproof laminate flooring in. Debating between spraypainting the open ceiling black (seems popular right now) or doing a drop ceiling.

If you are doing a basement floor, I just had my whole place done through Costco. If you put it on a Costco credit card, you get 10% off, which is significant money. They outsource installation, but from my research they were the best bang for my buck by thousands.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Yeah you really need grading to keep the water flowing away from the house. For us it was the worst of both worlds where the old blacktop driveway was sloping towards our house and then there was dirt only right next to the foundation, so it just ran down there like a drain and held against the foundation.

The guy was a Porsche mechanic, but they did all kinds of weird things. Like they got a new roof, but the insulation was damaged because they had a leak, so they removed the insulation, but didn't replace. So, upstairs was hot as hell even in early spring. They had central air, but also had window units because without the insulation it was hot as hell still, oh and to top it off, they CUT the windows to fit the AC instead of just raising the window. So, now i have 3 cruddy ancient window units permanently installed until I can replace the windows.

They cut 100 year old window frames to fit these things. I have never heard of that and can't reason my way through why anyone would think it was a good idea. It's so much more work to have something nobody would want.

My problem is that my driveway slopes towards my garage, and there's no drain. So water seeped in over the years, ice has built up, and now the concrete floor is badly cracked. I'm holding out hope that there is a drain connection to the storm sewer somewhere under that asphalt, so if I get it torn out I might have a chance to connect it. The neighbors all have a drain towards the back of their driveway, so there's a good chance I have one as well.

 

[Cavatt]

My problem is that my driveway slopes towards my garage, and there's no drain. So water seeped in over the years, ice has built up, and now the concrete floor is badly cracked. I'm holding out hope that there is a drain connection to the storm sewer somewhere under that asphalt, so if I get it torn out I might have a chance to connect it. The neighbors all have a drain towards the back of their driveway, so there's a good chance I have one as well.

You ought to get a metal detector or borrow one. You could prob find the drain pretty easily if it is in a similar spot.

Water will destroy everything. It only takes a little time.

My friend replaced his own dishwasher and he set it and went to bed. It leaked all night and he had to replace the floors. Doesn't take much.

Yeah that freeze thaw cycle is no joke.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

You ought to get a metal detector or borrow one. You could prob find the drain pretty easily if it is in a similar spot.

Water will destroy everything. It only takes a little time.

My friend replaced his own dishwasher and he set it and went to bed. It leaked all night and he had to replace the floors. Doesn't take much.

Yeah that freeze thaw cycle is no joke.

The metal detector is a good idea, but unless the drain is in the exact right low spot, I'd have to dig up all that asphalt.

Crap.

 

[Blink]

I redid my deck last summer. Being that deck boards were $20 ea at the time, I decided to just flip the boards over and save what I could. I ended up replacing about 20 of the 90.

When I stripped the deck, I discovered that it was built over/around the old concrete steps, which were substantially sloped into the sill plate below my back door. We cut up the old railing, and fit them tight between the joists sloping away from the house. 2 cans of spray foam and 2 tubes of caulk later we had it pretty well sealed up.

My basement is significantly drier, and hopefully it lasts another 8 years or so until I tear out the whole deck and replace it with a poured patio.

 

[Kouki]

Completely random but I have so much shit to do at my house that it is overwhelming, so instead of more value-added things I started cleaning my grout because it is an elbow grease type activity that doesn't require thinking. "See dirt clean dirt make progress"

Turns out the dirty grout was hiding a ton of cracks and pitting. Previous owners patched some of the worst parts but the color they used matched the dirty grout, lmao, ugh.

Also turns out that using baking soda or barkeeper's friend on grout that is cracked is really dumb because it is impossible to get it out. So I'm cleaning the grout twice.

Anyways pro tip, so many silly internet hacks to clean grout, I have found the best thing is just normal household cleaner or dish soap. I tried all of baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, barkeepers friend...also bought a brush attachment for my drill...but turns out the easiest is just normal ass soap with a normal ass grout brush.

Now all clean and off to Lowe's to get grout to repair, stain to match, and sealer...

Meanwhile haven't started much Christmas shopping, lol