What home improvements have you made?

[vi edit]

So far we have:

- Repainted nearly every wall in the place
- Put in Brazilian cherry hardwood floors in the den
- put in new trim in the den
- put in a new insulated security door from den to garage

Short term plans include:
- rewiring garage and light switches
- new carpet in basement
- install vent fan over masterbath shower
- crown moulding in dining room and master BR
- replacing the rest of the interior doors with 6 panel doors that open and close well
- replacing all "ivory" outlets and switches with a bright white recepticle
- put ceiling fans and rewire several bedrooms so that the light switches actually operate overhead ceiling lights

Long term plans include:
- 1000 sq/ft master suite edition over garage stalls
- New kitchen counters and cabinets
- Tear up 16x24 deck and put in poured patio & hot tub cabana
- brick veneer on bottom half of house and reside the rest

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: rky60
Closed on my first house in August. A total fixer upper

Completly gutted the place from attic to basement. Re-wired entire house from new breaker box up. Except the kitchen, that'll be leveled (with a borrow excavator) and enlarged in about 2 weeks

The list is endless on the small things done so far. But just today I cut out the entire bathroom floor, since we made it 3 times larger during demo, pipes and such will be moved. Over the next few months i'll be doing everything that involves putting a house together, from plumbing and heating to every last fixture.

All done by me and friends

How do you know how to do it all?

Have you seen the guys who do a lot of contracting work? It's not exactly rocket scientist, if you are handy at all.

Originally posted by: SaltBoy
Painting the whole living room, complete with 15 foot-high walls. :Q
Painting the master bathroom
Painting the kitchen
Painting the baby's nursery and installing a chair rail
Installing a brick wall/garden that leads from our front entrance to the side of our house
Walk-way with paver stones in our back yard

I know my wife has many more planned in her head.

Our living room has 13ft walls and it wasn't bad after I purchased a Little Giant knockoff from Home Depot.

 

[WhiteKnight]

My wife and I are in the process of moving into a new house. Right now she's repainting the kitchen and I'm running cat5e and RG6.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: SaltBoy
Painting the whole living room, complete with 15 foot-high walls. :Q
Painting the master bathroom
Painting the kitchen
Painting the baby's nursery and installing a chair rail
Installing a brick wall/garden that leads from our front entrance to the side of our house
Walk-way with paver stones in our back yard

I know my wife has many more planned in her head.

Our living room has 13ft walls and it wasn't bad after I purchased a Little Giant knockoff from Home Depot.

It was a big deal for me.

I came from a family that did *NO* home improvements whatsoever. When my wife and I moved into our first (and brand-new) home, she had all sorts of things she wanted to do, which made no sense to me. I was perfectly fine with all the walls being white, because that's what I was used to.

Ignoring me, she bought paint and started on the bathroom without my explicit approval. Although I was pissed at first, I admit the work she did looked really good afterwards and decided that doing some home improvement projects was worth it.

Painting the living room was our first home improvement project we did together; she helped me along, but I -- the macho man -- still had to climb the huge ladder to detail the top of the walls. Scared me to death.

I wish I had pictures online of our brick wall/garden. I'm particularly proud of it and of my wife for doing such a good job in her planning. I'll scan and post pics later when I'm at home.

 

[Stuxnet]

Moved into the house 2 years ago:

- Professional landscaping front/back
- Professionally finished basement (425 square feet, in-progress)
- Freshly painted entire downstairs
- Playground w/landscaping

Planning on:
- Hardwood floors for 75% downstairs, new carpet for other 25%

I don't know if the hardwood will ever happen... we're only going to be there for another 5 - 7 years, and I think we're pushing our "recoupment" with the basement.

 

[sswingle]

Ran cat5 to a few rooms.

 

[davew0670]

Originally posted by: bctbct
Started seven years ago when I bought a fixer upper

Before move in
Installed new countertop and dishwasher.
Two rooms of carpet
Laminate floor at entry

After move in

Painted windows and trim
Replaced windows(vinyl)
Ceiling fan in bedroom
New furnace and central air
300 ft ceadr fence
Gutted main bath down to the tub, porcelain tile floor and walls
Completely redid kitchen
Upgraded elect panel
Remove blown on ceiling texture whole house, redid with knock down
Repainted interior of house except 2 rooms
Installed above ground swimming pool w/deck
redid brick fireplace, sheetrock and porcelain tile
Covered front concrete porch in, yep, porcelain tile
Changed most elect fixtures

Current project

Removed deck, old concrete patio, my new stamped concrete patio should be installed hopefully by the end of the week

To do

New shed
New siding
New driveway
New garage doors
Gut master bath
Gutters
Roof in about 5 years

Contarctors hired to date

HVAC guy
Floor guy for porcelain in kitchen
Electrician to inspect my kitchen upgrades and panel installation

I will be so bored by the end of next year

edit

Things I forgot

New exterior french door unit
Finished 1/2 basement
New sump pump
landscaping

are you doing the stamped concrete yourself? This could be my next project.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

- Installed new dual pane windows throughout
- Refinished 1500 sq ft of hardwood floor
- Painted interior
- Painted exterior
- Put in sprinkler system for 3,000 sq ft of lawn
- Ran cable for sprinkler timer to the office where the timer conveniently is
- Ran tv cable to office
- Built and installed garage cabinets
- Replaced interior doors
- Built woodworking woodshop in garage
- Replaced 120 feet of redwood fence
- Removed three trees and had two other cut way back
- Redid drainage lines in back yard
- Added horizontal blinds to every window
- Added drapery rod and drapes to sliding glass door
- Added over a foot of insulation in the attic
- Replaced all light fixtures including cieling fans
- Swapped out all electrical sockets for grounded three prong sockets
- Added 220V in the garage
- Replaced garbage disposal
- Remove juniper bushes in front yard
- Replaced kitchen faucet
- Added smoke detectors in every room
- Ran water line to refrigerator
- Added locks to most drawers
- Lined all drawers and cabinets
- Planted several fruit trees, peppers, roses, herbs
- Replaced all the locks

All in less than four years. That's just what I could think of real quick. I did all of this myself except the floors and windows and one tree and the breaker for the 220V line. Coming up is redoing the kitchen and bathrooms and getting a new roof and HVAC system and greenhouse. Then, aside from little things the house will be done.

 

[radioouman]

Ripped out deck, installed paver stone patio.
Re-routed ductwork in the basement to make it FUNCTIONAL!
Installed GFCI outlets in the kitchen and baths.
Rewired basement.
Remoded bathroom with new flooring, vanity, sink, mirror, and rebuilt the toilet.
Cleaned, primed and painted the exterior.
Built a shed.
Dug out all of the overgrown bushes and tree stumps left in the yard.
Installed a new kitchen faucet.
Ripped up the old carpeting on the stairs, finished the wood underneath to make hardwood stairs.
130 feet or so of wood fencing.

 

[kotss]

In the old house:

Originally and subsequently laid down the vinyl tiles for the kithcen, foyer and downstairs bath.
Replaced the kitchen sink.
Replaced all three toilets wax rings with a waxless replacement.
Replaced downstairs bath sink with a pedastel sink.
When the kitchen was remodeled by family, hung the cabinets in the utility room.
Ran underground electric for above ground swimming pool.
Built 12 x 36 two tier deck, off back of house.
Put up 20 x 20 fencing for dogs for outside.
Framed the basement, did the electric wiring and hung the drywall in the basement.
Replaced the hot water heater.

In the new house (moved in about 6 months ago):

During construction I ran a thousand feet of CAT5e, and a little over a thousand feet of
RG6 quad shield cable.
I layed down 250 sq ft of durastone tiling, kind you have to put underlayment down for and apply a glue to the underlayment before laying the tile down.

Also added plywood to garage ceiling joists for garage attic, also ran electric wiring for electric up in attic, also insulated garage as well, before drywall was up.
Also installed fold down stairs for garage attic.

Installed extra gas line for new natural gas grill we bought.

Just recently installed a hot water tap, Reverse Osmosis Filter and soap dispenser in the kitchen sink.
Also ran the water line for the new refrigerator.

And the wife had us already repaint the majority of the house (for her 40th birthday party).

Also just finished installing the garage door opener.

Laid down an invisible fence in the back yard for the dogs.

Things left to do in the new house:
Finish basement, with bathroom in the basement.
Landscaping front of house, the grass is there already (had someone do that).
Put up storm door for front door.

Get concrete pad out in back of house for possible future covered patio.


Plus I do alot of my own car work. ( I usually stay away from core engine and transmission work and changing the oil). I have fixed/replaced brake pads and shoes, ball joints, outer tie rod ends, brake lines, gas tank, exhaust pipe from catalytic to tail end, spark plugs, rotors, calipers, rear axle seals, radiator, timing belt, starter motor,
power steering hose (that was a b*tch), fuel filter.

I decided that I would rather spend a little extra time doing things, rather than spending a little extra money. It also helps demonstrate to children how to be self reliant.

 

[NuclearNed]

We bought the house in 1998. Since then:

- new carpet & hardwood floor in the entire house
- repainted the entire inside of the house
- replaced some of the plumbing fixtures
- added extra insulation in some of the attic areas
- painted the outside of the house & new shutters
- tore down the old back porch, built a new one
- new light fixtures and/or ceiling fans in almost all rooms
- new replacement windows
- new kitchen doors
- new storm doors
- entire yard redone with trees, landscaping, etc.

 

[iRONic]

A new retaining wall prior to the addition being started.

Before1
Before2
Before3

During1
During2
During3
During4
During5
During6

After1
After2
After3

 

[bctbct]

Originally posted by: davew0670

are you doing the stamped concrete yourself? This could be my next project.

[/quote]


yes, but I have co workers helping that have years of concrete experience.

 

[waggy]

lets see. we tore out the basement and re-did it.
ripped out a bunch of dog kennels the lady that lived her before us had.
replaced every sink in the house.


really not much. though we are planning a lot next year.
replace all teh windows
replace the front door
tear out the kitchen and redo it (they put in blue counter tops) fricken ugly
we have 2 huge walk in closets in the master bedroom. one was sopposed to be a bathroom but the guy never finished it. so we are going to make one into a bathroom
re-roofing


hopefully we can do this all next year. at least most of it


edit: oh yeah we also had the septic tank worked on.
we plan on building a deck but found out the septic tank is where i want to build it. so now i have no clue what im going to do.

 

[rky60]

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: rky60
Closed on my first house in August. A total fixer upper

Completly gutted the place from attic to basement. Re-wired entire house from new breaker box up. Except the kitchen, that'll be leveled (with a borrow excavator) and enlarged in about 2 weeks

The list is endless on the small things done so far. But just today I cut out the entire bathroom floor, since we made it 3 times larger during demo, pipes and such will be moved. Over the next few months i'll be doing everything that involves putting a house together, from plumbing and heating to every last fixture.

All done by me and friends

How do you know how to do it all?

I don't! That's the thrill of it all


Common sense and reading up on things before attempting anything can go a long way. Materials to use, what not to do, what to do. It can all be researched to death. Having relatives and close family that can assist or that have been down this road is great help. Also working for a home remodeling company doesn't hurt. Most of the contractors we use have no problem giving advice, even stopping out the house.

I'll screw up or jump ahead and forget things that need to be done first, but nothing that can't be corrected.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Why bother saying this .... all my primary residneces over the past 4 years or so....

Gutted two kitchens (down to the studs).

Gutted 1 bathroom down to the studs.

Remodeled opne bathroom.

Built a half bath in the basement from scratch.

Floored the basement with wood flooring (floating floor).

Remodeled one entire house inclduing finsiohing the basment.

I've done plumbing, eleectrical work, trim work, cabinet instalations i nthe kitchens.

I've bpretty much done it all. All that is left really is maybe doing a deck and installing counters. But heck .. it's nto that hard.

After I finish the remodel of my current home, I might get into rental properties depending on market conditions in CT. Right now, only idiots buy rental propertis.

EDIT: it does on and on and on. ......

landscaping

painted the exterior and interior.

first home aws 1600 sqft. Current is 2500 sqft.

If I finished rmeodeling this home and put in central air, I'd probably get $600K for it. Paid $400K. So far, I've put about $20-$25K into the home. Only major expense left is hte kitchen counters. Then I have to remodel two bathrooms at about $1K each. Not bad if you do it on your own I'll probably have $35K into my $385K home and it will probably be worth $550K when I am done. $599K if I ever do central air.

I could then sell my home, buy another home(2500 sqft+) for $400K and have no mortgage to speak of. not bad for 6 years I'll probably be worth in the 6 figures by then also (thanks to investments).

 

[bctbct]

Stamped concrete patio is done...now for some grass

 

[Eos]

I've never owned a home, but at a rental I did dig out some grass and replace it with 3/4 minus. I also replaced the front door.

We're looking very hard at a brand new house, so the big plan there would be to install shelves and fluorescent lighting in the garage. Maybe a window air conditioner so the deep freezer motor doesn't overheat in the summer. Set to 80. Nothing crazy.