Do-it-yourselfers strike again

[johnr]

No it didn't, but I don't think GST would do a bad job. We agree on many things, it's just that he is destructive when one does not agree. I don't know what kind of fantasy world he lives in where everyone agrees, and anyone who doesn't agree 100% is the enemy. I know better than to say this because I know I'll have to listen to 20 pages of Plainsman, Plainsman, Plainsman. Oh well.

Say a couple of prayers for my son. He went into cardiac arrest last night. His son did CPR until the ambulance arrived. Things don't look good.

Prayers sent buddy.

 

[fj40]

Thoughts and prayers.

 

[guywhofishes]

 

[SupressYourself]

Previous owner was some type of contractor and "finished" some parts of the basement himself. I wish he wouldn't have. I ended up tearing most of it out.
It literally looked like he was using leftovers from other jobs. For example, there was one bathroom and two bedroom doors hung. They were all different. Difference size, color, style, hardware. Very odd since the upstairs was done quite well. It's like he ran out of money or something.
There was also one bathroom sink where the hot and cold were crossed, and it took me several hours to figure out the coax and breaker box situations. A lot of sloppy and mismatched work, but it could be worse. I never found anything that was unsafe.

 

[Walleye_Chaser]

Deepest thoughts and prayers for you PrairieGhost. That's awful to hear.

 

[LBrandt]

Prayers sent.

 

[Duckslayer100]

Previous owner was some type of contractor and "finished" some parts of the basement himself. I wish he wouldn't have. I ended up tearing most of it out.
It literally looked like he was using leftovers from other jobs. For example, there was one bathroom and two bedroom doors hung. They were all different. Difference size, color, style, hardware. Very odd since the upstairs was done quite well. It's like he ran out of money or something.
There was also one bathroom sink where the hot and cold were crossed, and it took me several hours to figure out the coax and breaker box situations. A lot of sloppy and mismatched work, but it could be worse. I never found anything that was unsafe.

Literally same thing with our old house. Could not figure out why the upstairs was done so well and the downstairs literally looked like it was slapped together with stuff from the bargain bin. It was after a few more clues (lots of living space but ZERO storage, way more parking space than should be needed for that size of house, etc.) that we realized it was a rental at one time. So yeah...lovely to say the least.

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Deepest thoughts and prayers for you PrairieGhost. That's awful to hear.

Amen!

 

[PrairieGhost]

Thanks guys.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Was he an engineer that was moonlighting as a carpet layer?

I had new floor installed in my old house, the carpet guy was going to put carpet around some spindles and a post that separated our dinning area and living room area. I came home from lunch and he says, so you want me to carpet around this little railing or just remove it, I said, is that post load bearing? he says, nope, it can be removed. So I say just remove it then open it up some.
We go to put the house up for sale, and the home inspector says, what happened to the load bearing post that should be right here...haha. We had to replace the post to pass inspection..

Sometimes it might not be the homeowners fault.

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Did you take the lowest bid?

Many times when we have built or added on I have had to take contractors to work. When I was still working I paid a contractor for a concrete pad for a new detached garage. I paid for 5 inches thick and an extra bag of concrete. Also rebar between garage and driveway pad so I could lay brick on the pad. I came at 10:00am and seen him skretting for three inches. He said oh I forgot we will reskreet. So he came that evening and I paid him. He had put on so much water that it was messing up the surface. Next day I drilled into it and it was three inches. He said I hit a small pocket. I hired a company from Fargo that does six inch cores. Three inches and it didn't meet specks for strength. I asked about rebar he said oh yes it's in there. I grabbed my metal detector and nothing. The judge made him reimburse me and gave me $1000 to have someone else remove the pad.
Second time we added on to the living room and had a wooden basement put under it. First rain and water all over in the new basement. I looked at my trail cam and he had knocked a lot of dirt in as they worked. He didn't remove that dirt, he just threw the drain tile in on top of it. Drain tile higher than the basement floor doesn't work that good. Again I was lied to. So hired a backhoe and sure enough. Went to court again and he had to pay for the repair. Don't pay for other peoples dishonesty. They think they can't be touched, but I nailed their behind every time.

 

[PrairieGhost]

Did you take the lowest bid?

On the concrete yes, but it was only $200 cheaper ($5200) and I had the guy before. The next spring Lux concrete did a fantastic job. The guy who did the addition was working next door and they liked him. He said since he was right next door he could start ours. The first clue was when he brought kids with him and they started breaking big branches off the apple trees. Next one of the guys put up the 2X6 to frame in the basement. I said "you look like your in prison". He said, "been there done that".

 

[Achucker]

Another word of advice. If you feel you are component enough to do your own work don't buy a majority of your stuff at a big box store. By from supply houses or lumber yards.

 

[guywhofishes]

Another word of advice. If you feel you are component enough to do your own work don't buy a majority of your stuff at a big box store. By from supply houses or lumber yards.

why's that?

 

[johnr]

Was he an engineer that was moonlighting as a carpet layer?



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?

No he was from Minnesota, lived 2 years off of Obama unemployment, and when that ran out he went back to work laying carpet. He though my wife was cute too, so I figured he must be fairly smart telling me all the neat stuff

 

[Achucker]

why's that?

Doing some research when I was building my house on patio doors. Both probuild and lowest sold the same door. Lowe's was quite a bit cheaper. Found out that manufacturer will sell lowest lower quality products to big box stores targeting DIYers. Also I worked for an electrical contractor and I can tell you by experience that products are made with cheaper material and methods even though they are made by the same company.

 

[Traxion]

PrairieGhost, hope all turns out well!

This HGTV crap just makes me wonder how many people get into "oh shit" mode not very far into their "easy" project. They omit about 99% of the actual project and show nothing other than huge issues. I have been in the industry for a long time and I still shudder thinking about some projects. I see my wife's friends trying to do these projects and I think to myself, they have NO IDEA what they are getting into. And then one of you buys their house it sounds like!

I am 50/50 on home inspectors. From inside the industry, they can be over zealous and experts at things they have really no clue about. But, they can give you an honest look at a property you may/may not see otherwise.

 

[Achucker]

Home inspectors can tell you what code violations that are obvious. The real inspections happen during construction. This is why I can't believe our own legislature considered doing away with inspections for work done by owners. If that would have passed a lot more of you would have stories like this and it would be legal. Not sure of other trades but I know if you do electrical without contacting the proper people you are committing a misdemeanor!!!