I just don't understand, why the prices seem so far out of reality...they redid an entire basement, extended a living room on the ground floor and made it into a balcony for the master bedroom on top, redid the landscape, all new kitchen...and the total price was like 38K? Where have they been?
38K is not even enough for the kitchen cabinets.
Tonight I watched the House Hunters show, where they showed three houses to a couple and they choose. The wife said "I don't like the location, it's too far from work, and the rooms are small, however, I really like the closet door decor and the brush nickle finish feature of the faucets". Hmmm...ok...brush nickle faucet feature - checked - sold!!!
"MiamiCuse" wrote in news:P-ednd00ubjS0a_VnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@dsli.com:
I think because they make teh homeowners do a lot fo the work. They don't show it all step-by-step, but from what I've seen overall, there is a lot of "sweat equity", as opposed to having all of it done professionally. They also seem to cut corners.
I know, some of the comments are incredibly dopey - although I suppose that shouldn't be surprising.
I used to watch it sometimes to try to get ideas, but a lot of their ideas in the recent couple of years seem to be og decreasing interest to me.
I watch some of these home shows from time to time simply because I am in the middle of a major redo project and I was hoping to get some ideas...unfortunately I have gotten none.
Most of these shows are not very creative. Same idea recycled over and over again.
This house has a ugly looking carpet, so how to improve it? Wow just like magic, you pull up the carpet there is this beautiful untarnished original oak wood floor or terrazo, ding ding ding, problem solved! and the owners didn't even know!
while I am sitting here still trying to figure out how to hang a few ceiling fans in a non-intrusive way, went through three dozen ideas and none stick.
Forget it, I am going to let the wires hang for another two weeks, may be some idea will come to me, meanwhile onto the kitchen!
Don, you left Florida in time, the real estate down here is just completely depressing.
but I do like the brush nickel finish feature of the faucet. LOL.
Pat wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:
In some cases, paint color is significant - I looked at one house, back in Massachusetts, where *every* room was painted with *very* dark colors
- one was a super-dark burgundy color, another was a super-dark pine green, all the hallways were a shadeof blue that was so dark it almost looked black, anotehr was a dark tomato-type red, and so on. There was no way I could have lived with those colors, so, if the rest of the house had been such that I'd wanted it,. I'd take $$ off the offer to pay for the repainting, or demand that it be repainted - which would involve a hell of a lot more, goven teh colors, than just slapping up one coat of paint. Then there are the places that are completely wallpapered inside with all sorts of floras and stripes and paisleys and so on. THat has to be stripped and then the walls repainted (merely painting over wallpaper eventually leads to peeling wallpaper underneath the paint, which looks really trashy and, esp. inwarm climates, is a breeding ground for spiders and whatnot).
Before looking down on those who want move-in condition, remember that most people can't pay for two homes at the same time, or for that matter, afford to pay for an apartemnt plus furniture storage, IOW living ion one place while fixing up another - especially if you're moving 2000 miles. OK, yes, if one wall in a kitchen is some ghastly blood-red color (seen that :p ), or if one hallway is wallpapered, or something of a similarly- modest scale, such as a kitchen faucet, it can be dealt with, but it's very different to deal with a whole house.
And frankly, there is simply no excuse for a house to *not* be in move-in condition, other than that some people are lazy f**ks and trash their places, then think they can demand top dollar for the dump - seen that, too, places you walk into that stink, have black crud in all the corners, filthy appliances, and so on, filth that make you want to take a shower after you leave. The situation ther eis similar to the idea of "merely" painting - moving a houshold is hard enough to coordinate, without having to spend a couple weeks cleaning and disinfecting and fumigating and so on, which is literally what no small number of places really would require.
They never show those places on HGTV, of course, but the large number of crapholes passed off as "homes" for sale is why people are so happy to walk into a place that's clean and has well-coordinated colors.
As for furnishings, it's called "staging" and, like it or not, the fact is that a lot fo people really have little or no ability to picture what a place could look like with their own furniture, or with different stuff, and so on. The other aspect is that, if you walk into a place, and it's dirty with trash all over, it immediately makes one suspect that the rest of the house has been similarly un-maintained. Of course, a nicelyt-staged place is also no guarantee, and that's where most poeple fall down - it looks nice, so they forgo a thorough inspection, only to find out, *after* they've moved in, that the fouindation is shot and the place is riddled with termites, and/or that other serious problems exist.
Flips are, of course, a problem - the general principle is "Slap some lipstick on that pig, and somebody'll buy it". But MIO, buyers have to use their heads, and if a buyer doesn't, well, it's no diofferent from teh guy I knew who gave some street-seller $50 bucks for a packaged boom- box, only to find out that the new-looking shrink-wrapped packaging had phone books in it to give it the heft of a boom-box. Caveat emptor.
"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:
We go for throw rugs - small enough to chuck in the bath when they get dirty. Hardwood floor was out of reach; we have sealed and polished particleboard. Held up for 18 years but now showing its age. Been trying to find a decent floor polisher, something rugged with a bit of weight. Trouble is, on Ebay these seem to be regarded as "collector's items". "I don't want to put it on display - just want to polish the @!##?^& floor". So I'm going in for laminate as well.
"MiamiCuse" wrote in news:LpOdna4mvfrzyqvVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@dsli.com:
Yes - cork is the nearest. Seams are mostly ok because the boards are tongued and grooved - the tongue is a removable strip of neoprene. Standard is "yellow tongue", red tongue is termite treated and costs more, but we have found that termites ignore the untreated stuff provided there is a something else around like pine. Edge joins must be made over joists on a suspended floor, so if the cut is a bit ragged it can be filled. The boards are 3.9m x 0.9m x 19mm thick. That's roughly 12 ft 9
1/2 by 2ft 11 1/2 by 3/4 inch. Current cost is $A37 a sheet.
The older type needed sanding, to get a smooth finish and remove the manufacturer's labels. Latest version is clean and smooth, only needs a couple of coats of varnish.
Have recently laid these sheets straight onto a concrete floor. Specs say they can be laid without gluing, but we found that at least one long edge of each sheet should be glued, also butt edges, and all edges for smaller cut sheets.
Beats DIY tiling anyway ...
Don't get those over here in Oz - just small establishments selling mostly army personal gear at astronomical prices :-( Years ago working on building sites in the UK, it often looked like the army was putting the buildings up - everyone wearing cheap army surplus.
Hmmm great stuff - I remember its characteristic smell - but having trouble sourcing it :-(
Maybe I'll ask the contractor who cleans my office workplace. They run them until they blow, but yes the motor looks the same as a couple of tumble-drier motors I have lying around. Might be easier to find than one of those little Hoover devices with twin brushes. I have one of those, at least 40 years old, still going fine but a bit on the light side.
"MiamiCuse" wrote in news:kredne__6rDRxKvVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@dsli.com:
We got a type of tile in this house that feels, dunno how to describe it, almost "fuzzy" when you walk on it, because it's ceramic but not super- smooth. It sounds odd because I don't knwo how to describe it well, but it's actually pleasant. I never much liked the shiny/slick tile - even tho' it's easy to clean, you still have to keep up with the grout.
WHich brings up a question I've long had: why does tile *need8 grout lines in the first place? Why not a very thin bit of cualk and jam them up close to one another? Is grout supposed to be "decorative", or is ther ea physical reason for the grout spacing?
There is a reason. Most tiles are first shaped, then baked. For this reason there will be variations along the edge, and a wider grout line will solve the uneven-ness problem. Marble and rectified tiles are cut afterwards, and therefore can be installed as close as the thickness of a credit card.
Kris Krieger wrote in news:7-ydnQZ1uO28RavVnZ2dnUVZ_v snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
We had a house in Mid-Wales UK, built in 1875 by a railway company. Cavity brick walls (9" and 4 1/2", 2" cavity, slate damp courses). Expanding footings went down maybe 6ft or more - never managed to dig far enough down to find the foundations. The houses needed a degree of earthquake-proofing with heavy steam engines and coal trains passing by. The back kitchen/living room floor was "quarry" tiles ( 6" by 1/2" ceramic) laid over about a foot of compacted boiler ash. No grout, no gap. Still servicable 110 years later. Only problem was if a single tile cracked, then you needed to replace it quickly before the adjacent tiles started to creep. The place also had very hard 8" by 3/4" concrete skirtings all round the internal walls.
"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news5.newsguy.com:
More naysayers. The same idiots who told me this, that, and the other idea was "stupid", and what do I see but solar-powered fountains, and vertical-blade wind-powered turbines.
People are very good when it comes to insisting somethign "won't work" for no other reason than it hasn't been done a million times before. Most, tho', aren't smart enogh to know the difference between recklessness and innovation.
Personally, I don;t like grout, it looks kind of grungy to me and it's a pain in th ebucket to deal with - gotta seal teh crap every year or it sucks up stains like a sponge.
THe image I got in my mind certainly is not appealing to *me* =:-p
Works for builders I gues, but IMO, if I wanted to see cement, I'd put in a cement floor.
ANyhoo, that answers that - Thanks! Another useful tidbit to add to my file ;)
That quarry tile was probably Welsh "Heather Brown" by Denis Reuben (sp). An old high school classmate of mine began importing it in the late 50's as a lark. It is indestructible. He hit it rich when the new Boston City Hall was built with all public areas paved with the tile, and it still looks good 42 years later. I put it in the first floor of my Boston House, and 27 years later it was untouched. Stays clean with a light mopping. Around here it can be purchased from Shep Brown Associates. EDS
"EDS" wrote in news:mpOdnYrxvqO1BqXVnZ2dnUVZ_v snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Is it installed as was described, with no gap/grout? THat'd be interesting to see; it must look like a solid slab of stone. THe boiler ash part also is interesting. THe building that was described sounded like an interesting thing overall.
Kris Krieger wrote in news:leadnde7KrZrVaXVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
Not of the floor or the skirtings. Didn't have a decent camera then, Some outside shots have perished with age/tropical humidity. The house was part of a terrace - two straight rows facing each other. Place called Builth Road - junction of the Cambrian Railway running west (long closed), and the Shrewsbury to Swansea line, still operational when we were there. Couldn't see much on Google Earth last time I looked - just the railway bridge where the line crosses the River Wye. Google web search will find the Cambrian Arms tavern (former railway station).
Wow. Sounds like the stuff. I recall they were difficult to get hold of in the country of origin, but then there were always a few recyclable ones available locally.
Yep.
In parts yes, but ours had taken a hammering. Maybe the result of railwaymens' boots and tools? I broke a tile trying to lever a hearthstone up - using a tracklayers bar I found buried in the back yard. Where I also found a motor bike buried. When the railway workshops closed, anything not screwed down disappeared apparently.
The place was thought to be a bit rough. Paid 3,500 sterling for the house in 1978. Sold up in '86 for about 2.5 times what we paid for it. The terraces are probably heritage listed by now and worth a bomb ...
There had been a Roman fort just up the slope above the tavern, and Llewelyn, last Prince of Wales, was buried just up the road a bit. (Well his body was apparently. His head was sent to London.)
I installed it in what is called a "mud job". My original softwood floors were on 2x12's at 14" oc spanning 13.5' with 2 layers of 1" sheathing (all full size). House was on piles on filled land, and dead level. I laid down 6 mil plastic on the original sheathing, and then 1.25" mortar bed, leveled it out, and then laid down the tile in grout with about 1/8" joints. Grouted the joints, waited a few days, and occupied the floor. The quarry tile has lovely variances in color ranging from brown-orange to brown purple, often within one tile. AIR, it is also frostproof, and relatively non-skid. EDS
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