All Forum Posts by: Don Meinke

I used to think 'rustic brown' was a good trim color too.  Then the fade monster visited me after a few years and it looked terrible.

Now I use the lightest color of any color for the body of the structure,,,and use 'white' trim exclusively.  Some people call it bland,,,but years down the road their isnt much fade to white.

I for the life of me dont know what people are thinking when they put DARK siding colors on big old houses around my area.  One up the street is RED.  Do they not know it is going to be a pink house long before its time??? AND more on one side than the other

Most basements suffer from poor light AND mold,mildew dampish walls and possibly smells.

My preferred wall covering would be purple sheetrock.  It is unable to support mold of its own.  Might start at like 2 inches off the floor and let plastic baseboard complete to the floor.  BEFORE rock poly on the walls then some Styrofoam insulation.  It doesnt draw moisture and if a bit damp drys back out well unlike fiberglass.  If it is a cold exterior wall a slight ir gap is good for condensation purposes.

Any flooring rated for below grade will work.  A short nap commercial type carpet is cheap and easy to replace,,,or laminate etc.  then tenant or yourself could use a room size rug if cold floors are a concern.  Most basement floors are not very even and tend to have low spots,,,so they may need peeping for YOUR finish of choice

If flooding is any kind of concern might reconsider  any kind of expense.  Personally I would pex all water lines and change any metal drain lines in the WHOLE hose before covering anything permanently,,,as well as upgrade what wiring is accessible

And dont forget to upgrade the windows first if needed

In the old days it used to be called sure wall.  Your big box store has it in a bag back by the concrete mixes.  it has short fiberglass hairs in it and used for back plastering concrete,,,,blocks,walls.  Use a bonding agent first.  Like Greg said do the whole wall if not ALL the inside walls.  An older concrete contractor is who I would call.  It looks white when done.

If you have one story ranch houses,,,NO not worth it.  They really havent made a good one yet.  A gooseneck wand that fits on a garden hose and pressure washes them works wonders all from the ground.    2 and 3 story houses they may work,,,thinking oversize downspouts are a better fix and plug less.  If your gutter slope is backward all bets are off.

We have high winds once in a while so foam or bristles work better...All others blow away one day or another

yesterday.

More seriously never saw one that doesnt throw crap in the cartiges and wrecks them every few.  Plugs aerators etc.  

As said big size from incoming to water heater etc.  Every faudet gets its own run,,,and shutoff.  BUT dont oversize hot water to the bath shower  or the sink,,,again individual runs. 1/2 inch will handle all a faucet will flow.  Any larger and you have a huge waste and wait for water to get hot

Other thing is they have tons of support clips etc in the big box stores.  When you think you have enough double it,,,especially on long radius turns so it never kinks.  Easy to use,pop in and out as needed.  Those 1/4 turn bend supports are junky but works on 1/2 but 3/4 not so good.  Lots o clips and a middle support with long arms to joists work better.

AND while you have the cippy saw and hammer all warmed uo,,,change the metal drain pipe also.  Metal will plug and cause headaches 10X worse than white pvc plastic

If you have a Menards there its worth a look.  There is alot of difference in cheap cabinets and upgraded to get away from press wood and get real  plywood/wood boxes and drawers.  mostly the drawers.  They have unfinished oak that can be stained or painted

Bamboo floors seem to be popular,looks good and durable

If you already have a tb in the other bath consider a huge walk in shower only in the new bath.  I hear this is a 3 story house???  how much short walls would need removed to replace the obvious metal stack and replace with heavy wall PVC.  From there plumbing upgrdes are easy.  Same way with running pex and taking out metal supply pipes.  IF you go this way take the opportunity to run as many runs of modern 3 wire 12 gauge runs to baths,,at least 2 to 3 runs per bath.  DONT put the lights and outlets on same circuit.  (Invision yourself standing there just out of the shower drying your hair and breaker(or gfi) trips and your standing there without clothes on in the DARK,,,and how you would fix that???)  Besides the bath is required to have GFI anyway.   Run the wire all the way to the box and properly grounded to get you up to code,

If this bath is nice and modern finishes you should be able to increase rents 50 to 100 bucks.  If you dont have nice modern finishes you end up attracting the bottom desirable tenants

If you do most of the wok d-i-y I would think 3-5K for materials will go along way.  All those little things really add up,

I have upgraded lots of baths and never spent over 1500 on any of them,,,but your mileage will vary,,,and new from scratch will add also

Whatever you do make double darn sure it isnt skate board slick when you have snow on your shoes walking in which is 'normal' winter conditions.  Had a couple floors that looked and acted fine dry,,,and was a wicked mess when wet with snow.  No sense testing your liability insurance before you need to.

PS.  I see some really attractive travertine at the box store but wonder how hard that is to keep the pores clean???  And as said the floor support is crucial/ NO floor flex.  Cement board underlayment  really quiets any floor and firms it up

Ed,  

Thanks for posting the pics.  I "SEE" what your up against now.  YES you need downspout extenders for 5 and better yet 8-10 feet from the house.  I would 'start' up higher and put the bigger size drops out of the gutters,,,gooseneck back to house and straight down screwed fast to the house.  I have NEVER seen downspouts put up at that angle,,,have to admit its cheaper and quicker,,,but quite ugly.

As is the water is running off the roof and clear down that side of the wall cause its lower there than out a couple foot.  Add at least 6 inches of dirt on block walls.

Brings up a good question.  Around the front of the house is that 'planter??? ' box.  The dirt is up TOO close to the siding.  You should have a 6 to 8 inch gap,,, dirt to siding.  IF the dirt in the front yard has to be lowered to accomplish 4 to 6 inches of positive slope dig it out.  But dont form a puddle or lake doing it

I dont know what your annual rainfall is or largest event of rain is,,,but LOOKS like your going to get this house dried out underneath.  The water is coming from the most popular trouble spot ever,,,the downspouts/roof.  When you fix those make 'SURE" your getting MOST of it diverted away.  Leaky gutters, low spots runover,leaky downspouts and extensions are very common.  They always LOOK fine when the sun is shining but change in the middle of a huge rain.

I saw a huge steep roof house once that when it rained more water by 10X came over the gutters than down the spouts,  Under the deck was a drainage disaster and they had wet basement,,,go figure,,,and this is a 350K house.  I told them the LARGE size gutters and down spouts fixed 95% of problems.  deck was tore off regraded and all is well now.  those existing gutters only worked in a sprinkle.  it came off the roof so fast it shot right over the gutters

Water is good but needs properly managed

My other thought after thinking on this awhile.  What are the demensions,,,length and width of this residence?  AND are basements common in this area?

Reason I say all that is you can kill alot of problems with one rock.  I had a 600 * ft house 1 bedroom that needed new foundation.  Guy tells me for a couple extra thousand you can have a 1200*ft 3 bedroom house where you now have a very tiny too small of a house.  Only have to go a little deeper to do it cause a crawl space footing has to be 48" here anyway.  Keep in mind house was 20 bye 30' and had 3 -26 foot steel beams we poked thru underneath,,,propped up both sides to match the main beam in the center.  Took a hydralic jack around the house myself one Sunday and raised it 2 foot with cribbing.  We already had siding , inside drywall, and most everything else out of the inside so it was really light like a garage.  Everybody told me you cant do that.  NEVER EVER tell me that.  Dug a trench sloped access in one spot. Drove my skid loader under the house and hauled all concrete out,,,and then took all the dirt. There is ALOT of dirt under a house. Drove it up the slope and to the curb and into my dump trailer and away it went.  Had a concrete block layer pour footings and lay block up for basement walls.  If I ever do it again I will use the styrofoam blocks and pour inside full of crete.  Quicker and have insulation you need there anyway

What I am trying to say in a long winded tale,,,is you can dry up,inside outside drain tile,,,place to have furnace and water heater,,,and possible living quarters bedrooms with egress windows which are easy,,,and double space and storage in one project.

Crawl spaces are always damp here and 'wet' in non stop rain events.  The water wicks up from below.  Crawl spaces are ALWAYS musty,,,basements can be really dry with poly on walls and under floors.

That pic shows either alot of dry rot or termite damage.  Is that alot of 'mud' on that sill plate???

All I have had for 45 years was a 3/4 inch wide tape with a roller ball on the end.  You punch it thru a clog,,,then with as much water as possible running twist the tape round and round and it will 'snap' inside the pipe,,,every time it snaps it is razor cleaning the pipe with its sharp edge the whole length.  Pull it out rolling in holder with water running and it is pretty clean,,hose it off and wash your hands,,,all done.  Has only failed me one time and rented a big machine and cut the root(big) out,  Hasnt reoccurred yet.

If you have stuff to get out you can wrap the end with some barb wire,