All Forum Posts by: Don Meinke

I guess I was less than clear and did a poor job of explaining.  The 3/8 isnt the treads its the toe kick panels.  the rigidity I spoke of is attaching the 3/8 to the BACK side of the 2 bye 10 treads to provide more rigid toe kicks.  So idiots dont break thru them

The stair stringers are cut from 2 bye 12 and are only about 20 to 22 inches apart,,with these 2 bye 10 tying them together

Has anyone tried concrete counter tops yet??  I see you can d-i-y on those but a pro would be nice too.  Would think they would be durable

The last time I bought carpet, I bought the kind you can actually clean with bleach and not hurt it.  My last renters lived in the house for about a year and left the carpet looking like new.  Wish they had left the tub/shower in same condition,,,but it can be cleaned I guess.  Crazy people,,,, have a spotless house,,,dont EVER clean the shower tub,,,never turn on the hi efficiency natural gas furnace(high bill is less than a hundred dollars in COLDEST month,and each side of that half maybe), heat with electric space heaters for 3 times the cost(must have half froze to death doing it),,,go figure,,,takes all kinds I guess.  Plus it wasnt a mater of getting service,,,they had it on in their name,,,but never used it.

But back to carpet cleaning,,,even one of those rental rug doctors cant match a pro cleaner

I have lived all by myself without any s.o. for over 15 years.  BUT as I get older I catch it ,,,generally h-e-two sticks,,every time I see my kids.  ALL of them, obviously they talk about this cause I get the same old crap from each every time.

A couple years ago they started on this false story of me wasting $100,000 on a complete gut rehab basement up rebuild.  I ask where they got there numbers and they said they were keeping track of it,,,huh,,,not even I did that,,,but cant think of HOW that is even remotely possible,let alone even half way close.  A third of that maybe.

  Fast forward to the last go round.  I am social security age, barely.  I was TOLD that if and when I die I should NOT have one house, car(I like my OLD cars), tool(of which I have hundreds)(And use them daily to rehab houses,,,,including working on theirs.) BECAUSE that would be child abuse, somebody would have to dispose of it and no one has time.

I NEED to buy a house with a huge garage to live in myself and they are all beating me over the head saying you cant buy one more house.  I am down to just a few from quite alot at one time.  IF I dont reno them now when will I get my bucket list cleaned up?  Been making huge progress as fast as I can while working 2 jobs altho both part time.  Last week it was up at 3:30 AM every morning for 6 days to open the store at one job,,then closing the other store till about 10PM every night....THAT makes me tired.  Those kinds of weeks work on houses slows.

Now normal people, I would think would encourage their parents to buy, fix,rent,hold and build worth AND do as they darn well please with the few years left.  Is their ANYONE on this board with negative nellies in their family,influence circle???

I agree with Jon.  I was thinking that from the get go here too,,,most steam was galvined steel pipe with cast fittings.  IF you have the right eyeware and decent clothes includung a reasonable hat, 2 hammers  makes for quick work at the joints,,,or a sawsall on the pipe BUT hot sparks everywhere.

For cracking cast off flush and square Jons tool is top notch.  I have been trying off and on to score a reasonable priced one on e-pay but my luck it would come with worn out cutters no longer available.  He is double right when he says fast and easy,,,getting it where its going is half the battle.  And the rental shops minimums are so high I thought my own would be a GOOD buy.  When you need one you need one.

I think you have done a GREAT 'awesome sauce' job here.

Do you wish to find some properties for me,,,for a fee?? Only wish for numbers like that here.

At THAT rate how fast can you turn them (for rent)and how many are you 'able' to buy??  Dont quit now,,your cash flow is going up by the minute!!!  BUY ALL YOU CAN GET<<<like YESTERDAY.

Did I say you did a great job.  Are you financing them? Or all cashing them into your fold?

Doorway landing and retaining wall concrete portion finished.  NOW trying to determine if 3/8 plywood would be strong enough IF screwed to back of 2 bye treads for added rigidity???

Headroom is at a premium here too.  Already moved landing back and removed a forward header.  I am 5'10'or so and have several inches above that as additional space.  SO it would take OVER 6 foot tall person to hit head,,,would the 'expect' to duck under in OLD house,OLD basement??? Could cut another 3 to 4 inches out above,,more than that would require extensive floor wall reno and a notch out of dining room floor/wall.  Is it worth all that.

OLD stairs were pretty much a ladder effect,5 inch tread on 8 inch rise.  New are 7.3" rise on 10 inch tread,,,much better.  No way to get to legal code,,,too narrow,,, too short on headroom...Aim was to make "better" and it has,,,greatly.

Been wanting to do this bucket list improvement for 35 years,,,finally had the brainstorm to design and DO it!!!

Ever thought about J P Smart siding,,,more diy friendly,,,much lighter and better product I am told.  Havent used it myself but will instead of stupid vinyl that gets hailed off the wall.

I have dehumidifiers in basements too.  I drilled a hole in the drain pan and put it over the floor drain so I never have to empty them.  They make ones now you can set up with a small hose, same principle.

I would never consider putting in a vent INTO the basement as it only adds more humid air than house has. Central air runs most all summers here.  Highest bill for taking the top off the heat and humidity and it is hot and very HUMID here all summer,,,highest summer monthly charge is 35 to 40 bucks on a small home.  Have a couple unoccupied with only ac on and thats the high.  The ac takes out most humid and then unless it rains alot no humidity in basement without anything else running.  Nothing worse than a wet moldy, musty basement.

If you have any crawl areas with dirt then best approach is to cover with heavy plastic and seal edges.  That helps a ton.

Had a house that had good pitch over the kitch,,,then flattened out over the back porch.  Never could find the leak but it leaked badly.  Final solution was to re-pitch and re-frame the whole small area from top ridge down to eave edge. THAT never leaked and solved all problems,,,all other solutions were band aids.  That changed the valley between that slope and a right angle sloped roof over the bedroom/bath.  I recall how HOT it was up there for about a week figuring and framing it diy with my two best friends,,,me, myself and I,,,I guess we arent too fast of workers, but it was back in the day of hammers and nails.  Six pack of soda and 2 thermos of water a day at least...must have been over 110* plus reflective heat.  Its a good time of year for roof work right now.  Cool enuf to work and warm enuf to seal shingles