All Forum Posts by: Milind Shastri

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice on a gas plumbing job so I can talk sensibly before giving the job it to a professional. The pipeline between female ends labeled A and B needs to be replaced. 

The inner thread diameter of the end A is greater than end B. Can someone with experience of the plumbing city code in Dallas TX comment on what/how this can be done. 

My proposed solution is to remove the cut of portions and replace them with the following configuration:

Tee_fitting_end_B | narrow_nipple | narrow_to_wide_reducer | wide_nipple | wide_union | wide_nipple | elbow_A_end

Will this work?

Cheers!

All the best @Meshael ! I was new to the community till a few months ago and can already see wonderful things happen. Flip#2 in progress. Good to see your message. 

Thank you for the insights @Mike Reynolds  I had no idea that I could expect such constructions in this area! 

To understand what going on I went back and did some more digging around from the outside. I was able to scrape off the soil down to the concrete and found out that there indeed is concrete below the studs; this is great news as now concrete pouring is not needed anymore. Also, I noticed that there indeed used to be base-plates below the studs, just that they have rotted badly and were hard to separate from the soil. 

I am now wondering if the upper portion of the studs be jacked up while the damaged parts are removed and replaced. Does this seem even possible & cost-effective?

Hi guys!

I've got an interesting additional room on a flip property. 

Looks like the bottom 1/2' of everything structural has eroded/eaten away/magically vanished!

Now I'd like to retain this room but, clearly, it needs structural reinforcement. I'm looking for a cost-effective solution to bring the room up to code. 

I think it might need a new cement beam poured and new base-plates & rebars installed. Is there a cheap way to do this without moving the existing good portion of the studs?

Cheers!

One every month. 12.

@Hunter Harms , my wife and I recently got our house rehabbed. And she managed all the sub-contractors right from hiring them to modifying the job and making the final payment. Mind it, that her personality is gentle and soft spoken; and she still did it. Hats off to her! She managed the following contractors: foundation team (4), painting team (5), handy team (3), flooring team (2) & demo guy.

How we were able to do it was:

1. every day we would sit together and discuss all the little details of what planning out the project. We first learned what it will take to do it our self, and on many occasions, did it ourselves too just to understand how much time it really takes and most importantly, to learn the vocabulary for the job. For learning this we used youtube and an excellent resource by home depot (https://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Home-Depot-Home-Im...). 

2. Once we knew how to do it ourself, then we had a few sub-contractors walk through to bid for the job and in that process re-calibrate our understanding & vocubalary of the job.

3. We'd draft up a contract with a clear description of the job and payment schedule. With this, everyone knew what they were agreeing on and made the job easier. Any changes would be priced as add-ons and the contractors seemed quite fair.   

Wish you all the best and believe me, its a very satisfying experience. Just do your homework and plan it out. 

Sorry for the late update everyone, I was negotiating a property with an un-permitted garage construction; ended up getting a good price for it. 

Ok so here's the information we got after a trip to the office of the Oak Cliff Municipal Center (thanks @Bart H. !): 

We were able to pull all existing permits associated with the property for just $0.20 each. 

The requirements for garage conversion are the following:

1. The property must have a parking space. It can be a garage or even open with standard paving materials (a minimum gravel/treated wood will do)

2. Electricals to meet code. Smoke detectors needed. 

3. Insulation needed

4. If garage is converted to a sleeping room then there must not be any gas fired water heater in the closet of that converted room

5. Elevation, site and floor plans of the changes

So, looks like the conversion is not too complicated after all. Thank you all for your suggestions! It helped us close our last deal!

Either way, I'll be going to the county office tomorrow. Will update what happens. 

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

@Mike McCarthy I looked through the tax records and looks like the assessed value of the property increased by $10k last year and the taxes increased by 20%. Looks like the city might have already re-appraised the garage and incorporated the garage conversion

@Bart H. that's interesting that a drawing will do the trick. I will keep that in mind

Oddly even though the taxes have increased and the assessed land value has increased, the MLS listing does not consider the garage as a bedroom... confused :/

Hello all,

I've got a fixer-upper under contract in a C-class neighborhood of Dallas (for those who are familiar, it's the Cedar Crest neighborhood). It has a garage that is already converted to a bedroom but it's not listed on the MLS as an added bedroom. The room already has a large window, HVAC vent and flooring.

Does anyone know what it takes to have a converted garage to be listed as a bedroom? This will hopefully get a better ARV.

Thanks!

House details:

1200 sqft, 2Bed, 1Bath, 1Garage(converted), purchase $60k, 2B1B ARV $85.