All Forum Posts by: Ryan Normand

I am curious about the details of the SoW of the remodel. $170k is a lot, so either the contractors are over-bidding or you inadvertently signed up for a very large and complicated remodel.

Did you ask the contractors how much it would cost to leave the floorplan as-is and just do a cosmetic flip? Costs go up exponentially once you start moving walls and adding bathrooms where they didn't exist before. It might be better to keep it quick and simple.

@JD Martin hit the nail on the head. For a bedroom to be code compliant, you will absolutely need a 2nd form of egress - either a window or a second door that leads to the outside. This is a requirement of the International Residential Code, which is what most local building codes in the US are based on, so I can almost guarantee that your local building department will enforce this requirement. Adding a window will add some cost to your project, but depending on what kind of walls and siding you have, it might not be as difficult as you think.

If you want to know more details, check out 2018 IRC Section R310. This lists all the requirements for emergency escape openings. For example, the operable area of the window must be at least 20"x24" and the sill height can't be higher than 44".

Side note - IRC also requires bedrooms to be at least 70 sq. ft. and no less than 7' wide in any dimension, so make sure you're making the room big enough too :) Other things to think about when framing in a new room are light switch locations, adding wall outlets, and HVAC.

JD also made a good point with the closet. I don't think this is a code or safety requirement, but it will most likely affect the appraisal. I know in AZ the room has to have a closet to be counted as a bedroom.

Quote from @Eddie Torres:

Does anyone have any experience with this? It's my understanding an architect is only needed on more complex and bigger projects. 

Yes, it will depend on the specific rules in your city, but in many cases simple designs can be done by a GC or draftsman. Double check with your local building department before you enter into an agreement with this guy, but based on the info you provided it sounds like he will be allowed to do it.

Keep in mind that if your design includes elements like trusses, lintels, oversized wood beams, etc. it will probably need to be stamped by a licensed engineer, regardless of who drafts the plans. You should ask your draftsman if this is included in his price.

Quote from @Daniel Lempa:

Is this common practice to refuse providing line item estimates? 

Do you give your tenants an itemized breakdown of their rents... your mortgage payment, insurance, maintenance costs, your profit, etc.?

I understand that a lot of real estate investors are numbers people and like to see this level of detail, but remember contractors are not obligated to provide this information to customers, and as you're finding out, many won't. The current market conditions aren't helping you either - the trades are in high demand and short supply. A lot of times you are going to have to play by their rules.

I generally agree with @Dan White - If you're not happy with the bids you've received, then keep calling around. There's a decent chance you'll eventually find a contractor who is nice enough to share more detail. Just be prepared for a lot of companies to tell you to go pound sand before you find that one person :) Also, be careful with the cheap bids... a lot of times you get what you pay for.

I'll admit I'm a novice when it comes to roofing, so I'm not going to speculate on what's a fair price. Hopefully this post will catch the attention of some of the other contractors on the forums. I know there are some roofing specialists out there.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it almost looks like there's no thinset on the tile-less areas. Was it already scraped off or was the original install just that bad? If they're popping off that easily then you might as well just pop them all and redo the whole area with LVP or laminate. It'll be more than a few hundred bucks (unless you DIY with super cheap materials) but still pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

You could also find tiles that are an approximate match. It'll look like a patch... not much you can do about that. Trying to pop tiles from other locations is risky. If they were installed correctly they will not come out in one piece and you'll have a bunch of thinset stuck to the back of the tiles as well.

Quote from @Andy Sabisch:

DIsagree with your comment about Trafficmaster Allure . . . it uses a glue strip that locks the floor and is fully waterproof.  It covers imperfections in teh floor without prep.  And we have used it in more than a dozen houses and even teh agents showing it have said it looked high quality.  There are options out there but we have used this for years including in two commercial properties and it has held up with no wear issues

 I am not familiar with the Allure line of products. I was more generally referring to Trafficmaster's traditional click lock floating LVP, which is a very popular product at HD and one that I have personally installed before. To clarify my original post, I don't think it's a "bad" product per se... I just think there are much better products out there if OP is willing to spend an extra $1/sf. 

A lot of this is personal preference, so if a certain brand works for you, then that's what matters most.

The vast majority of LVPs are under $4/sf, so you have a lot of options with that budget.

I really like Lifeproof from Home Depot. Out of the LVP brands I've personally installed, that one has been my favorite. It's very thick and has a solid click lock system. Wear layer is really good too. Right now it's about $3.50/sf.

My flooring guy recommends Republic brand for LVP. I don't have any experience with it personally, but I think it's in the same price range as Lifeproof.

Duralux Performance from Floor and Decor is also pretty good. I just did an entire house with it. It's a little thinner than Lifeproof and doesn't have the best scratch resistance, but overall it's a solid product for ~$2.70/sf.

Traffic Master from Home Depot is a good value, but once you get down to the $2.00/sf price point you definitely start to see a reduction in quality. It's super thin, doesn't look very realistic, and the click lock system doesn't feel as secure as Lifeproof and Duralux. It's good if you're just trying to diy a small area on the cheap, but if you're having it professionally installed throughout an entire house, I'd spend the extra $1.00-1.50/sf and get something nicer.

Speaking from a contractor's perspective... It depends on how valuable your time is and how much you know about construction materials.

It is normal for contractors to markup their materials. This markup has a purpose - it is essentially payment for the time it takes the contractor to order materials, negotiate prices, schedule deliveries, walk around the box store looking for materials, etc. If you buy your own materials, you are responsible for all of this.

If you decide to provide your own materials, you need to make sure it's the right stuff and it shows up on time. If the contractor shows up on site and the materials aren't there or they're the wrong type of material (or they're damaged, inferior quality, etc.), then you are responsible for fixing that problem... and yes, the contractor is going to charge you for the time they spend sitting around waiting for the correct materials. You may end up racking up a bill that's much larger than the materials markup would have been. That's the risk you take.

Quote from @Account Closed:

Thank you @Ryan Normand!  I appreciate your response especially because you work in the desert too. This has always been a question of mine and the internet takes me down a forever rabbit hole for shower pan weep holes. Your explanation makes perfect sense to me. Have a great day. -Heidi

 You're welcome! I also went down the weep hole rabbit hole after reading this post. Take my answer with a grain of salt because it assumes everything else was properly installed and waterproofed, which isn't always the case :) 

I did double check one manufacturers instructions and they do say to leave the weep holes open. So if you want to be safe and add another line of defense then yes leave them open. A lot of tubs/shower pans don't even come with weep holes which is why I question their usefulness IF the walls are 100% waterproofed with schluter, redgard, aquadefense, etc. 

You are probably going to get conflicting opinions on this one. If you ask the pan manufacturer, then yes, they will say leave the weep holes open. If you ask me, it's an eyesore to have that hole there and probably won't make a huge difference if the waterproofing system behind the tile was installed correctly. Remember there is a vertical tile flange that extends about 1" up the wall behind that weep hole, and the wall waterproofing should overlap that tile flange, so any water that gets back there won't end up inside your wall regardless. 

Ask your tile installer how they prefer to handle it. If you're really worried about it just follow the manufacturers instructions, but I wouldn't lose too much sleep over this one.