Stupid DIY jobs the previous owners did

[Popeye_Card]

This looks awesome, but 400 bones is pretty steep.

Probably a good idea when you started though.

You might be able to rent one somewhere.

[Fat Strat]

I think that I'm going to cause someone else to complain about the "stupid DIY jobs the previous owners did". We bought our house new and with few upgrades, so we've slowly changed some stuff, added things, and generally pretended to be weekend warriors every now and then for the past three years, all in an effort to maximize the resalability and profit of the house.

Well, everything looks great, but I'm sure that when actually sell and the new owners dig around a little, they're going to find all kinds of crazy stuff that we did that we thought was fine, but was really dumb. We don't know a whole lot about home improvement. Sure, we do well enough and follow the instructions and do our research and get help from friends/family/neighbors when we think we need help. But, it's not like we're highly experienced professionals here.

[Hungary Jack]

Soak the thing in WD 40 overnight, and then see if you can loosen the attachments.

Re stoopid things done be previous owners, I cannot change the halogen lights in the master bath because the fixture is flush with the ceiling (10 ft up), and I cannot get my hands or any tools into the space to pop the bulbs out. I'd have to rip the thing out of the wall--which I'll do soon enough when we remodel the bathroom. These aren't the main source of lighting, so it's not a big deal.

The sun room addition that we will soon be the replacing to the tune of about $30K was constructed without any eave to properly shed water from the sloping glass roof. The edge of the roof has a "drip lip" that sheds water beautifully--right onto the threshold of the sliding doors and the outer sill of the two windows. So over time, the water has permeated the outer ends of the floor joists and the wooden deck that supports the room. Two years ago I discovered the extent of the problem when carpenter ants set up shop in the rotten ends of the joists. Jeez.

I'm not too superstitious, but my previous post about my house issues was #2929--which happens to be my street address--2929 N....

[planet planet]

What kind of projects have you done, FS?

[Arthur Dent]

My landlord used to live in my current place and remodeled it herself. She generally did a great job but made the same mistake swapping the water lines into my washing machine. I sort of shocked that mistake didn't get caught sooner.

[Fat Strat]

What kind of projects have you done, FS?

Hung some molding. Did a garage door opener (harder than it sounds and looks!). Replaced some flooring. I'm also going to do some changes in both the bathrooms. A lot of landscaping. Nothing too serious, really.

[cardinalkarp]

Did a garage door opener (harder than it sounds and looks!).

I've heard stories. I paid a professional $100 to do mine. He did it in about an hour, he said for a normal person it could take 4 hours or so.

[Leroy]

He wasn't a normal person?

[cardinalkarp]

He wasn't a normal person?

Yeah, I guess he was. He was just really good at installing garage doors.

[Fat Strat]

Did a garage door opener (harder than it sounds and looks!).

I've heard stories. I paid a professional $100 to do mine. He did it in about an hour, he said for a normal person it could take 4 hours or so.

That's about right. It's a grueling 4 hours, too. Working over your head, and that darn garage door opener gets really, really heavy after just a couple minutes of holding it up. My dad and I went into it pretty arrogant, thinking it wouldn't take us any time at all. We were humbled. But, it works. A little noisy because we're probably off by just a hair or two, but it works... it's that kind of thing that could annoy the next family that lives here.