[epark1281]

Ok, I know that a lot of people here might not own a home, or a condo for that matter. But for those that do, how many weekend warriors work on their homes?

[HERMIT]

Well, about 21 years ago I not only improved but also helped raise the property value of my parent's home when I moved out of it.

[[HyuNi]]

Reminds me of the time I re-roofed the house.


Was doing a wonderful job until a tropical rainforest like rainstorm poured for about 5 minutes out of the blue onto the exposed roof and made the roof collapse.
My parents were on vacation and I literally freaked out.

It all ended up working out. We patched it up with 3 pieces of drywall and a fresh coat of paint for less than $150 and the insurance gave an estimate for $2.5K. I think that's what saved my life.

[epark1281]

Hyuni: Nice, lol, ever watch the show "Renovation Reality"?

So the house that my wife and I plan on purchasing (still waiting to hear from the bank), has this nasty two layer wall treatment in the basement. The bottom half is stained wood and has this trimming on top (which actually ends up floating in the middle of the wall, which is weird), and has wood painted white on the upper half.
I'm wondering how difficult it would be to tare that sucker right off and put up some drywall.

[[HyuNi]]

^
Never heard of that show, but I don't have cable or watch tv too much these days. It's a shame

Anyways, I think I know what you're talking about.
Is there drywall behind that wood paneling or is it just a cement wall behind it?

If it's drywall, it should be really easy to tear down. Usually it's held in by small impact nails you can pry out.
If it cement though, it may be a bit harder. That usually means they had to use some kind of adhesive which might be a PAIN to get off.

Eitherway, putting up drywall shouldn't be too hard. If you have the tools, all you need is metal studs & frames, drywal, and nails. For some reason, I feel like the patching work with the compound after you put up the drywall is harder Maybe I think it's relatively easy because my dad is a contractor and I used to help him during my summer vacations.

btw, tough break on the bulls huh? I guess they wanted to play Boston

[Pogichinoy]

I'm stenciling my apartment.

Nothing too major, I like to leave the more hazardous jobs to the 'professionals'.

[1336.5]

put in laminate and boarders late 2008...hardest part was making the cut measurements and cutting to precision

[jphase]

wasn't for my house but when I went on a mission trip with my church to new orleans, we ripped tiles off floor, prep dry wall for paint, paint walls, paint room trims, place insulation in the attic/roof.

[incyphe]

We live in a pretty old house... so I don't mind doing imperfect jobs... I replaced parts of garage roof, put up drywall in the basement, recaulked windows, install french door, fix crooked door, replaced garage door springs, etc.... Some came out better than others, but it's always rewarding. You get to learn what you can do yourself, and what you should leave to the pro. (e.g. doing drywall yourself isn't really worth the aggravation and efforts)

[Millou]

Not sure if this count, but when my parents bought this house I helped with the wallpaper, I painted the lving room. I also painted my room, my sis her room, the 'guest room, basicly the whole attic. I helped my dad to isolate the roof and rebuild the attic into 4 rooms. But it's mostly like helping my dad, except for painting the walls.

[My Sweet September]

Ahh...I would love too...renovating is so fun IMO! But unfortunately, I live renters lifestyle right now...can't even paint =(

To get my fix I help my parents with their renovation projects, like I helped my dad put up a new porch and right now, I am helping my mom re-wallpaper their house. They live in an old old Queen Anne victorian though, so they are sticking pretty much to period details...which isn't exactly my design aesthetic lol. Too stuffy and gaudy and dark, lol. But my mum loves it!

Can't wait to buy a house and I am actually hoping for a fix-er upper!

[alasam]

Currently live in the upstairs portion of my mother's house and have this linoleum tile floor that has changed color where exposed to sun and pried up in some places. We pried up the same stuff plus a layer of carpet to find hardwood floors. The same isn't true for the upstairs, but i'm thinking of getting the interlocking hardwood slats and doing over the entire upstairs. Since the downstairs needs revarnishing, I figure this is the best time so that we can make it all one contiguous color.