It's amazing what you can do

[AnyMal]

What are some DIY home repair/improvement sites you folks recommend?

 

[Ulfwald]

diynet is a good site

 

[Syringer]

My dad is one of the handiest people I've ever met out there. He transformed our modest 20 year old 3 br house into a 5 room house by adding two rooms in the backyard and an upstairs, completely doing all the designing, plumbing, electricity, etc.. all by himself. Everything he learned he learned from a book basically, and his English isn't even that great to begin with.

And when people come to our house they never notice at all that it wasn't originally like this, and they're always shocked when they learn what the addons were.

 

[waggy]

yeap. i just finished up my basement today. while it is not great it is good enough for me to enjoy.

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: richardycc
for $35 in materials, my guess is that you got some new flapper, wax ring, putty, repair kit, offset flange, etc...and your plumber wanted to charge you $500 for that?? WOW, your plumber was trying to rip you off!

yeah...$175 at the msot.

My guy quoted me $175 for replacing my toilet, ring, and flange, INCLUDING the toilet itself (probably the cheapest one but still...) when I had him come router the main line. Thinking about buying a toilet myself and having him install it, even if he charges me $150 for it its better than dealing with the ******.

 

[sash1]

DIY ftw :thumbsup:

 

[Greenman]

Originally posted by: richardycc
for $35 in materials, my guess is that you got some new flapper, wax ring, putty, repair kit, offset flange, etc...and your plumber wanted to charge you $500 for that?? WOW, your plumber was trying to rip you off!

The plumber wants to make a living just like you do, and has just as much right to getting paid for his effort as you. If you don't like the price, you have the option of saying "no". He can ask for $10,000 an hour, and as long as you're not at gun point, there isn't a thing in the world wrong with it.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Congrats! You've just discovered how much money you can save with DIY. From now on, before you ever hire anyone to do anything at your house, you can simply post a thread here: "How do you..." and you'll receive all the info (or links to info) that you need. As far as I'm concerned, the only job I'd ever pay to have done for me is a roofing job on a 2 story house, and that's only if I can get a good deal on the installation. Oh, and I'd probably consider paying someone to finish drywalling for me - I'll hang it, but I *hate* taping and mudding. It takes me 10x longer than the professionals to get as good a finish as they do.

i helped my father paint the garage - there was no paint and the drywall had been exposed for the past 10 years or so. we had to re-tape and "mud" the joints. it was terrible, especially since after that you have to sand it down to a smooth finish. oh well. at least it looks really nice now. haha

 

[DurocShark]

I love doing things myself. It just seems silly to pay someone to do something I can do myself.

Check out my Guacamole Bus site. I just did some upholstery work on it. Little stuff, but looks nice and cost 5% of what paying someone else to do it would cost.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Ulfwald
and not pay the labor on Home Repair and Improvement projects.

My masterbath toilet has been running for about amonth now, and one of the guest bathrooms has a toilet that is loose on it's base.

Well, I finally had what I thought was enough money to have a plumber come out and repair these small issues, but the ones I called wanted WAY too much $$$$$. So I searched the usual home improvement sights, and decided I could do these myself.

Went to the Home Depot, picked up the materials, and in 3 hours I had replaced all the plumbing in the master bath toilet, and tested it out, no leaks, and no continous running. and then had pulled the guest bath toilet up peplaced the wax ring, and bolt down hardware, and reseated it, tested it out. No leaks.

Cost of materials, About $35.00 Labor saved: about $475.00.

Next Project: Tiling the master bath, the upstairs guest bath, and replacing the trim work in the house.

Anything you can do to save the labor costs is great. It's also very good to learn to do more stuff. I pushed a pencil for too many years so I've had to pay a lot of labor.

I'm thinking back to 1993 when I needed a new roof for my computer lab. I got a quote of $500. A neighbor said that we could do it ourselves. Material cost was $71.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
If your wife knows how much you saved one of two things will then happen.

1) You need to take her on a shopping spree. That was was earmarked to be spent; therefore it must get spent.

2) You are so efficient; she will find additional projects for you to tackle.

I'm single, but I have a feeling that this is very true. I'm good at taking on projects which I have no experience with and generally producing something that is fairly professional looking. So more projects keep getting found. That said, I do find an odd pleasure in doing jobs so easily for which some people make a fair amount of money doing, as though they're exceedingly complex tasks.

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: Paratus
Changed out two toilets in my old house.

Changing 15 year old wax toilet seals is not for the faint of heart!

(Or the easily nauseated! )

The worst part is the FIRST time you EVER handle a wax wrong...I was liek "oh nasty" and dropped it..then had to clean up:|

The worst thing I've smelled was at Walmart, outside near the grocery side compactor. Expired, old, or damaged food products get tossed in there regularly, and the liquid just oozes out the bottom when the thing gets compacted, which happens several times daily. It's just a horrible fermenting slurry of juices from various fruits and vegetables, yogurt, eggs, and anything else grocery-related. Now I'll have something in mind as a competitor to that "worst smell." No, I'm not going to go find a toilet to replace so as to test this theory.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: Viperoni
My dad and I are redoing the basement... wood-finish panelling on the walls (his idea), and a drop ceiling. It's already shaping up

I swear removing the wood paneling off of any wall makes it look 100x beter. That stuff jsut makes everything look depressing

i agree. when i did my basement i went half and half. the lower half is paneling the top is painted drywall.

figure i would rather damage the paneling since it is cheap.

butt the ddrop down ceiling is great. not only does it hide the crappy ceiling its a good way to hide wires. We have speakers set in the cealing around the basement. One room had a pool table and it has 4 speakers. the other room is a "family room" type of thing with a fireplace and TV center. but it has speakers for the radio also.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: CaesaR
:thumbsup:

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: Viperoni
My dad and I are redoing the basement... wood-finish panelling on the walls (his idea), and a drop ceiling. It's already shaping up

I swear removing the wood paneling off of any wall makes it look 100x beter. That stuff jsut makes everything look depressing

i agree. when i did my basement i went half and half. the lower half is paneling the top is painted drywall.

figure i would rather damage the paneling since it is cheap.

butt the ddrop down ceiling is great. not only does it hide the crappy ceiling its a good way to hide wires. We have speakers set in the cealing around the basement. One room had a pool table and it has 4 speakers. the other room is a "family room" type of thing with a fireplace and TV center. but it has speakers for the radio also.

good to hear