Warning to handymen/women everywhere

[Sphexi]

Moved into our new apartment beginning of August, much nicer than our old one. I built some wicked nice shelves in the storage room, hung a bunch of pictures, replaced a 30 year old "Razer only" outlet in the bathroom with a nice new breaker backed double outlet, stuff like that. All very simple and easy to do, but still I was very proud of it all. So of course, I bragged to my in-laws.

Now I'm being asked about all sorts of different things like flooring and heating and replacing walls, things I know somewhat but not an awful lot. I've done it all before, but always with my father (who seems to be an expert in just about everything), but never on my own. Today I'm going to Home Depot to advise my wife's aunt about sub-flooring for their basement. Some idiot went and put down double sheets of particle board as the subfloor, of course a little bit of water got in and the stuff soaked it right up and got all soggy. I recommended putting down something like Dri-Core, which is a combination subfloor/moisture barrier, and you can put a floating flooring like hardwood right on top of it no problem. I've never actually done it before, but I have a feeling that some of my days off are going to be spent figuring it out.


Oh well, at least they'll feed me for my troubles, and it's better than sitting here playing Overlord all day long

 

[mrrman]

sometimes it is better to stay quiet...had the same thing happen to me with pc's , home theatres, tech stuff in general

 

[pyonir]

You did all that in your new apartment? Most apartment complexes that i've seen don't want you doing things like that and will consider it damage and charge you for it at move out.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: pyonir
You did all that in your new apartment? Most apartment complexes that i've seen don't want you doing things like that and will consider it damage and charge you for it at move out.

In one apartment, they didn't even let me change light bulbs.

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: pyonir
You did all that in your new apartment? Most apartment complexes that i've seen don't want you doing things like that and will consider it damage and charge you for it at move out.

In one apartment, they didn't even let me change light bulbs.

Yep, i've had that too.

 

[KB]

Are you a computer professional? You should have figured this lesson out by now. Play dumb. Computer whats that? Wallboard what do you do with that?

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: KB
Are you a computer professional? You should have figured this lesson out by now. Play dumb. Computer whats that? Wallboard what do you do with that?

QFMFT.

Unfortunately all my friends and family know I'm good with both...

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: pyonir

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: pyonir
You did all that in your new apartment? Most apartment complexes that i've seen don't want you doing things like that and will consider it damage and charge you for it at move out.

In one apartment, they didn't even let me change light bulbs.

Yep, i've had that too.

Depends on the complex. Also depends on if you do it right or not, if it's not an actual improvement to the apartment then they're not going to be happy.

In this case there was ONE shelf in this 4'x8' room, and it was held up with junk blocks of wood screwed into wall anchors, and the wood was bending in the middle, all junk. I put up three sets of shelves, down the back and side wall, all 3/4" solid pine, secured to the studs, all level, it'll easily last 10-15 years. The manager already saw it and was very happy with the work, she had no problems with it. The previous tenant had installed his own lighting in the hallways, and although technically he had done so without permission, because he chose to leave the lights there they let it slide (free new lights = less cost for them).

Generally best to ask first, but it's not like I've knocked down walls or yanked up the bathroom or anything, I've just done superficial improvements really.

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Some idiot went and put down double sheets of particle board as the subfloor, of course a little bit of water got in and the stuff soaked it right up and got all soggy.

Particle board as subflooring in a basement?:Q

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Generally best to ask first, but it's not like I've knocked down walls or yanked up the bathroom or anything, I've just done superficial improvements really.

Some managers don't like any improvements, superficial or not. That's been my experience with APTs. Glad to hear your manager is a good one and doesn't mind. :thumbsup:

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: pyonir

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Generally best to ask first, but it's not like I've knocked down walls or yanked up the bathroom or anything, I've just done superficial improvements really.

Some managers don't like any improvements, superficial or not. That's been my experience with APTs. Glad to hear your manager is a good one and doesn't mind. :thumbsup:

Oh I'm nothing but impressed with these people so far. It's a husband/wife team that manage a few buildings that are owned by a larger investment company in the area. They were the ones that made the decision on who to rent to, in the first month after we moved in we had a new stove installed, all new carpet/vinyl flooring from the front door on in installed, they're putting new lighting in the kitchen, countless improvements they'll be doing over the next few months once they finish up with some of the bigger projects they're doing this summer. They seem to have a large amount of discretion on what they do around here, so I'm happy with it.

Originally posted by: Kaspian

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Some idiot went and put down double sheets of particle board as the subfloor, of course a little bit of water got in and the stuff soaked it right up and got all soggy.

Particle board as subflooring in a basement?:Q

Yep, I had to see it to believe it too. It's all gobbed up in a corner now, like mush, it's going to be hell to remove. The worst thing is there's no studs, they laid it FLAT on the concrete, then put another layer on top, like 2" of particle board just sitting flat there.

 

[paulxcook]

I actually have a question about subflooring, but I'll be not a jerk and post my own thread .

 

[RaiderJ]

Probably what I find most annoying about helping out friends (and friends of friends) is that they refuse to do any research or learning on their own. One friend of mine doesn't ask for help unless he's exhausted the limits of his ability - at that point I have no issues helping him out.

 

[Kaspian]

nm

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Probably what I find most annoying about helping out friends (and friends of friends) is that they refuse to do any research or learning on their own. One friend of mine doesn't ask for help unless he's exhausted the limits of his ability - at that point I have no issues helping him out.

That is the best way to learn. By doing the work yourself.

 

[Kaspian]

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: Kaspian

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Some idiot went and put down double sheets of particle board as the subfloor, of course a little bit of water got in and the stuff soaked it right up and got all soggy.

Particle board as subflooring in a basement?:Q

Yep, I had to see it to believe it too. It's all gobbed up in a corner now, like mush, it's going to be hell to remove. The worst thing is there's no studs, they laid it FLAT on the concrete, then put another layer on top, like 2" of particle board just sitting flat there.

Just out of curiosity, did they use osb or mdf?

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Kaspian

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: Kaspian

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Some idiot went and put down double sheets of particle board as the subfloor, of course a little bit of water got in and the stuff soaked it right up and got all soggy.

Particle board as subflooring in a basement?:Q

Yep, I had to see it to believe it too. It's all gobbed up in a corner now, like mush, it's going to be hell to remove. The worst thing is there's no studs, they laid it FLAT on the concrete, then put another layer on top, like 2" of particle board just sitting flat there.

Just out of curiosity, did they use osb or mdf?

I'll take a picture next time I'm over there, it wasn't OSB, or the larger chip of wood, it was MDF, the really fine stuff. Kind of like they use in making furniture or shelving, but really low end junk. The annoying thing is that it was so thick that you have to step up from the hallway into each of the bedrooms they did this in, really just stupid.

 

[rbV5]

Don't forget to brag about how much your time is worth when bragging up your skills

Seriously, my friends and family don't work for free, and neither do I. My personal time is worth at least what my professional time is worth, which is outrageous for handyman/PC repair

 

[amdskip]

Now that I've moved out into my own house and I'm doing various projects, my parents think its now a good idea to do it to theirs too which is cool but they want my help. I'm more than happy to help out but I have my own projects to finish first.

 

[Sphexi]

Got it done today, took about 2 hours and a hammer, block of wood, and a cheap ass circular saw. Looks pretty good, no pictures though ...forgot to take some before I left. Stuff snaps together easy, the only pain is the last piece, being against two walls makes it hard to deal with so it wasn't snapped in very tightly, but nothing we're worried about.