Forum Archive: Renovation

can anyone recommend a good siding person for either repair or replacing? what does replacing siding (with wood or one of the new eco materials) generally cost? the aluminum siding on our house is coming off because the wood it’s nailed to is rotting. thanks for your help.

New American Standard Princeton tub w/ luxury edge (left hand outlet) in white. Never installed and in original box. Paid $360 but will accept best offer. Pick up location in elevator building, lower Manhattan. Contact me if you need more information.

I’m doing a renovation in brownstone Brooklyn and am preparing to put the condensing unit of the A/C system on the roof instead of in the backyard. One subcontractor suggested that rooftop equipment may be stolen or vandelized.

Is this crazy? Has anyone out there had problems with theft of rooftop units? Has anyone put condensing units in the backyard because of fear of rooftop theft?

Thanks for your help! I’d much prefer to keep it on the roof, but not if theft is a potential issue!

my husband and I are looking to buy a “fixer-upper” brownstone and have found some we like. being new to this, i don’t know where to start to find out how much the work will cost. do i hire a contractor before i put in an offer? should i get an architect before a contractor? any recommendations for architects or contractors with experience renovating brownstones. we will need someone reasonably priced (of course) who can help restore original details that are hidden behind layers of paint, dropped ceilings, and wood paneling. most of the places we are looking at will need lots of work – not gut renovations but definitely work as big as moving a kitchen and intsalling a deck. any advice or leads are greatly appreciated.

Is anyone willing to loan/rent out their silent stripper for a weekend?

Thanks so much!

I am considering putting an offer on a brooklyn brownstone but would like to get a sense if I have the budget to make the changes I would like.

It’s a 3 story building on the smaller side and we want to use as a two family. In an ideal world would like to add a 2 (or even 3) story extension to the back (thinking 8ft out x 18ft wide). Then move the kitchen from its existing parlor floor location location (near the extension) into the extension freeing up room for the the parlor floor to become a very nice kitchen+living area, the top floor for 2 bedrooms and the garden floor for an in-law that could be rented out.

Obviously, I will contact an architect or contractor prior to any formal bid, but would love to get input from people who have done this type of renovation to understand costs and timeline in very broad strokes (is it a $100,000 job or a $300,000 job). How long does it take etc. Before I expend to much energy dreaming, would love to get some basic parameters.

Thanks in advance.

So there is this concrete wall I plan on stuccoing. However I want to achieve this look/texture in the photo but I don’t know how. Is this something that can be done with pre-mixed stucco (product) or is this the paint/coating finish stucco (acrylic latex product)?? Or something completely different?

What tools do I need to achieve this?

We are renovating our bathroom and our tiler just informed us that he can’t do the work in time for our move-in on May 1. We are looking for someone who can tile the floor and shower walls this week (Apr 22-29). The bathroom has been taken down to studs and the contractor now has it completely ready for tile – just need a good, available tiler! Tiles and supplies have already been purchased. If you have a recommendation, or are available yourself, please leave an email address or phone number in the comments – thanks!!

Hi. I’m in the midst of planning renovations to a modest 2300sq/ft cinderblock mixed use building and would like to make it as efficient as possible within a reasonable budget. So far I’ve met with a Passive House Consultant and was loosely quoted 200-300k to get a high performing building (basically to gut the place, reframe to get rid of thermal bridging, etc.) This seems way too excessive for the building and even my energy use goals. I would love a passive house, but I’m pretty sure they are ways to get about 80% of the way there, for about a third of the cost. The scope of the work will include:

-8 new triple pane windows
-6 hefty insulated doors
-double framing some walls to increase the insulation amount
-trying to get rid of all glaring air infiltration
-blowing dense-pack cellulose
-sheet-rocking with acoustic glue
-Pouring new concrete floor
-re-doing 2 modest bathrooms
-1 new decent kitchen
-build a double walled, decoupled sound room (for audio mixing).
-new tankless hot water heater
-a mini-split system w/ 3 indoor units
-an HRV or ERV
-new roof (with a green roof)
-some small combo of PV or solar hotwater

The level of finishes will basically be raw/industrial, with nothing too fancy (besides a nice-ish kitchen/appliances). The layout won’t be radically modified. I guessing I could get this done for about 100-150k. Is this crazy talk? Also does anyone have recommendations for contractors/low-ego architects that are nit-picky enough to do a good job? Most architects I’ve dealt with don’t seem to understand that perfect is the enemy of really damn good! Thanks in advance.