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October 2, 2007
Super Handyman Needed - New Homeowner
Just moved into my new brownstone and cashflow is low, as I have not yet sold my old place.
I need to start pulling up carpeting and taking down dropped ceilings in my new home so I can get a sense of the work I may need to get done and then budget accordingly.
Any recommendations for hiring someone to do this initial work?
Comments
Okay, I know I'm going to get flamed by the OP and possibly by others for this but, IMHO, if you can't take up carpet yourself (and probably ceilings too) then maybe you've made the wrong choice in buying a brownstone rather than a new(ish) apartment. If you can't do something this elementary without hiring someone, I fear your housing costs are going to be substantially more than you may have anticipated. If money is no object, fine, but otherwise I would strongly suggest that you take this task as an opportunity to demonstrate to yourself that you are capable of doing this (and a multitude of other things that you never envisioned) yourself. Believe me, you can do it.
Posted by: johnife at October 2, 2007 8:30 PM
Lots of people love old homes but for one reason or another don't want to do the work themselves.
I don't understand your beef. You think because someone buys an hold home they MUST fix it themselves. Even if they don't have the time. Even if they are 75. Even if they have a new baby. Even if they are handicapped. Even if they are lazy.
Who cares. This is America. The beauty is that you can do what you please.
I hope you find someone reliable. I'm looking for someone myself.
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 8:42 PM
Cashflow is low, but you can't do it yourself? So that means you want someone to do it for you real cheap? I guess you're also looking for someone reliable, honest, trustworthy, hardworking, but who doesn't expect to be paid a lot. Good luck buddy, you'll need it.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at October 2, 2007 10:23 PM
I love that someone can't post something here without being judged.
So ridiculous.
Posted by: guest at October 2, 2007 10:37 PM
It's totally ridiculous.
It's just all the bitter out-of-work contractors. They totally freak whenever someone breathes a word about trying to save some money. Just take it with a grain of salt.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 2:39 AM
Ok, point taken! - I'm gonna try it myself!
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 7:48 AM
Gosh, many of you are so hard on others. What is it that bothers you so much? The poster is simply asking for help. I meet many new homeowners that need help because they don't have the time to work on the house but need basic non skilled work done. Do you think low skilled work should be paid really well? There are lots of guys that would do this for you. Many moonlight too. Perhaps this is not the place to ask for help since it always brings up a debate. To find someone to help you, meet some people on your block and ask them who their local handyman is. You could ask your local hardware store too. If you post an ad on Craigs you will have lots of people to interview. Good Luck
Posted by: Rick at October 3, 2007 7:59 AM
I have a handyman to suggest: Ivan Melendez. He can be reached at: 718-709-6382.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 9:30 AM
John, I basically agree with you, but we learned by working alongside the people we hired. We wasted a lot of time doing stupid things that eventually were unnecessary.
Good luck to the op!
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 9:59 AM
For the carpet
Tools required:
- Heavy duty box cutter
- Hammer
- Gloves
- Twine
- Large trashbags - they don't need to be the thick contractor bags, regular bags are fine but bigger is better.
Use the box cutter to cut the carpet into 4 ft wide strips and begin to roll them up. It may help to pull up a corner of the carpet first and hold one side up off the floor while you cut.
Depending on how long the strips are you may want to cut them in half so the rolls are not too heavy. Once you have the rolls, tie them up and put them out with your trash, a few each pickup day.
Once you have the carpet up do the same with the padding underneath but set it to the side.
Next you need to take up the tack strips. These have lots of little nails sticking up to hold the carpet and a few larger nails securing them to the floor. They come up pretty easily with the back end of a hammer.
Now we come back to the carpet padding, use this to wrap up the tack strips so they are not poking out all over the place. If you break the tack strips up into short enough pieces (2-3 ft.) and wrap them in the padding you can then put the package you made into the garbage bags. They will be light so they can go out with the trash without a problem.
You can knock out an average sized room by yourself in an hour or so.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 11:22 AM
If you're still looking for a handyman, John Taylor has done great work in Red Hook and surround areas. He works for a Wright Management: 917-544-6791 or 347-789-6550.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 12:45 PM
I concur that this is a job you might want to do yourself, for all kinds of good reasons, but the best may be this: it builds a relationship with your house. Sounds wierd? OK, but it really does introduce you to what has happened to your building, how many layers of paint, what has been added, what is going on under there, etc. Plus, in pulling up and tearing out, you may discover all kinds of things you want to keep, which would necessitate going forward with a level of care you might not be paying for. Ex: when I pulled down my dropped cielings, I found the original plaster medallions, barely hanging on for their life. A $10/hour wrecking crew might not have thought to be careful, or even noticed, and I would have been none the wiser.
Hey, good luck. And wear a dust mask! Really.
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 1:15 PM
Hi OP here: Thank you all for your comments.
Update: Based on initial advice here, today I single handedly took down the dropped ceiling in one room and pulled up the carpet in another room (still need to get the tack strips out).
11:22 - THANK YOU - very helpful
1:15 - you are absolutely correct about bonding with the house - witnessing the intact ceiling medallion and the parquay floors reveal themselves was quite exciting.
Many more rooms to go! I will likely still opt for the assistance of a handyman! But this is kinda fun!
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 3:06 PM
Original poster,
Yay, hearty congrats. The "can-do" American attitude. Great!
Absolutely you should hire skilled people for work for which you have ascertained you have no aptitude. I, for instance, have discovered that I couldn't apply large areas of plaster smoothly to a wall or ceiling to save my life but have discovered that cutting out and patching a crack with vinyl spackle is no big deal. I wholeheartedly concur with the "bonding to your home" sentiments previously expressed but, to put it in more material terms, you will literally save yourself a fortune if you build up the courage and skills to fix those 101 little things that go wrong and that would entail a minimum charge of, say, $150 to call someone in but that you could fix on your own in half an hour.
Contrary to what some folks seem to have inferred from my initial post, I was certainly not advocating that owners should, for instance, undertake completely re-doing kitchens or bathrooms themselves. Even though I think I'm capable of it, I wouldn't because of both time constraints and the knowledge that there are other folks who would make my efforts look inferior. To use a car analogy, it ain't the average person who can do an engine rebuild, but the person who can't change a spare tire is a bit of a dud.
Posted by: johnife at October 3, 2007 3:37 PM
May I recommend that you recycle the old carpeting instead of simply adding it to a landfill by throwing it out? This amazing service: www.carpetcycle.com will send a man with a van out to pick up your old carpeting (check out their website for details) and they only charge $100 to cover the truck and the tolls (they are NJ-based). They took over 2,000 square feet of old carpeting and padding from me, and I would encourage everyone to try to recycle their old carpeting and other old building materials whenever possible.
Posted by: honeycut at October 3, 2007 3:51 PM
Good info, Honeycut!
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 4:39 PM
OP here:
honeycut: Thanks for the info - that service will save me $$ and manpower as well!
Johnife: thanks for kicking me in the butt!
This thread is a great example of how Brownstoner.com should be used.
Thanks all!
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 5:35 PM
Just to be clear, carpetcycle won't actually remove the carpeting/padding....they'll just take it away once you rip it all out! hope you didn't misunderstand my posting (secretly was posting during work so I might have been vague)
Posted by: honeycut at October 3, 2007 7:22 PM
honeycut: Thanks, you were clear. I called them immediately; they indicated they do not come to Brooklyn regularly as they are based in NJ, but would call me back tomorrow to see if possible. I have almost 1500 sq ft of carpet to recycle so i hope they take me up on it...
Posted by: guest at October 3, 2007 7:56 PM
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