Forum: Renovation
April 30, 2008
"Time of the Essence" Renovations
My wife and I want to renovate our kitchen and bathroom this Spring, in order to place our condo on the market asap. Can anyone recommend a reputable, insured and licensed home renovation contractor that is willing to include a "time of the essence" contract clause in the service contract?
April 27, 2008
Renovation blog-like post
We’ve finally got our plans and permits and are moving right along with our gut reno! And like most renovators, we plan to document the project the whole way.
This is a South Slope 2-family semi-detached brick house. It’s 16’ x 66’, so, about 1000 sft on each of the two floors. Plus there’s a tall dry basement. When the rest of the house is finished, we plan to turn most of the basement into a library, when our finances recover. Right now most of my books are in storage.
We’re planning to convert from a 2 family to a single family home. So the kitchen comes out of the second floor (although we’ll be leaving the plumbing for it behind the walls just in case). Also we’ll be opening up the staircases.
Currently it’s configured as two apartments, with the bath and kitchen in the middle of each, and 2 bedrooms on one side, and a LR/DR on the other. There’s a second exterior door that enters into the kitchen from the driveway. We’re going to seal that up and replace with a new door that opens up into the back yard.
On the ground floor, from front to back, we’re going to have a large L/R, then a small bath with shower, and a large kitchen with all the latest goodies like a 6 burner range and a wine cooler. After the kitchen comes a full dining room, and that will open up through the new door into the yard.
Upstairs there will be our master bedroom and a walk-in closet that will also open into the master bath, which will contain a bathtub. I’ll have a small office for myself, followed by a larger office/guest bedroom for my wife.
We had hoped to do radiant heat, but the cost got out of control, so we’ll be taking out the old steam boiler and non-functioning gas hot water heater, and installing a high-efficiency boiler, indirect water heater, and baseboard hydronic heating. We’re also going to be insulating the wall that is not attached, and making sure the attic is well insulated. And we’ll be putting in central air. Heating and A/C will be multi-zone.
We’re not going to get completely crazy with the electronics, but we do plan to make sure that every room has a network connection, a cable connection, and two phone jacks. We’re going to install in-wall speakers in the DR, and a small home theater set-up in the LR with all the speakers (except the sub-woofer) and wiring in-wall and in-ceiling.
My wife and I are fairly resilient people, so the plan is to live in the house while this happens. Most of our stuff is in the basement. We are living on the first floor with minimal stuff, and the second floor is vacant. The second floor is to be gutted and re-built first. When it’s done, we move upstairs, while the same thing happens downstairs. We realize that it won’t be perfect, but that’s the plan nevertheless.
The house leaked for years. At some point, some repairs were made; new windows, new roof, etc. But the damage was done. Many parts of the walls and floors have significant water damage. The baths and kitchens had dropped ceilings installed to hide the damage. We looked into saving some of the things like the floors, moldings, and so on, but in every case they were either of poor quality of not viable to save.
I know everyone complains that no one shares contractors or pricing. I will later in the process.
Here’s a photo of the second floor just after a closet was removed. The place looks much nicer than it really is.
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230631
The kitchen comes out. That aluminum foil on the ceiling was taped there to hold up the falling plaster under the dropped ceiling.
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230632
The debris builds up until the dumpster is ordered:
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230633
Getting down to nothing:
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230634
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230635
Zulu, the demo foreman, checks the work.
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230637
The bathroom:
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230638
I never thought the debris would fill this huge dumpster, but it did. Here it’s being picked up:
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230630
Demo complete, wall studs going up:
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230640
The many additions and changes to bath and kitchen through the years, not to mention the water leaks, had pretty much destroyed the floor, and even the joists had been cut through. And the whole area was very saggy, So here we have two new joists installed, and the neighboring joists being leveled to match.
http://www.pbase.com/image/96230642
And that’s it so far.
April 14, 2008
ways to removing stucco
We are looking at a brownstone in Bed Stuy, we love it but the previous owner has stuccoed the walls and ceiling on the top floor. Any tips on removal / expense. Or is it just not worth the work?
Thanks
Design/Build Recommendations
We have a 2 story with basement limestone in Crown Heights that we fully gutted over the last two years. We have a design to rebuild as we did work with an architect. We fully intended to do the work ourselves but have decided we will never get around to it. We are looking for recommendations for an honest and competent design/build team who can get this rental property up and running with a little class. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I’d love to hear from people who have actually used the team before…
April 10, 2008
Anatomy of a Brownstone Green Roofs Green Homes
Please join us on April 26 to learn great ways to green your house!
dsalomon@lagcc.cuny.edu
Register by email phone or fax: Registration form follows
New York City College of Technology Division of Continuing Education presents:
Anatomy of a Brownstone: Green Roofs, Green Homes
A seminar devoted to the art and science of sustainable homes, NYC style
Saturday, April 26 Atrium Amphitheatre 300 Jay Street
2 sessions, (morning and afternoon) $40
10 am to 12 pm 300 Jay Street, Downtown Brooklyn
2 pm to 4 pm 93 Nevins Street, Boerum Hill Brooklyn
Learn about green roofs, energy audits, whole house design, and sustainable building products from experts and professionals in the green design and build community. Discover how to save energy, reduce waste, and increase the overall comfort of your home.
How your home uses and loses energy 10 to 10:30
F.L. Andrew Padian of Steven Winter Associates, Inc., will show the
important steps to quantifying the energy usage in a building
Raising the Green Roof 10:30 to 11:00
A “green roof” is a layer of soil and foliage on top of a building. Rob Crauderueff, Sustainable Alternatives Coordinator, Sustainable South Bronx, will explain how green roofs are installed and maintained and how they can help your budget and the environment http://www.ssbx.org/contact.html
Panel Discussion: Small and large ways to green your home 11:00 to 12:00
Gita Nandan, GreenHome NYC http://www.greenhomenyc.org
Rolf Grimstead Developer, 93 Nevins “Health House” http://93nevins.com/
Robert Pollitzer, Green Builder GreenStreet Inc http://www.greenstreetinc.com/
Jeff Honerkamp, CEO Honerkamp Lumber, LEED supplier http://www.honerkamp.com
Kris Reed, Brooklyn Center for Economic Development http://www.bedc.org/
Green House Tour 93 Nevins Street, Boerum Hill Brooklyn 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Rolf Grimstead, a Brooklyn Community Developer, and Robert Pollitzer, of Greenstreets Inc, a Brooklyn based green design and build firm, will lead visitors on a tour NYC’s first “Health House” 93 Nevins has been systematically transformed from a toxic dumpsite to a comfortable and healthy multi family dwelling. See how green materials look when they are installed. You’ll be happily surprised.
http://93nevins.com http://www.greenstreetinc.com/ http://www.aeanyc.org
April 9, 2008
Kitchen Counter Recs?
My husband and I are looking to redo our kitchen either in granite or quartz. Does anyone have any recommendations of places to check out either in Brooklyn, Queens, or Manhattan? Less expensive is preferable. Also, if you know of anywhere we can get remnants,we would appreciate those recs too. Thanks so much!!!
renovating your bathroom?
the waterworks vanity is back on ebay! As you prescient brownstoners predicted, it didn't sell last time.
Check out the new auction with a lower starting bid:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Carrara-Marble-Waterworks-Vanity-Sink-Wow_W0QQitemZ330226448416QQihZ014QQcategoryZ116359QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
April 5, 2008
To Radiant heat owners
I have a question to those who have gut renovated a house and installed radiant heat. I plan to use it in my gut-reno of a 4 floors 16ft wide BK stoner, which is divided to 1 duplex and two independent units on top.
My questions are:
1. What Boiler did you end up using with the system? do you use it for heat and hot water? how does it perform?
2.Can any competent plumber read and accurately execute the plans you get from the manufacturer, or do you recommend someone who has specific experience with the product? ( if so, recommendations appreciated )
tub reglazer
Can anyone please recommend a quality shop/person that does tub reglazing? I have an old tub in a rental unit that was previously painted, is now peeling, and is in need of reglazing.
Thanks.
April 2, 2008
Radiant floors
Has anyone installed radiant floors for heating an entire home? Do they actually save $ on your energy bill and work well? Can you install and still preserve your existing wood floors? Any recommendations?
About how much to renovate small BATH & KITCHEN???
I'm looking to re-do the following and have no idea how much this could cost. I don't need high-end, or even mid-range. I'm fine with Ikea or a step above Ikea, as long as the quality is "acceptable" and looks good enough:
BATHROOM (6'x8')
-new tile in shower & tile floor
-new sink, sink holder/drawers
-refinish tub, or replace if not too much $
KITCHEN (8'x8')
-new counters
-new cabinets
-new floor, tile or wood
Rough estimates, including labor and fixtures??? A estimated price range?
Again, I'm not talking high end, no new appliances.
THANKS!
April 1, 2008
How much return on my renovations?
I own a small (450 sq ft) 1 BR in Brooklyn Heights with a 4'x4' kitchen and a 4'x6' bathroom. Both need to be remodeled, but they are so small that I am hesitant to spend more than I may get in return. Does anyone have any rules of thumb about how much you usually need to spend in order to see a solid return on your investment (for instance if it costs me $8-10k to renovate, will I be able to get $16-20k more for my place?) I realize this is kind of vague, but I have no clue how much is too much or too little for renovation.
Thanks for your help and ideas!!