Forum: Renovation
October 30, 2009
Salem Darrow
Has anyone done a reno with Salem Darrow as g.c.? Pros, cons, opinions?
October 29, 2009
FHA contractor
I'm about to close on a two family home in Red hook. It will need substantial renovation,and I have acquired an fha 203k renovation mortgage. If anyone has any recomendations of general contractors please let me know. I'm aware that some contractors are not interested in dealing with the guidlines of these 203ks . Any input would be appreciated .Thanks
October 28, 2009
First Time Reno Qs
I have a studio in Willoughby Walk and would like to do some renovations, such as installing all new floors, taking down a couple of small walls to reconfigure the layout a little, having closet systems put in, and completely gutting and redoing the bathroom. Also there's something weird going on near the windows with cracks and peeling on the wall, so that needs to be addressed. I've never owned before this apt and never done anything like this. My question is, do I hire a general contractor to do all this? Or do I hire someone to come in and do the bathroom, someone separate to do the floors, someone else to address the problem near the window, etc? I looked at the website for one popular GC in Brooklyn that mostly does brownstones. I love their work, but will I be seriously overpaying if I go that route? Thanks very much, any advice would be much appreciated!
Bathroom Reno - Any Opinions?
Getting one relatively small full bathroom renovated. It's in bad shape and needs a total redo. Does this estimate seem reasonable for an average (meaning not low or high end) reno like this?
Labor:
Prep:
Cover floors, walls, stairs down to exit door, enclose bath hall door, cover furniture in bedroom daily
Demo:
drain, remove, secure toilet, shut off water, remove vanity – cabinets, remove tile(s) in the tub surround, remove shower body, remove floor tiles – 1-2 layers?, remove wallboard from tub – back wall (durock) side wall, remove closet shelving in bath, remove wall studs to open space into small closet/hall, remove cleats/shelves from closet, remove crown molding from hallway, re-route electric, remove tub, remove portion of ceiling (skylight), salvage floor boards in hallway floor outside bathroom, evaluate wall framing and sub-floor, disposal will be set up on an as needed basis
Plumbing:
remove drop down drain, replace drain line, lower lead bend, re-route hot and cold water supply for toilet and vanity, solder in new hot and cold water lines for shower body, install shower body, rough in drains for tub and sink
Finish Work:
re-frame tub surround to accommodate 60 inch tub, install skylight (trim out ceiling), install tub and drain, replace wall board throughout, install sub-strate to floor, install tile around tub, install tile on floor, install saddle, tape and compound walls – (3x), grout tub surround, grout floor, rebuild closets, enclose pipe (heat riser), sand, prime and paint, install sinks, install toilet, install shower rod, install finished plumbing trim, caulk around tub and sinks, install baseboard, install light fixture and GFCI outlet
Total Labor Costs
Total Cost - $17,250.00 (Length of job 4 – 6 weeks)
Estimated Materials:
$4,700 – this includes the three most expensive items which are: 60” vanity (approximately $1,600), disposal of debris (approximately $1,200), skylight (approximately $400)
GRAND TOTAL = $21,950
October 27, 2009
Creepy Crawls in the Walls
Anyone out there that has ever done a restoration/reno this is a questions for you! I noticed that on the This Old House Broolyn editions when they were taking down walls, picking up floor boards there were no sign of either rodents or insects. Was this stuff cleaned up before it went on camera? What's in the walls/floors of a 100-year-old house?
Garden Floor Bathroom
The bathroom on the garden floor opens to the kitchen. We just had the bathroom gutted to change the position of the door and to widen it. I am interested in closing off the hallway entrance to the kitchen and making that the bathroom door. The back door can still be accessed through the kitchen. Does anyone know if there is anything that says I can't do this to the garden floor?
October 26, 2009
Bathroom Quote
I realized I forgot some key information in the post below:
We got a quote for a bathroom renovation, and I'd like to hear opinions-- expensive, cheap, just right?
Quote: $11,000
Bathroom: 4' x 8'
Job:
- Demo and remove existing walls, ceiling, flooring, vanity, tub & toilet
- Intall new walls, ceiling, sub floor, tiling, bath, vanity, mirror and toilet
- Move shower head approx 7 feet
- Finish walls with 1 coat primer, 2 coats paint
- Contractor says no permits needed
- We will buy and supply all appliances, grout, tile, etc.-- so this quote is just for labor
Thoughts?
October 22, 2009
Innovation Construction
Has anyone ever worked with Innovation Construction? What was your experience with them like? I live in Cobble Hill and just need a basic patch and paint job for my stoop and rear fire escape. Thanks for any opinions on them.
Combining Apartments
We own 2 cooperative apartments - a 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom side by side w/ a total square footage of 1,750. As we mull over the various alternatives of whether to sell both and purchase a stand-alone house (my biggest wish) - I wonder what renovation costs could be to break through and combine. Additionally curious to know if combining the units would increase the overall resale value.
I have looked over the various architects (Richard Perry!) and designers previously suggested on the Forum for this kind of work and know that we simply don't want to break through but to overhaul the layout to reflect a single 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment.
Apartments are not a wreck, we did nice renovations on each w/new kitchens and floors.
I'm thinking 100K - curious to know the experiences of others.
And any suggestions for architects, please don't hesitate. Thank you.
October 21, 2009
Architects?
We are in the process of purchasing a brownstone. Does anyone have any first or second hand recommendations for architects.
Thanks
Kitchen Cabinets & Radiators
We would like to build our kitchen cabinet frames over steam-heated cast-iron radiators. Will this risk warping the cabinets or inefficient convection (there are only grills on the front and side of the cabinet, not on the top of the countertop)? According to home depot, if we place a piece of metal sheeting behind the radiator, on the floor, and bend it gently out towards the room over the top of the radiator, this draws the air up and out into the room, thereby letting it circulate better, and also drawing it away from the cabinet. Does this sound correct?
Metro Renovations
Does anyone have a contact number for Metro renovations? Thanks!
October 20, 2009
Top Energy Improvements?
My uncle is about to spend around 2,500 per window on his brownstone to get Marvins installed, and asked me for advice. I have renovated suburban houses, but not brownstones. Typically, windows are the least bang for the buck, but on brownstones this may be a different story.
Is there a list anywhere of what are the best ways to improve energy efficiency in heating and cooling? I've searched these forums a lot, and can't find anything. If one of you could give me a list, or a link, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Ben
Recs from Renovation
Hi all, just finished up an extensive reno project that I basically contracted myself. In the interest of giving back to this community from which I pulled a number of good referrals - here are some picks for tradespeople i was pleased with:
green light expediting - chris and manny were amazing with getting my lpc/plumbing/work permits together. around 4 weeks...in a landmark district. www.greenlightexpediting.com
kevin boyle - excellent and trustworthy carpenter, who hung all my doors, did trim work, kitchen cabinet install, bathroom cabinet fabrication. also does custom furniture - he custom built our dining room table out of american walnut and it looks amazing. he was basically running the show when i was at work and helped with key design considerations. kevinmboyle at yahoo dot com
john hlad plumbing - moved the kitchen from the garden to parlor level, added a parlor bath, replaced old gas lines to rental units, ran vent to roof, got boiler in order for heating season. joe/andy know what they are doing and show up on time, solid work.
rb wyatt - (pick based on brownstoner forum) joe did a great job on my custom shower door, 84 inches high, 1/2 in glass, looks great and feels solid, pro install.
ricardo iron works - (pick based on brownstoner forum) built a steel deck and stair from parlor to garden level. very reasonable pricing and work came out just as expected.
windows we are - (pick based on brownstoner forum) created screens and replaced some clouded glass in existing windows.
a&a chimney - (pick based on brownstoner forum) andre's team opened up a bricked over fireplace on parlor and converted to wood burning. built a firebox/smoke chamber, ran steel liner up to roof. all seems to work well...messy work and glad i did it when the place was a work zone.
Rec for Basement Mold?
I've read several of the posts on mold removal, but most of them apply to kitchens or bathrooms and there are somewhat small in scale. We have leaking into the basement with mold all over the wall. Can someone recommend a firm to look at it for an estimate?
Thanks
October 18, 2009
GC for bathroom & kitchen reno?
We're looking for a reliable, good g.c. for a gut renovation. The bathroom is our #1 priority; we would love to do the kitchen at the same time, but we'll need to see how much it costs.
Any recommendations on contractors for this small-ish job? This is our first reno, so we're looking for someone reasonably priced, who is a good communicator and will do good work.
October 16, 2009
Baseboard Heating Covers
We are renovating our apartment. It has baseboard heating and the covers are a mess-missing pieces, layers of paint, etc. We would like to replace the covers since they are such an eyesore and have been told that we would need to know the make, model, etc. to get new covers. We cannot, however, find any markings to let us know. It would seem to me that this should be an easy thing to replace but we are hitting a wall. We do not want to do custom covers due to the cost and the fact that the baseboards are largely covered with furniture. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
October 14, 2009
Sloped Floors?
We're apartment hunting in Brooklyn, and there's an apartment in a brownstone we love, but the floors are sloped in the living and bed rooms... is this 100% building settling (i.e. nothing to be done) or is there a chance that it's just the unit and we can fix it... and if it's the latter, how much does that cost? And how do you tell what the problem is in the first place? It's not the slope we're used to-- the kind where it slopes up toward the walls-- it's just random sloping in the middle of the room....
Anyway, thanks so much for your help on this-- we're 1st time home buyers, and new to all this!
October 13, 2009
Changing Design/Build Midstream?
About 6 weeks ago we contracted with a design/build firm to renovate one floor of a duplex in Red Hook on which we're about to close. We thought the one-stop shopping of a D/B firm would avoid some of the problems we had in our last apartment reno, where the architect kept blaming the contractor for delays and overruns and vice-versa. But now we are near the end of the 'design' phase and suddenly the reno is projected to go almost 50% over than the original estimate and all kinds of new projected costs keep popping up -- even after we've dramatically scaled back the work. So we are feeling rather pissed off, not to mention trapped since working with a single firm means no competitive bidding for contractors. Before we pull the trigger we are now thinking about taking the designs this firm has done and shopping them elsewhere. Are we crazy to consider this/has anyone else done it? Mindful that time is money (we are about to close and bc we have 2 kids can't live there while the work is going on, so we will be paying rent elsewhere for 4-5 months), will we potentially save enough after shopping the job elsewhere to make it worth it? Or is our rage at the firm's misrepresentations as to cost (which we now suspect was deliberate lowballing to get our business) cutting off our nose to spite our face given the hassles and likely similar bottom line we'll face if we fire this firm and start (mostly) over? Any advice from others who've worked w D/B firms in similar situations would be much appreciated. Thanks.
October 9, 2009
Kraftmaid Venecia-filler Pieces
We are currently renovating our kitchen with Kraftmaid Venecia cabinets. The filler pieces and side refrigerator panel are the finish of the interior of the cabinets, meaning they are slightly off from the outside color of the cabinetry. Our salesperson at Loew's is comping us a cabinet door to cut and use as the small filler pieces (which our contractor thinks is crazy). But this won't work for the large refrigerator panel. The Loew's guy says this is just how the Venecia cabinet filler/panels are, our contractor thinks this can't be true. Any input would be much appreciated as we are at our wits end. Thanks in advance.
October 7, 2009
Cost of Kitchen & Bath Reno
We're doing a kitchen and bathroom renovation on an apartment that was last updated in the late 1980's. The bathroom is 4' x 8', kitchen is about 8' x 11'.
All of the fixtures from each room need to be removed, and the bathroom needs to be retiled. The only plumbing work we're doing is changing the location of a showerhead (it currently comes out of the center of the tub, and we're going to move it to the head of the tub) and the kitchen sink (from flush against a wall to the corner of the kitchen). All other plumbing and electrical stays the same.
We're going to buy all tile, cabinets, sink, etc., ourselves to control costs, and we're thinking of using Traemand for Ikea cabinet installation. That leaves us about $12k in labor for the rest-- any thoughts on whether this will be enough $$?
October 6, 2009
Drywall Ceiling Contractors Rec
I'm looking to install a thin layer of insulation, and maybe 2 layers of 5/8" drywall and electrical up on ceiling and. The total square feet of the job is around 650-700 sq ft.
I'm looking to do this soon. Any recommendations for good, honest, contractors out their? I'll also take info on contractors not to hire as well. Thx.
Brownstone Contractor Needed
I need a REALLY Good brownstone contractor to redo my 5 story brownstone building. Need someone who understands masonry and materials, is a bit of an artist and has good crew that knows how to make straight lines.
I also need someone who's work will look good 5 or 10 years from now and not just for the first winter.
If you know anyone who is honest, has a good work ethic and is easy to work with please let me know.
Thanks...desperately seeking brownstoner
October 5, 2009
Contractor Estimates
Am I way underestimating the cost of a simple kitchen/bathroom update in a pre-war co-op apt? All we want to do is install Ikea cabinets, new floor & counters in a 10x6 kitchen, reglaze a bathtub, redo a shower stall, and put in new vanity. Our budget is $20-25k and estimates so far are $35k-42k which seems like a lot for not that much work. Am I way off?
October 1, 2009
Rooftop Renovation, Addition
Does anyone have any info on building an addition on top of a 2nd floor apartment? It has been hard to get quotes for the project because architects, permits need to be determined. Anyone have any quggestions on obtaining a quote before we go through the entire process and determine we cannot afford it. Basically we are looking to build a bedroom/bathroom addition onto an existing two story buidling in windsor terrace. Thanks