Local Contractor Recommendations
Hi — I have a few challenges and looking for some local contractors that are familiar with working with brownstones and details.
Challenge(s):
1 – I have a shed under the stairs that rodents are getting into. Need repair or better options to seal.
2 – Help fix finishes around the home to make sure they are high quality and fit brownstone aesthetic.
Thank you.
Thanks
smileyface
in Renovation 1 month ago
12
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12 replies
cate | 1 month ago
We redid our shed’s concrete foundation. It was just a thin slab on the ground without a proper foundation and as would be expected had tilted over the years. As well, the walls were sitting on top of the thin slab. So everything was coming in (air, water, vermin) and the door couldn’t close properly either. But your situation may not be as extreme. It’s good to know Victoria was able to close up holes by pouring an additional layer of concrete. Those with solid foundations may be able to just plug a few holes. Concrete and mesh may be the right thing to use to plug holes. You can find the holes by probing with a slim screwdriver, and you can plug the temporarily with steel wool (using a screwdriver to pack it) to see if that helps.
victoria.art.director | 1 month ago
I dealt with the rat/shed situation a couple of years ago – after trying sealing cracks and laying traps – all to no avail – I had someone come in and pour concrete on the floor and basically put a layer of concrete on the brick walls and under the stairs – this solved the problem pronto – happy to share contact info for the guy who did this for me – he’s reasonable and was actually the second person who came and cleaned up after someone who hd no real concrete experience.
fast_frank | 1 month ago
For the shed, try sealing gaps with steel mesh. For finishes, find contractors experienced with brownstones to match the aesthetic.
smileyface | 1 month ago
Thanks for the context!
Brownstone Home Inspection | 1 month ago
@smiley
my contact can be found on my webpage. brownstonehomeinspection.com
I do not mind helping people who call and if it is only a few questions, i often provide that support pro bono over the phone but i also prefer to carry out conversations on here for the benefit of the community.
Having me come in to approve work along the way will not go well if you do not choose the correct person from the get-go. if the person is incapable, there will be nothing we can do to change that mid stream and if i start calling out details of the work, they will get mad and argue with you or me if they are incapable and they will tell us we are wrong or they will walk off the job. you want someone who is expert enough to know right from wrong from the onset. this is determined during the initial phone call. they must be conversant on all aspects of a job and be able to name top quality suppliers and product for finish work (dykes, not HD or Lowes; Ben Moore, not Behr; Phenoseal, not Dap; Different primers and where they are used; and with paints ask if they prefer oil base or water base and see what they say; many people who rush jobs and are more worried about getting paid say water because they can over coat faster).
on that note above, about water base. i had an otherwise good second-rate painter who i have known through the trade working in my house last fall. I felt that he had left too much work at the end of the job and was not going to finish when he said he would (that day). i wanted him to agree to stay a couple hours later or return the next day to overcoat some trim he had just painted with water base finish. He said, “oh, no. it will dry in a half hour and i can overcoat”. i looked at him and told him you know that you cannot rush that like that, that it will not be dry enough to overcoat”. he got angry at me and said “its works, i do it all the time”. i had to turn to him and say “no it doesn’t and you and i know that because it says on the can. you have to wait four hours for it to dry between coats”. He shut up and looked at me for a moment and backed down. But this is the bs we have to put up with and if we let them, they win (and if they argue with me, know it is much worse for a female weighing 100 lbs). the other side of that is, if we keep having to challenge people at this level this way, they will get pissed off and rush through other aspects of the job when we are not around (and the quality suffers later, after they are paid and gone). the problem is, so many have been doing this for so long without being challenged by customers who have no idea why something failed 6 months later, that it has become modus operandi for them. there is no winning with some contractors so it is best to use real pros who allot the proper time and quality materials from the onset. it means taking the higher quote (and even that is no guarantee). lower quotes are lower for a reason. something is not being done the way it should be.
smileyface | 1 month ago
Steve do you have a email I can reach you at?
smileyface | 1 month ago
@Brownstone Home Inspection – Do you inspection consultation of work while in progress or right before?
Brownstone Home Inspection | 1 month ago
if i were hiring someone to do this work, i would make sure the people i were considering could “talk the talk” as well as walk the walk. keep in mind, to get to the level of experience that op is talking about takes years and in that time, if some is ordering wood and finishes from suppliers, they will know how to communicate about those materials.
if i were interviewing someone, first know this: any inexperienced person would not make it past the initial phone call that I would drag out to 30 minutes to be sure they know what they are doing and will not get impatient with questions that any contractor should answer when trying to get a job. if they got to come on site, i might show them some of the elements and ask what they might think the wood is (poplar or pine or mdf) and i might ask what size brads they think they should use on some of the pieces of molding (18 gauge would be most common on interior, 16 is too heavy). If i had a split piece of trim, i might even pull out a 16 gauge brad and say “this is what they used and split that wood with . what gauge is this? Any person who says they have done a lot of this will know a 16 gauge from an 18 ga brad. And they make smaller brads (pins) for finer work.
Don’t be afraid of purposely saying something wrong in front of a contractor to see if he can politely correct you. you want someone who will challenge you when you are wrong. a big problem with people today is the person hiring someone might say “i want this product used” or “i want it done this way” and the contractor wants the job so bad that he does what the customer wants without explaining that it is wrong and might fail. for this reason, a lot of companies will not hire experienced carpenters and painters because all day long we would be saying “we need screws for the door hinges (as opposed to drywall screws) or we need to prime the wood before painting or we need wood filler for……. having experienced people around slows these jobs down and since many contractors predicate their work on actually being the cheapest (to get the job), they would not make any money by doing it correctly.
in so far as finishes, they should be able to talk about the four most common bases: lacquer, oil, water, alcohol. if they can only talk about water, they are not even a qualified painter. and by the way, anyone see knots (brown circles) showing through on the trim work in a recently done house? that is because it was made from pine with knots in it and they did not use alcohol based primer on the knot. I see this in flips ALL THE TIME.
i do consulting for homeowners who are considering projects. basically, i run over the house with them doing a maintenance inspection and discuss what should be done before the major part of the project, what should be done with it, and what could wait. i can talk to people about how to source contractors and about the “three tiers of contractors; bottom, mid, and top” and what that can mean for a homeowner (in terms of quality and cost). I can tell homeowners what questions to ask (i am a generalist; i do not know everything BUT i know the questions to ask because i have managed all of this if not having done some myself).
For those reading me on here for over a decade and having watched me evolve on this page and for those who have been awaiting a visit from me (bm/jm) or a call (ms and one other), this past week i got asked to perform an inspection on four large buildings in Syracuse. Between the travel and day of work, it was an intense 30 hours. Out-of-town work is the success this board has given me. thank you all.
Steve
Brownstone Home Inspection | 1 month ago
“finishes” to be would mean paint or varnishes.
in reading the thread i think i should take it to mean “finish carpentry work”.
I am a former restoration contractor turned home inspector and when i inspect “flips” i find that the details on the installation of the modern replacement moldings and even the crown moldings on very expensive kitchen cabinets is poorly done. i am stating that the quality of the work is something that i would have done when i was a teenager. in many cases with the crown moldings on cabinets, it has to be removed and redone (if it is cut too long on outside turns it can be removed and trimmed and reinstalled; if it is too short on inside turns, it can be fixed in place but it means fine cutting, epoxy, and sanding and finishing; you are better off replacing). baseboard molding, crown in other areas, door casements: the owners of the firms doing this work are hiring inexperienced people. when i see this kind of shoddy work, i tell the buyer “imagine if they did work that this that we can see, what they did where we cannot see”.
in the event you are talking about “finishes” and invariably if you are talking about repairing or replacing some work on finished wood, you will have to have some finishing done, be aware it can be very hard to match finishes on cabinets (they are custom mixed by manufacturers). with the walls or trim, it helps to know what brand of paint and the color but a good painter can often figure this out. Custom mixes can be more challenging.
because of the intricacy of all of this and because you are redoing something that should have been done by a highly skilled “expert”, fixing this stuff is going to be expensive. Most of the people doing this work today are not trained in a way to know how to solve problems; they are given a product and told to install it, not to make changes or modifications and they cannot even install it correctly.
you might take some pictures of the work you need done and go to Abbot Paint on Eagle St and see if they can recommend a finish carpenter who can help you.
there is also a guy name Pilenio Santos and he replied to a query on here a few days back relating to a pocket door.
cate | 1 month ago
Potentially you could use a carpenter who works in old townhouses in Brooklyn or a cabinetmaker, depending on what it is. Sometimes Dyke’s or Adriatic will have the parts you need or can replicate them or you can go to (or the carpenter may have or work with) a wood shop that can custom replicate the elements needed. For historic staircases specifically, there are people who specialize in repairing and restoring them, and typically they also have a wood shop or work with one. For example, when we needed to replace one missing baluster in our staircase, a carpenter arranged with a wood shop in Queens to make it and installed it. When we needed to replace an entire flight of stairs, we went to a carpenter who specializes in stairs, and our regular floor guy finished the treads. Other carpenters have installed molding and bead board and repaired dish cupboards and drawers for us. We had a knife made for the bead board and it was produced by a wood shop. Existing wood drawer runners can be repaired but missing ones have to be replicated in a wood shop because the profile has to fit the drawer. Etc.
smileyface | 1 month ago
@cate — Thanks for responding
Re: Finishes — This is about areas and nooks where molding, banisters, and cabinets were installed. This is less about the repair of specific historic pieces that I’d need a specialist for but someone that can help to fix some of the ‘builder grade’ work that was done.
cate | 1 month ago
A handyman or contractor who specializes in sealing holes to keep out vermin can probably fix the shed — assuming the door closes fully. There is such as outfit that has been recommended here but not recently and I cannot recommend people because I work for Brownstoner.
Re the finishes, could you be more specific? Wood refinishing and plaster repair, for example, need specialists not general contractors.