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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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 Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 6:10 pm GMT Post subject: Quincy Colonial Project |
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If you have been following the other forums, I went against the grain and purchased a property in this down market. Financially, im spending only $200 more than my rent but this will give me time to bond with family members and learn something on the way.
Stats:
Location: Quincy, MA (Merrymount)
Size: 1422 sq/ft
Built: 1932
Bedrooms: 3
Bathroom: 1 Full (on second floor)
Purchase price: low $300k
Pictures
Projects:
Renovate complete kitchen area. Tear down the wall behind fridge to expand kitchen into dining room.
Add a wall across the breakfast nook (not shown) to add a half bathroom for the 1st floor.
Remove wood paneling (note: not glued, just nailed in!) and new paint throughout
Get rid of the carpet and refinish hardwood floors
New roof for the garage, install modern garage door
Lots of landscaping
Remove square window in the dining room and add french doors. Build new deck into the backyard.
Upgrade bathroom sink and floor
Upgrade electrical to 200A service |
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:26 pm GMT Post subject: |
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Day 1 and 2 - Removal of wood paneling and wallpaper
Two LAYERS
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melonrightcoast
Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 236
Location: metrowest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:23 am GMT Post subject: home improvement project |
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Thank for posting these! How is it going? I look forward to seeing the "after" shots!
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:36 am GMT Post subject: |
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Day 3 - Had family and friends show up for the day
Gutted the kitchen in 3 hours
That wall will be finished to add the half bath. The new wall will create a L shaped kitchen
Under three layers of flooring, we struck gold in the kitchen. This will save us lots of time not tiling the floors.
Fresh unfinished hardwood in the dining room
More fresh wood on the stairs
This week we are prepping the walls, filling holes before we sand and prime this weekend. The kitchen is going to be gutted to the studs because of the extensive electrical work and removal of the soffit. |
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:17 am GMT Post subject: |
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Day 7 - Removed all the old horsehair plaster walls, this will give me a chance to add new outlets for the new kitchen design.
Next job, open up the wall between the kitchen and dining room. |
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balor123
Joined: 08 Mar 2008
Posts: 1204
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:17 pm GMT Post subject: |
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| Wow, you're doing this all yourself? You should wear goggles no? |
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 2:36 am GMT Post subject: |
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| balor123 wrote: | | Wow, you're doing this all yourself? You should wear goggles no? |
Between myself and my father, we are going this ourselves. He's done pretty of construction work before so its a good learning experience.
I was wearing goggles when taking down the plaster walls.
Here is what our kitchen is going to look like:
These cabinet makers must be hurting! I scored all those Cherry cabinets for $5k. Picked my granite slab today for $2000 installed also. Between cabinets, countertops, appliances, and other services work, the kitchen will cost $11k. It helps that im doing most of the work myself. |
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melonrightcoast
Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 236
Location: metrowest
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| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:08 pm GMT Post subject: kitchen reno |
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Brian C.:
Those are great prices for cabinets and granite, but you really hit the nail on the head (no pun intended) when you said:
| Quote: | | It helps that im doing most of the work myself. |
I got a kitchen estimate done in January at a house we were looking to buy, and HALF the cost of the project was for cabinet/counter installation and very minor electrical and plumbing work (i.e. hooking up new appliances and the sink). so we only had 15K for cabinets, counters and appliances, but another 15 K for labor. I swear, the contractors just expect people to pay at least 30K for a kitchen reno.
Also, you should get a better face mask when renovating an old house. Lead poisoning is no joke, ESPECIALLY for women.
By doing the renos yourself, you are going to especially appreciate your new house. I still love to drive by our old house that we did so much to ourselves  . Hope you at least get to enjoy some of the good weather this weekend!
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melonrightcoast
Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 236
Location: metrowest
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| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 1:11 pm GMT Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | ESPECIALLY for women |
OK, I need to clarify this as I don't think you are a woman  !
What I meant is that I hope your wife isn't doing any of the work or living in the house while the renos are going on ... because of the lead paint issues.
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:35 am GMT Post subject: |
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| melonrightcoast wrote: | | Quote: | | ESPECIALLY for women |
OK, I need to clarify this as I don't think you are a woman !
What I meant is that I hope your wife isn't doing any of the work or living in the house while the renos are going on ... because of the lead paint issues. |
She's in the house but in another area of the house. She doesn't like the noises the big boys make. Her expertise is in painting so she's skimcoating and prepping the walls.
The big unexpected expense is refinishing the hardwood floors. My first quote was $3 per sq/ft. We have over 1200 sq/ft so it adds up.
Going to run the new electrical this week before the electrician upgrades our box from 100A to 200A. |
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john p
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Posts: 1820
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:01 pm GMT Post subject: |
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You should consider putting up plastic on the warm side of the insulated studs prior to putting the new sheet rock. The exterior of the place is very clean. Make sure that the electrician has made safe all the walls that you're breaking into. I bet you were psyched to see all that hardwood under the carpet. I'd look for a nice runner, see if you can get one that they can miter (I wasn't sure if the stairs turn...). Also, I've heard of people slapping up 3/8" sheet rock over the horsehair plaster to avoid stripping and plastering. It's odd because it looks like it has new siding, but typically they do window replacement when they do the siding. I'd recommend putting in replacements if you can afford it, especially when the place is broken open and the cost of oil is going up. I think you might even get a tax break for improving the energy efficiency of the exterior envelope.
Nice work. I love the addidas shell-toes (great work shoe). A work site ususally has a few empty Dunkin Donuts cups, helps complete the picture... |
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:08 am GMT Post subject: |
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| john p wrote: | You should consider putting up plastic on the warm side of the insulated studs prior to putting the new sheet rock. The exterior of the place is very clean. Make sure that the electrician has made safe all the walls that you're breaking into. I bet you were psyched to see all that hardwood under the carpet. I'd look for a nice runner, see if you can get one that they can miter (I wasn't sure if the stairs turn...). Also, I've heard of people slapping up 3/8" sheet rock over the horsehair plaster to avoid stripping and plastering. It's odd because it looks like it has new siding, but typically they do window replacement when they do the siding. I'd recommend putting in replacements if you can afford it, especially when the place is broken open and the cost of oil is going up. I think you might even get a tax break for improving the energy efficiency of the exterior envelope.
Nice work. I love the addidas shell-toes (great work shoe). A work site ususally has a few empty Dunkin Donuts cups, helps complete the picture... |
The main reason we stripped the walls to the studs was to fully insulate and re-wire to our liking. The exterior is vinyl sliding with wrap so thats at least a start. Also all the windows in the front of the house have been replaced. Have a guy coming to the house to give an estimate for the remaining 12 windows that are original.
The hardwood in the kitchen has lots of tar from the original linoleum on the wood which is going to be a bitch to remove. Need some ideas on how to get this stuff off. |
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:14 am GMT Post subject: |
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More updates:
Framed up the new wall for the kitchen/bathroom. This was constructed using the existing all, we find out why this doesn't work.
Finally opened up the wall between the kitchen and dining room.
Here is where the sliding glass door is going to be.
Had the ladies work on cleaning up the bushes 
This made alot of the neighbors come out to thank us for taking these down.
Well the new wall we constructed is not going to cut it for plumbing the new walls. The walls were 2x2 but new plumbing requires at least 1 2/5" so we had to rip down the old wall and build a 2x4 wall.
Finished after 3 hours with a new header in the new opening.
While we were picking up the new 2x4 wood, we tore up the front entry to see what wood we needed. Ahh crap, all of this had to replaced.
Had the ladies working upstairs on getting the bedrooms painted.
Quotes for electrical, plumbing were all over the place. Plumbers went from $2500 to $9000. All the electricians were on with the 200A service. Its at least $2500 to upgrade the line from 100A to 200A. Almost all suggested with the size of the house, it will be fine with 100A. |
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Brian C
Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 98
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| Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:23 am GMT Post subject: |
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Plumber came in and did most of his work in 3 days. The electrician is top notch! He's been very much involved and detailed in his work. Getting the box switched over to a 30 breaker and removal of the old wiring took almost a week. But he's done must of the new work in the kitchen, bathroom and dining room.
The wall guys were unbelievable! They skimcoated all the textured walls and make them nice and smooth. This gave us a fresh start with no cracks or imperfections.
Painted all of the bedrooms.
Removed the old rugs to show off that beautiful fresh hardwood.
More to come...... |
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john p
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Posts: 1820
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| Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:00 pm GMT Post subject: |
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| It is almost criminal what people did to these beautiful homes in the 70's. Look at that gorgeous hard wood! How does anyone cover that up! |
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