Do it yourself

Quote: rxwine

Seems like a lot of unnecessary damage.

I wonder if there would be a market for "car bags". Either have a large balloon like waterproof bag you position under the front tires and adjust as you drive forward into it. Then seal off the back once inside. Or maybe a custom job which lays out flat and can be zipped up.

A $150 dollar bag vs. thousands of dollar of loss or dealing with insurance.

~

Not sure how well it would work. You'd have to pat out excess air, and perhaps anchor it to something. Not much use if it floats off.

Sounds like we just need a bigger version of this:

Well, now, you could use your vacuum cleaner to remove excess air!

If you're young enough that you've always bought your DIY materials at the big orange store, you may not realize how stupid the process is. Before Home Depot took over, your home store was most likely a local chain store. Hardware and tools were in the store and large building materials were outside in the yard with roofing over stuff that needed t be kept dry. Let's say I want to buy 5 sacks of ready mix concrete and three 20 ft lengths of PVC pipe. I go to the counter, tell them what I need and they write up form. I take the form to the cashier and pay. I then get in my truck a drive to the yard gate, show my form to the attendant and he tells me where to go to get the concrete. I drive up next to a pallet of it and a guy helps me load it into my truck. I then drive to the pipe, load up, go out through the gate and head home.
Compare that to the HD experience. Load 400 lbs of concrete onto a big cart. Lay the PVC pipe onto said cart and push it through the store trying not to hit anyone with my 20 ft pipe. to the front where I manuver into a checkout line. Pay the cashier and push the 500lb rattling cart through the giant parking lot and load everything into my truck. It's ridiculous.

Quote: JimRockford

If you're young enough that you've always bought your DIY materials at the big orange store, you may not realize how stupid the process is. Before Home Depot took over, your home store was most likely a local chain store. Hardware and tools were in the store and large building materials were outside in the yard with roofing over stuff that needed t be kept dry. Let's say I want to buy 5 sacks of ready mix concrete and three 20 ft lengths of PVC pipe. I go to the counter, tell them what I need and they write up form. I take the form to the cashier and pay. I then get in my truck a drive to the yard gate, show my form to the attendant and he tells me where to go to get the concrete. I drive up next to a pallet of it and a guy helps me load it into my truck. I then drive to the pipe, load up, go out through the gate and head home.
Compare that to the HD experience. Load 400 lbs of concrete onto a big cart. Lay the PVC pipe onto said cart and push it through the store trying not to hit anyone with my 20 ft pipe. to the front where I manuver into a checkout line. Pay the cashier and push the 500lb rattling cart through the giant parking lot and load everything into my truck. It's ridiculous.

And those carts don't steer well either.

I always think it's funny when someone who I'm pretty sure knows less than I do about home fixing, catches me on my way and says 'can I help'? I say where is ****, they say, ' I don't know but I will ask so and so' or they try to run me up and down isle's looking for the item. By the second isle, I just leave them usually. If they find it they can come back and get me.

Quote: petroglyph

I always think it's funny when someone who I'm pretty sure knows less than I do about home fixing, catches me on my way and says 'can I help'? I say where is ****, they say, ' I don't know but I will ask so and so' or they try to run me up and down isle's looking for the item. By the second isle, I just leave them usually. If they find it they can come back and get me.

Back in Phoenix IIRC I needed a part for something. As is typical of a DIY trip to THD I knew mostly what I needed but was not sure. Kid just pointed to the area, wanted to walk away. I was like, "Bo, I said I saw the area, do you know where THIS PART is?"

OTOH, back east they do better. My place is 110 years old and a plumber's nightmare. Less now that I ripped out the worst of the mess. Many is the time I had to go from copper to galvanized or brass (yes, you read that right) to something else. I forget the exact tricky one, but I asked the first guy I found. He said he had to call "the plumbing guy" who came and listened, then walked me thru it all, explaining all sorts of stuff. Came up with an idea easier than I ever thought.

FWIW I prefer getting my own stuff to the old system. 84 Lumber did not give near the satisfaction THD does.

Quote: AZDuffman

Back in Phoenix IIRC I needed a part for something. As is typical of a DIY trip to THD I knew mostly what I needed but was not sure. Kid just pointed to the area, wanted to walk away. I was like, "Bo, I said I saw the area, do you know where THIS PART is?"

OTOH, back east they do better. My place is 110 years old and a plumber's nightmare. Less now that I ripped out the worst of the mess. Many is the time I had to go from copper to galvanized or brass (yes, you read that right) to something else. I forget the exact tricky one, but I asked the first guy I found. He said he had to call "the plumbing guy" who came and listened, then walked me thru it all, explaining all sorts of stuff. Came up with an idea easier than I ever thought.

FWIW I prefer getting my own stuff to the old system. 84 Lumber did not give near the satisfaction THD does.

The only time I got good advice at Home Depot was when a contractor happened to shopping on the same isle and heard me ask an employee a question. The contractor showed me what I needed and told me how t apply it.

Need some advice here. I am looking at rental properties and a good candidate has an issue. It is on what appears to be a floating or monolithic slab construction. What I learned is that the walls are paper thin. 2x2 or 2x3 not 2x4 studs. This is no structural issue, bit it means no good insulation and the walls are a thin panel not drywall/sheetrock. You can live in it, but it gives a cheap feel.

The agent suggests the roof needs jacked up and they be replaces with conventional studs for best results. That is a bit much for my budget and skill. I would have to farm it out. Sleeping on it I am thinking why not on the outside walls, if I even did the upgrade, I just put up studs right against the old wall. Nailing them to the floor is not hard if I just rent a Hilti Gun or even use masonary screws. Fasten the header to the floor, fasten another to the ceiling joice, then frame it out, toenail the studs just like a framed place. I could only toenail the outside, but there may be a way around that.

Then run new, proper wiring, put up some insulation, and farm out the drywall, which I cannot do on my own.

The room loses about 7" total, so it is a little smaller, but who would notice that?

This is a place I would be bidding very low on, and needs a decent amount of work anyhow. But should produce $1,000 in net rent after property management takes his cut. Done right, we are talking it is 1/4 to 1/3 of what I would need to retire for life when paid off, which could happen in 15 years again done right.

Thoughts?

Lots of homes that were built in the 60's in your area had 2X4 on the flat AZD. Maybe that is what you have with this house. Just adding a layer to get more insulation is no problem. Were you going to add 2X4 they are much easier to run wiring in without special boxes.

Quote: AZDuffman

Done right, we are talking it is 1/4 to 1/3 of what I would need to retire for life when paid off, which could happen in 15 years again done right. Thoughts?

"If you want to hear god laugh, announce your plans."

Al Swearengen

Quote: Evenbob

"If you want to hear god laugh, announce your plans."

Al Swearengen

Funny that. We are binging Deadwood. It seems they edited some of the episodes on Amazon, I don't understand why?