The Home Ownership Thread

[eglbc]

I just bought my first home, and need to get a hood for the range. What to look for? Any trustworthy brands? Budget would be around 500$ .

 

[RedLantern]

is that a 36 or 48 inch range?

 

[archetypal_yuppie]

Hoods are pretty simple machinery, so lets assume you'll be choosing from brands that do actually work. With that in mind, just pick one that is appropriately sized, looks good, and is 100% cashmere.

 

[jgold47]



I just bought my first home, and need to get a hood for the range. What to look for? Any trustworthy brands? Budget would be around 500$ .

The problem is two fold:

1. you dont have a cabinet over your range, which means you need a hood meant to be wall hung, and it also needs to 'look good'. It also means you need power to the hood, and are going to have to have that added
2. its on an interior wall, which limits your venting options. Ideally you want a unit that exhausts directly to the outside.

Sorry bud - Love the white tile, but those are going to get annihilated by cooking grease, especially if you dont have a solid hood.

 

[LeatherBoot]

Take a look at Best.
http://www.bestrangehoods.com/home.aspx

I tried to use one in my kitchen but due to the unique way my building was designed I was limited to a Gutmann which sadly costs six times the price and does exactly the same thing.

 

[Ataturk]

I finally got the roof replaced (courtesy of the insurance company). Boy do I hate dealing with contractors. Every time I do, I feel like I learn something new -- the hard way. I was pretty proud of myself for negotiating premium shingles for the amount of insurance quote. Those cost the contractor about $2k over the regular ones. But I wasn't able to be there the first day, and those bastards work so fast that they did all of those tricky parts while I wasn't there. That might not have bothered me, but then they got about 2/3 done (and realized they had enough) they started cutting up roof shingles instead of using the starter shingles I paid for (that, in and of itself, is no big deal, but it doesn't bode well for rest of the roof). They knocked the flue off one of my hot water heaters, left exposed splices where they removed old attic fans, etc. Glad I'm not some helpless old lady.

It's gonna rain real good today, so I get to spend the evening crawling into the corners of the attic with a flashlight in my mouth.

 

[RedLantern]



I finally got the roof replaced (courtesy of the insurance company). Boy do I hate dealing with contractors. Every time I do, I feel like I learn something new -- the hard way. I was pretty proud of myself for negotiating premium shingles for the amount of insurance quote. Those cost the contractor about $2k over the regular ones. But I wasn't able to be there the first day, and those bastards work so fast that they did all of those tricky parts while I wasn't there. That might not have bothered me, but then they got about 2/3 done (and realized they had enough) they started cutting up roof shingles instead of using the starter shingles I paid for (that, in and of itself, is no big deal, but it doesn't bode well for rest of the roof). They knocked the flue off one of my hot water heaters, left exposed splices where they removed old attic fans, etc. Glad I'm not some helpless old lady.

It's gonna rain real good today, so I get to spend the evening crawling into the corners of the attic with a flashlight in my mouth.

Agreed. I figure anyone worth his salt is probably either developing, or hitched up with a developer. Just seems like it would be easier/more profitable than constantly churning through customer intake of piecemeal jobs for individual homeowners.

 

[Ataturk]

As best I can gather, the great majority of contractors who do roofs don't actually have crews that work exclusively for them. They just subcontract the whole thing to Mexicans. The best MIGHT have a single guy that works for them to supervise, but none promised he'd be there the whole time. Looking at roofs somebody did is useless because there's no guarantee you'll get the same crew that put it up. Talking to the customers is worth it, though, because it gives you an idea of whether and how readily the front-man contractor will fix stuff that gets messed up.

Fortunately, the crew I got did a very neat job. It looks good at least. The worst thing they did was the flue, which could theoretically have killed me (I mean, probably not, but it's still bad). They mangled one of my facia boards (they actually seem to have replaced it and did a really ****** job) but it's getting a gutter over it so I don't care. They got rained on while they were blacking in my detached garage, but no harm was done. There's a litany of little irritations but overall it seems to have gone okay. I guess I'll know after it rains. Good thing I haven't paid the guy yet!

 

[Ataturk]



Looking at roofs somebody did is useless because there's no guarantee you'll get the same crew that put it up.

This was really bad advice. Obviously you should look at the roofs they've done since it'll give you an idea of how selective they are with the guys they hire to do the roof.

Also it helps to ask about how quickly they can do the roof, not that you want it done fast, but it might give you more info. You don't want somebody who promises he can start the roof any day no matter how busy he is...

 

[Piobaire]

The above is what really sucks about home repair and improvements. The workers are so itinerant these days and they just do not care about the job they do as no one can track it down to them. Even though most contractors just sub out to work crews it's all about hiring an established contractor so at least he'll stand behind the work. I'm lucky because I'm close friends with a guy that builds high end custom homes. He has a pool of trade crews he actually knows and he sends someone over to do jobs I need. Last job was painting the entire interior of our old house before I rented it out. The two guys did an awesome job, including replacing some drywall that was water damaged when my roof leaked, and then did a bunch of little extra stuff without being asked, like sanding and refinishing the front wood door.

 

[Ataturk]

Some highlights from my contractor shopping:

The guy who wanted me to sign a contract for $2500 more than the insurance said they'd pay, because he promised (not in writing of course) that he could get the insurance company to pay that amount.

The guy who quoted "50-year (lifetime) shingles" which, when pressed, meant basic economy architectural shingles (what used to be called 30-year shingles, which now carry a worthless "lifetime" warranty).

Lots of people said useless stuff needed to be done for extra money, or offered to kick me back the deductible (which is "technically" fraud).

 

[Ataturk]

Oh, and there was the guy who had a references sheet that had a misspelled name in it. The actual name had "nigre" in it, and use your imagination as to how they spelled it...

 

[brokencycle]

I'm so glad I wound up with a good contractor for my siding. The only thing they did wrong was they switched the lights on the back door and front door because they dry fit one wrong, so once the siding was up, it didn't fit. It wasn't worth having them rip off a bunch of siding, and they did some other things like gave me seamless gutters at cost.

 

[RedLantern]

Been hearing some rodent activity in one of the walls downstairs. Found where they are entering from - the back of the house the grass comes up to the lowest level of siding (above the foundation) and they somehow are getting up under there. I plan on re-grading that portion so that it doesn't come up to the siding anymore - also going to take off the lowest part of the siding to really figure out what is going on under there that the rats are getting in (and fix it). In the meanwhile, because I can see exactly how they are getting in I have been setting a trap essentially on their front door - caught 3 in the last week

 

[jbarwick]

Should have drywall and painting done by Thursday! Next up will be adding extra insulation to the attic and flooring insulation in the crawl space. Anyone have a cheaper fix to protecting non-IC rated can lights in the attic than those covers you can buy for like $16 a pop?