We need more information here. If it's a new shower head, it's limited to 2.5 gallons/minute, so you should have seen an improvement if an older head was replaced. Is it a standard shower head or does the remodel include body jets and multiple shower heads? Is there a problem with the water heater? If it's electric one of the heating elements could be bad. And how does hot water usage affect both gas and electricity? Most homes are either one or the other for heating water.
I have a Roper natural gas range, and when the oven is on I can see light coming out of the bottom on the range onto the floor when I look behind the range. However, there is no oven light, so I'm guessing that this is the burner or glow bar. I've never had a range in a place I could see behind it before, so I wondered if this was normal/safe.
Im sorry for the scant details. Im not sure if it is a gas or an electric water heater. We have a gas furnace but Im not sure about the water heater. The heater doesn't seem to be the problem as we have a bath/shower that has a basic plastic cone head that still gives you a good 40 minutes of hot water. There are not any more body jets or multiple heads. The new head does have a detachable wand for easy crevasse cleaning. Im not sure of the brand but I found an exact picture of it on Lowes website that talks about low flow shower heads which is odd sense it seems to use more water than the old one. The one we had before was one my dad put on when he remodeled it himself about 15-16 years ago. Just a basic metal cone.
Got a quote to paint interior of my house for 12 grand at 40 bucks an hour. Anyone have advice on how to find cheaper painters that don't suck. That wage rate seems outlandish to me.
So they're saying it's going to take 300 man-hours to paint the interior of your house? That really does sound like a lot; I painted the entire interior of my house in probably 100 man-hours. How big is your house and what's currently on the walls?
This is what pisses me off about people hiring trades into their home. You have to realize that this guy has a buisness to run. One truck on the road alone is worth $10 a man hour between fuel, insurance, repairs, licensing etc. Then he has to pay his health insurance premiums, remits to the government, liability insurance etc. So truely this guy is probably only taking home $20 an hour on hs paycheque. Yes he will be making money of his employees but he has to show a bit of profit and pay his employees remits, insurance as well. We charge $80 a man hour for T&M jobs at a minimum two hour call out (electrical) and we get people that say the same line as you just did. We have to eat too. Forty bucks a man hour is reasonable for [a] reputable painter. I you want to save some dough though I'm sure you could hire Jose and Jose B from the Home Depot parking lot. Just count your silverware though.
I agree with everything you're saying here; 40/hour is really reasonable. However 12 grand to repaint the interior seems high to me, so I'm wondering what the mitigating factors are. How much prep work do the walls need? Are the rooms clear or are they going to have to paint around furniture (never a good idea)? Does that quote include the paint?
Get 5 quotes, pick the company with the middle quote and you'll be happy. NEVER pick the lowest quote. These guys prey on people looking for the bottom dollar, and as the job goes along they nit pick the shit out of that contract and nail you on extras. Or they are shit, use shit materials and hire shit guys. I see it everyday. We make alot of money fixing other electrical companies mistakes.
I repped the guy the same, but I don't understand getting pro painters unless you're an old bastard. It's time consuming but easy and you can do a $10k job for a $1k spend. Spend the change on upgrading your bathroom or kitchen or go to fucking Europe a couple of weeks holiday, will take the edge off losing 3-4 weekends nicely.
This. I've always done my own painting and wallpapering. Sure, it's a pain in the ass (especially the ceiling) but it's really easy and you save BAGS of money. Take three days off work and boom.
2200 sq ft, ugly old people paint, some wall paper and paneling in two hallways and a powder room. Front porch has beadboard walls. The quote was from a sole proprietor who does the work himself. There is molding in living and dining rooms but this seemed overboard. The house is empty for two weeks and he said he needed the whole time to do it. I need someone in and out in 7-10 days. I may try to tackle it myself since I will have time to spend on it, but I've never painted before and don't want it to look shitty.
Only one way to learn mate. Remember to buy good paint, goes on and covers heaps better than cheap shit, and good quality rollers, cutting in brushes etc actaully just buy good eveything otherwise it will take heaps longer and drive you batshit insane. Might help to know what your using the house for? a renter or your home?
How well do you think a complete novice like me could do this project? <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ehow.com/how_10056691_make-wall-shelves-lbrackets.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ehow.com/how_10056691_make-w ... ckets.html</a> I have a power drill and basic tools. I want to put up 2 or 3 shelves on my wall that are sturdy enough to hold fairly heavy glassware. The wall is on the reverse side of the microwave and stove, so I have no idea if it would be solid or if there would be studs. I assume studs because there needs to be room in the wall for wiring, right?
Do it. Everybody has to start somewhere. When you're done it will give you the confidence to tackle other jobs. There are studs in your wall.
Ditto what he said. Plus it is paint, so if you mess up, you can pretty much just paint over it to correct. About as simple as can be. I am hardly a home improvement guru, but the one thing that I am capable of is painting. I just hate spending money on it since it doesn't take much skill, more just time and patience. One huge time waste that I see beginning painters making is taping. You don't need to if you invest in a good cutting in brush, as said above. I swear by Purdy angled brushes for this. As far as paint goes, I typically use Sherwin Williams and it is good. Benjamin Moore and Pratt and Lambart are also very good, but I don't happen to have a store located a couple blocks from me so Sherwin Williams wins out every time. Other people will tell you Behr, but I have used that twice and each time I swore never again. They can't get their color mix right gallon to gallon. Which brings me to another good point, if you need a second gallon to finish off a room, always finish in a corner. Get flat paint, particularly if your walls have flaws, any sort of glossy finish will highlight them.
I'd avoid flat if you're going with a light color and go with an eggshell for the bulk of your house instead; satin for the kitchen and bathrooms. Flat's too much of a pain to keep clean in my opinion.
You are probably right about the cleaning factor, but I really hate paints with any sort of sheen to them, I would rather just repaint a room more regularly than have a satin finish. Maybe it reminds me too much of the hospitals I have worked in. Personally I just do flat and touch up periodically if it gets scuffs that can't be removed with those magic erasers. To each to his own I suppose.
One more painting tip: If you are using a "pretty much" white paint don't bother using pure ceiling white for the ceiling, cutting in a whole house for 0.234 shade difference just isn't worth the hassle. By the time we go to the master bedroom we had lost the will to live painting wise and had run out of ceiling white but still had a full can of our wall paint (China white I think) we were horrified that the finished result was virtually no different than the one which took 30 extra hours of fiddly work. Never again. And a question: My next project has approx 70m² of exposed Sandstone on one wall that’s been painted, what’s the best way to removed the paint without damaging the stone or pointing and preferably not taking 3 months and a psycotic break?
Help a friend carpet lay on the weekends for extra $$ every now and then and we always use this kind of scraper to get the old stuff off the concrete. It's simple, doesn't really take long once you get started and does a good job.