[gmfive]

Originally Posted by Lups

No, the ones above are 3k or so. They are just stretching their cords there, they are not at their future hight yet.



Dispite help... I got the flooring done today.



Tomorrow I shall do the shitty part.

Floor looks great. I am also in the midst of a remodel. I had to take a lot of help for the fridge, sucker was like a thousand pounds or something, will share pics of the house which looks like a beat up construction zone at the moment. Your home is coming together quite nicely.

[Lups]

Originally Posted by gmfive

Floor looks great. I am also in the midst of a remodel. I had to take a lot of help for the fridge, sucker was like a thousand pounds or something, will share pics of the house which looks like a beat up construction zone at the moment. Your home is coming together quite nicely.

Haha

The floor has this coper shine. I'll take a better pic but this shows some.

[gmfive]

Originally Posted by Lups

Haha

The floor has this coper shine. I'll take a better pic but this shows some.

Looking great, pls put up finished pics.

[gmfive]

Originally Posted by Lups

Haha

The floor has this coper shine. I'll take a better pic but this shows some.

My two kitchen beasts are somewhat installed after some major wrestling with them

[Lups]

Originally Posted by gmfive

My two kitchen beasts are somewhat installed after some major wrestling with them

I did moldings last evening.

My plan in life has been to build a stone house before our youngest goes to school. I love stone as a material and I enjoy the thought of laying it all in place. That's like my swan song with this hobby of mine.

... Or was.

Fucking hell I fucking hate our drill hammer. I was putting up moldings all the fucking evening just because every fucking piece needed to be put up with screws. My hands shook so badly after it I was like a human vibrator. I'm never, ever buying anything made of stone or concrete again, that is if I survive this one.

You do the drilling for me, I'll move your fridges?

[ShopVac]

So - I've been working on my house since 1999. My place started out as a 3 bedroom - 1 1/2 bath that sat on 1.5 acres, with a county park in the back yard.

Sq footage was 2784 - and it was tight. But we got the house for a song and a dance, which allowed me to put on my first addition - a 2 car garage with an 18x24 master bedroom - 8x8 walk in - and a 10x16 master bath.

I did 100% of all the work on this myself - brick and concrete. Took me almost 2 years to complete working every weekend and evening I could. Not counting the garage as living space (even though I live there) this added an additional 624ft of living space to 3408 sq ft.

From the outside (sorry, no digital camera back then...it was all film)
Just after digging the footer

House Foundation

2nd floor walls

Brickwork

Garage doors

Master bath



Master bedroom (I'd show the walk in, but I' don't want the girls on this forum to get jelly)



Garage

Notice - no pole in the center. This was the main part of my design.


So - my song and dance for the house...it was on the market for 140K - I got it for 118K (had a really good agent that helped us). I did this entire addition for $26K - house was appraised in 2002 at $188K. Seemed to be worth all the work I did

[ShopVac]

From there, it was on to the Deck – Porch - and driveway.
Did the deck first – as that first step from the master suite was a little rough.

Used trek for the decking – best material ever

Rails

Finished product


Porch was next on the list – did this in a couple weekends

Foundation wall

My attempt at stone work...just look at the gut on that guy

Little concrete later.

Little paint to the wall…

Then – on to the driveway.
1st, needed to get rid of the existing jungle and vines

And I wanted to level out the front yard

Old wall was falling apart

Can’t do all the work without one of these. Best 8 grand spent ever

Starting the retaining wall. These things were 50lbs each (IIRC)

And the concrete work. I had to do this over several weekends…

Brownie points with the wife – little flower box

And the finished driveway

[ShopVac]

Okay , so I needed a little ‘me’ place. You know, that man cave thing. Remember, this is a 60’s home…and what 60’s home wouldn’t be complete without paneling.

And a dive bar with wall paper

So – address the panels first with a little blue board

And rip out that old bar…

Here I’m replacing working on the new bar…getting the fit just right

And that drab carpet – gone.

Finished bar

Well stocked of course

And how the room looks…power stadium seating of course


Continuing with my ‘me’ theme – I started to work on my fish room. Fish room you say? Well – they need a place in my house too you know. Started with a crappy outdoor porch – that ended up a junk room. And I mean junk…

And I needed a plan of attack for this room…

And I was thinking I needed a bigger fish tank that what I had…

And I wanted a nice big hole in the wall (this is where the wife freaks and geeks)

So I enclosed it – green boarded it

Painted and prepped for a new tank

Installed a new tank – sanded the floors

Beautified, painted, and sealed
[img]http://users.zoominternet.net/~kncj//Living4.JPG/img]
As for the fish room itself…well. This is her – behind the scene.

Now you know why it needs a room.

[ShopVac]

Back to the Mrs – as complaints started brewing from me spending too much time on me stuff. Blah blah, I want a kitchen, blah blah. She doesn’t even cook.
Needless, need to make wine out of water…and a shit kitchen it was. Gotta love that carpet.

But…we lay down a little angled tile

Place in some paint and boarder

And a some back splash…that will keep her quiet, right?


Nope – DISASTER. My filters for the fish tank ended up exploding – dropping approx. 10,000 gallons of water in about a 10 hour period. Destroyed the kitchen, dining room, main floor hallway, main bathroom…and worst of all, my newly finished gameroom 

I ended up retiling the floor with a porcelain – that I ended up extending into the hallway and main bath



And – used all this to redo the kitchen (cabinets were not killed in the flood – but if I was going to do this, may as well go all the way. Besides - happy wife, happy life
Solid maple cabinets – quarts counter – stainless appliances (got right before the flood). I also kicked open the wall and took out the bulkhead in the process.

And added a little glass tile for the bling affect

[ShopVac]

So at this point – you’d think I’m done and happy. Nope. Wife gets the crazy idea to build up…as in take this ranch to a 2 story. And I begin to take on the biggest adventure of my life. This time, I’m not going at it alone. I need help…
I started out by cutting down a gorgeous maple…but – it wont fit with the new plans

The idea is to keep the existing roof, while placing on the new structure

And fully brace for my fishies

Here we’re putting in the new floor for the 2nd level. Did this while the old roof was in place

Living under tarps…to keep the rain out as best I could

Which…was sketchy at times

Starting on the 2nd level walls


Put in a full 6’ attic truss – tons of storage (and needed to hold my new HVAC units)




Once the new roof was in place, we began to take out the old roof

[ShopVac]

Once to the inside – the world became my own again. I at least made my wife stain the doors and trim…and do some of the painting (which I had to redo).
Floors going in…


Removal of my daughter’s bedroom – for our new living room.


Finishing up the outside








My Brazilian Koa living room.


We let our kids do their own paint scheme…my daughter hand painted the Nirvana – In bloom bass line in hers

While my son chose a Pittsburgh Penguin theme


This railing took me 3 weeks – I hate these things

[ShopVac]

Since I've more than bored you by this point - here's a few finals.

What was our living room - became the new dining room


And how the house looked (prior to landscaping)


I'm currently working on the laundry room and the 1/2 bath down by my bar. Which will be finished with a manly stand up urinal.

This last addition ran me 120K (as I needed to hire for the outside).

Total living space is now 5442 sq ft, it has a 3 car garage, 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2 HVAC units. Last appraisal in 2013 was $395K....which isn't shabby for my $118K purchase

[sirdaft1]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

Since I've more than bored you by this point - here's a few finals.

What was our living room - became the new dining room


And how the house looked (prior to landscaping)


I'm currently working on the laundry room and the 1/2 bath down by my bar. Which will be finished with a manly stand up urinal.

This last addition ran me 120K (as I needed to hire for the outside).

Total living space is now 5442 sq ft, it has a 3 car garage, 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2 HVAC units. Last appraisal in 2013 was $395K....which isn't shabby for my $118K purchase

You sir win this thread!

[jtodd_fl]

Originally Posted by sirdaft1

You sir win this thread!

Yeah, that must've taken like a whole month.

[Lups]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

So - I've been working on my house since 1999. My place started out as a 3 bedroom - 1 1/2 bath that sat on 1.5 acres, with a county park in the back yard.

Sq footage was 2784 - and it was tight. But we got the house for a song and a dance, which allowed me to put on my first addition - a 2 car garage with an 18x24 master bedroom - 8x8 walk in - and a 10x16 master bath.

I did 100% of all the work on this myself - brick and concrete. Took me almost 2 years to complete working every weekend and evening I could. Not counting the garage as living space (even though I live there) this added an additional 624ft of living space to 3408 sq ft.

From the outside (sorry, no digital camera back then...it was all film)
Just after digging the footer

House Foundation

2nd floor walls

Brickwork

Garage doors

Master bath



Master bedroom (I'd show the walk in, but I' don't want the girls on this forum to get jelly)



Garage

Notice - no pole in the center. This was the main part of my design.


So - my song and dance for the house...it was on the market for 140K - I got it for 118K (had a really good agent that helped us). I did this entire addition for $26K - house was appraised in 2002 at $188K. Seemed to be worth all the work I did

Oh hell yes. This is awesome!

This is basically what I've done while home with the kids.

[EdM5]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

I did 100% of all the work on this myself Took me almost 2 years to complete working every weekend and evening I could.

Major bro

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by sirdaft1

You sir win this thread!

Originally Posted by jtodd_fl

Yeah, that must've taken like a whole month.

Give or take a couple days...

Originally Posted by Lups

Oh hell yes. This is awesome!

This is basically what I've done while home with the kids.

Originally Posted by EdM5

Major bro

Ahhh...thanks guys. I don't do any of this for a living (I'm electrical engineering), but seems to come easy for me. Always stated that if I ever lose my job, I could get into flipping. My biggest problem is finishing. I still have some smaller jobs that need done from this last go around (trim work and what not). But...slowly it gets there. It's just listening to the wife nag.

I'm actually close to remodeling the master bath now as well. When I put it in, I was on a tight budget, now things have loosened a tad. Need to set my priorities...

[Lups]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

Give or take a couple days...





Ahhh...thanks guys. I don't do any of this for a living (I'm electrical engineering), but seems to come easy for me. Always stated that if I ever lose my job, I could get into flipping. My biggest problem is finishing. I still have some smaller jobs that need done from this last go around (trim work and what not). But...slowly it gets there. It's just listening to the wife nag.

I'm actually close to remodeling the master bath now as well. When I put it in, I was on a tight budget, now things have loosened a tad. Need to set my priorities...

You win. This is sooo awesome.


Do you design it all too, or does the wife do that?

My hubby is as handy as I am, but he can't ever understand the concept I'm going after. I can talk for hours trying to explain to him why certain things have to be done in certain way and he hears white noise. When we're like 75% done, he has a moment of clarity and then I hear the most frustrating words ever...

"I didn't know you were after this kind of solution."

Right. Okay. Eat shit and die.

(it's our 10th wedding anniversary. I forgot it so now I need to make him look bad)

[swagon]

ShopVac amazing! I am impressed by people who have the dedication to do such things. And as the house has not fallen apart, you seem to do it right.

[kscarrol]

We are totally renovating our master bath though we are not doing it ourselves. I'll update with pictures when work starts next Monday.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by Lups

You win. This is sooo awesome.

Do you design it all too, or does the wife do that?

My hubby is as handy as I am, but he can't ever understand the concept I'm going after. I can talk for hours trying to explain to him why certain things have to be done in certain way and he hears white noise. When we're like 75% done, he has a moment of clarity and then I hear the most frustrating words ever...

"I didn't know you were after this kind of solution."

Right. Okay. Eat shit and die.

(it's our 10th wedding anniversary. I forgot it so now I need to make him look bad)

My wife has a hard time understanding some of the concepts - even things like taking a simple wall out to extend the kitchen...so she only puts her 2 cents in when I get the job 95% complete and sit on it for a while (I am, your typical man).

I designed both floor plans in cad, but had a company work on the elevation drawings and bill of material for the 2nd floor. From the inside...you cannot tell that either one is an addition. I just wish I was as good at matching brick on the outside.

Originally Posted by swagon

ShopVac amazing! I am impressed by people who have the dedication to do such things. And as the house has not fallen apart, you seem to do it right.

I don't even have a crack in the foundation yet...so I'm hoping to be good here.

I have 3 major beams in in this house - that if any were to fail, I'd be done for. One is with the picture of the car in the garage. It spans 26 feet and does not have a post in the center (as most homes do).



One is directly over my fish tank, and T's to a supporting wall.

And the main one is this...which consists of 3-2"x14"x30' laminated wood beams, sandwiched with 1/2" steel plates.



If this comes out - I just level the house and start over

[Mr Tonka]

Finally started the laundry room tile. Won't be finished up until later this week.