All Forum Posts by: Alfred Edmonds

I would be concerned about a leak, or maybe someone is running a car wash. I am guessing from your profile that you are in CA if so, I would get someone over there. If they are separately metered can you make the tenants pay for their own water?

very common and harmless until it gets broken up. no need to remove it if it is in good shape, you can buy replacement shingles that match to repair broken ones. honestly that stuff will last forever if it is maintained and is the most fire proof siding there is. As far as renters not wanting it, I doubt they would have a clue what type of siding is on the house because most people don't know and don't care. Again, if it's in good shape it shouldn't sway you one way or the other. If it's in bad shape then it may be good leverage for negotiations

Hardie plank is great stuff, expensive but great. If you did vinyl, I would recommend not letting the installer just go right over the old siding if it is in that bad of shape, it can still for and cause problems. If you can afford hardie that's what I would do and have someone who has experience with it to install it.

Do all the Windows at your personal residence function properly? do you have cheap all over your yard?

I agree with @Terrell Garren. I would bet money on no room for expansion when installed, I've seen it many times. Also what someone said about heavy furniture can do it too. Like was said, pop a few baseboards and see if there is any room there should be at least 1/8". some installers don't pop the baseboards and cut right up to the baseboards leaving no room. I don't think you can blame the tenants on this one.

@Daniel O'Donnell forgot to mention that Kenny is local. Really, Kenny is the best especially for old homes- he can tell you where the cut nails in an old house were made and which blacksmith made them! maybe that's a stretch but he is really great

look up Ken Arnold. he's the best around period.

In New England, and I'm assuming that's what we are taking about, old houses are the norm. look around the neighborhood and if it's an old one full of beautiful old homes then if the #s work then yeah I would say it's worth it all day long. In my experience as a contractor the trend is restoration of old homes with the addition of modern amenities is what more affluent people are wanting. The old workmanship is way above and beyond what is being done today and people will pay a premium for that. One thing that will forever kill an old house is the removal of such details. It costs money to do this, more than just gutting and putting big box garbage everywhere but like I said, people will pay for it as long as the house is solid and the updates to electric, plumbing and hvac have been done. If one tries to turn a house into a McMansion in a neighborhood full of original Victorians the neighbors will try to block it and buyers will walk. It really comes down to #s and location.

I would agree that 50k is probably pretty optimistic if the house is being called a tear down no matter what your intention is for it. think for just one minute the cost of remodeling even one kitchen and bath and then times 3. Already I would bet you are close to that number so let's add roofing siding plumbing electric... you get the picture. even if you were to do all of it yourself I doubt you would be so lucky. I would really do some math on materials alone before jumping on this based on the 50k #.

I don't know Texas, but to me it seems right. Like others have said, I would get more quotes as well bearing in mind that sometimes the cheap guy is cheap for a reason... I wouldn't really look at it as per hour myself, I just see it as a job that requires a skill set that you don't have so you gotta pay someone who does. I just paid my accountant what comes out to 300 an hour if I look at it that way, but I have neither the patience nor the knowledge to minimize the amount owed so to me it is worth that.