All Forum Posts by: Brad Smith

I've been looking at buying a miter saw but there's lots to choose from.  Given the price range, I'd like to spend my money wisely.

For you true DIY'ers, what features do you need and are willing to pay more for?  My work in the past has been cutting with a hand saw or circular saw but it was small amounts of work.  I may need to be doing more volume now, need to be more efficient and productive plus I simply like having an excuse for buying new equipment.  :-)

Hmmmm....

Thanks to all!

For a property that will be rented to students, would you use flat or satin paint for the walls?  My wife is the painter but she asked me and that's out of my league so here I am!  I would go with the stain assuming its easier to clean but I look at things from a functional perspective, not so much aesthetic.

She also said there are "imperfections" on the wall, puddied up holes from old curtain rods, but that's kind of irrelevant to me for a student rental.  It's not high end.

Not bad for an old guy (61).  :-) 

Before

After

Aside from several cuts, scrapes and other injuries (working by myself so had to handle everything alone) I was happy with my work.  BTW, those WERE NOT modular cabinets, a carpenter lived there at one time and that was all real wood, nice wood and all built in.  It was an all day task but I think it looks way better.

Wife and I talked about reinstalling the cabinets at ceiling height but I like it much better being open like this. What do you think?  I don't think students need anymore cabinet space than what's there now.

The vertical structure at the end of the counter was the screen for the frig but I hope to move the wire hanging down (next to yellow shop light cord) over to the wall to the left and install new receptacle for the frig.  Because the wiring is pretty old, an electrician told me that I could open a can of worms for extending that line which might create the need for lots more than just a j box and more cable.

Recently purchased a student rental literally five houses off campus.  Paid cash because we recently sold a lake house that we weren't using and had purchased it because I wanted to diversify our investments.  Not comfortable with everything in stock market at all plus it was the only way to have a shot at this property!  

The house is old and became available when an elderly lady passed away.  So, there's lots that need to be done before offering this up for lease.  

Since the house is mostly a place to hold funds that won't nose dive tomorrow like the stock market might, I'm looking more at keeping our expenses low in making repairs but am expecting to not make a profit the first 6 -12 months just based on the costs of bringing the house up to where it needs to be. Since I'm not trying to cover the cost of a mortgage, this seems like a simply proposition. Hold property long term and costs above maintenance, taxes and prop mgt company are profit. Am I missing something? Planning to create LLC and hold all revenue in separate account. A simple +/- money in, money out.

Second question (I know two questions on same post is dangerous), what's a good source for covering our bases on the lease contract?  Have read other threads here which were all very informative.  Aside from a lawyer, any place I can go to "read more about it"?

Thanks!

My post referred to permeability into walls and they are drywall.  No basements.  

Since post, I've gotten two schools of thought.  One is to keep interior walls permeable (online references) and one is to try to seal them (experienced construction guy).  Of course, the outside wall should be the barrier to keep moisture out.  

John,

I've resigned myself to pay for the replacement of everything.  The evaporative coil is 5 ton (I'm told) and everything else is 3 1/2 ton which is where it should be.  I got a good price with 10% discount and it would cost more overall to have the contractor come back later to install the AC condenser part.  I actually work in a university maintenance organization so I have access to guys who are licensed in HVAC, plumbing, elect, etc and the HVAC guy recommended to match everything up.  He says it would cause problems.  He also liked my estimate.

Is paint vapor permeability a concern?  I called the local Sherwin-Williams and they have a product for reduced permeability called Resilience but it appears to only be for exterior use.  I may be jousting at windmills here but I was wondering if I need to choose paint that lowers permeability to lower vapor penetration into walls and reduce mold growth.  No, I don't know of any mold at present...