All Forum Posts by: Just Don

depending on who your marketing to the units. Any chance of single mothers with small children? Ever try to bath an infant or small child in a shower?

Saying that, cant quite picture the set up. Are you saying there is room for a standard size 60 inch long tub or not? I would NEVER special order/ buy one smaller.

Small people take baths/95 to 99 % adults take showers unless they grew up with or recently 'forced' to tub it.

Make the shower,if thats what you have to do, as large as possible with a pan, then covered in river rock pebble floor,,,and ceramic tile the walls , over red guard,over cement board, over good insulation if its an outside wall,,,roxul is best, does NOT support mold like fiberglass,,,its spun from rocks.

They also make a product you use INSTEAD of water when mixing your grout and its permanently sealed, forever,,,or use epoxy grout.

Plastic or fiberglass enclosures are a joke and dont last from noon to dinner. crack, leak, get ruined often,,,are inferior product,,,and need special care, which renters dont EVER do. Last expensive one guy cleaned with a hammer and screwdriver,,,needless to say it has holes now. No more, all ceramic tile for me,,,easy to install once you do a couple. Good looking and timeless if you use something like shiny white subway tile, I happen to like 4 bye 4 cause uneven walls work better than large tile, they are cheap, about 10 cents on sale,,can easily replaced and pieced back in with perfect match. Sorta idiot proof.

same way with bath and kitch floors cept use light sand color in a 12 bye 12 size. Careful to keep some texture to it so not slick getting out of shower with wet feet, or walk in with rain or snow on feet slick. I use "Dunes" style in "Destin" color.

I am in process of second identical bath remodel,,,who says you cant copy from unit to unit so dont have piles of left overs,,,I can use parts and pieces from one to next. Keep a 'few spares' and be done.

I cant post pics, too old and dumb,,only could send pics to somebody on phone if they could post them here.(for me)????

I appreciate all your responses and sentiments. I really did type the letters in in my title,,,they disappeared someplace. wasnt trying to invent new speak.

Got burned on this house big time with a worthless contractor who skipped out on me with my money,,,so I am back to diy since about all I can afford.

Even after telling people how it is to be done, turn your back and they are back to doing things there way,,fast dirty and substandard leaving me to clean up what they screw up.

Afraid if somebody did this they would be using mastic instead of thinset powder,,,not back buttering,,,not using waterproof membrane.

My friend who helps me some says I cant use 'Redguard' any more cause he doesnt like the smell. We had to quit one day cause the plumbers ran us out with the stink of plastic pipe glue. Never smelled anything so bad and had pounding headache for 8 hours after. I agreed on that one.

Its not like the old days when your word and contractors word was worth a hoot. Tired of shoddy work that wont even pass code inspection and I paid for it,,,then getting to tear it out and do it right.

Anyway I am off to abuse my arthritic hands another day,,,back later tonight.

btw I do have a tile saw that works well, a nippers, not using my notched trowel since it leads to over application when buttering and wall spreading,,,I get by better with a 6" putty knife so thinset doesnt creep up thru grout lines,,,,spent days correcting that gaffaw on first bath done. Cant find my paint/grout mixer for the drill tho,,using my old tater smasher.

Am using the little bumps on tile sides to space. I really like doing this,,,,maybe I should go pro,,,, not

Anybody do their own tile? Now or previously? How do you speed this project into high gear?I admit I am slow,,,being a newbie.

I stood there a solid 11 hours today and got a measly 2 and a half cases of 4 1/4bye 4 1/4 tile laid over the tub for shower. Each case is 100. That is only 'half' the shower surround alone,,,then doing the walls in 6 bye 6 and the floor in 12 bye 12 all in the only bath.

Then probably do kitchen floor in 12 bye 12 also.

Going to use that grout mixing agent that you use instead of water,,,never have to seal grout, ever. Any body have any experience with this stuff> good or bad?

And how to speed up process a bit???(I didnt take any breaks except to whiz twice.).

Okay, I whimped out and changed my mind and will use preformed Well Craft modular so I can use there lexan cover. A guy that does 50 such wells a year or more say those even need waterproofed.

The change came when figuring out windows are a foot out of the ground and casement window needs that room to swing out for egress

And I dont think wooden ground level wells will pass code inspection without covers for safety.

I hate to shingle over. Shingles dont last long enough anyway and shingle overs only last 1/2 to 2/3 of years of all new.

What I want to address is shingles are short lifed a bunch from 'cooking ' from the bottom. 95% of houses have poor inadequate ventilation.Dump all those turbine vents, bubble vents,gable end vents, even power vents,,,,they all dont work as well as you think and shouldnt be used any more.

Strictly ridge vent, with soffet vents and open space up every rafter bay. With insulation baffles to keep them open. Even on a calm day you wont believe how much heat is naturally chimneyed out the top. cant get old style to pass that much.

If soffets cant be opened for air intake there is a special vent you can shingle into roof

I have seen roofers do a real hack job on new roofs, careful who you hire. One of those jobs best direct supervised by eyes on roof,,,or d i y to be sure of what you get,

What part of country you live in makes difference on how much ice and water and "30" pound felt to use,,,most pro roofers want to use 15 pound!!! Plus shortcut flashing process.

a no-brainer, pex hands down. You can do it its so easy. Hardest part is learning how to unroll it to keep all the 'e''s out of it.

I bought a neat tool box with compartments for my fittings,one for 1/2 and one for 3/4. you use 3/4 from line in to meter,and a short distance out of the meter to a manifold,then 1/2 to each run to fixtures.

use cool little holders as you run with it. Take out ALL lead and old galanized pipes out of old houses also unless you like cleaning screens and faucets every time you shut water off to fix omething. Ol style faucets didnt have those and passed crap thru.

Lead pipes either supply or drain is a sign of extreme old age and best sold as scrap metal. Same as old cast iron drains when walls are open. Good pipe to make your scrap load weigh up real fast.

Copper from any pipes or brass can also be recycled and you will see how much or little they trash your house to steal it.

WHEN, have you ever seen where a tenant washed a window?? I havent,

on first floor I figure a step ladder from ground should work fine. I have no seco tilt in herend floor windows but if I did they would be double hung tilt in to wash(for me). Other option is to take out lower screen and reach outside to wash top of outside window. Bottom of single hung

Did some more looking at Mennards. What 'looks better, constructed from wood. metal corrugated type,,,or the pre formed plastic(has a built in ladder).???

I also looked at landscaping blocks, and ultra deck timbers but they are too heavy for blocks and too expensive for ultra.

Regular treated 2 bye 10's cost about 65 bucks a window, metal 200 bucks and same for plastic

What would you do?or neatest thing you have seen?

on my new reno I opted to go electric because space for flue thru roof just not there, plus those side wall vented gas, just expensive.

On a related note, having NO chimneys thru the roof will result in much lower utility cost. Chimneys are worse wasters as they flue hot air out 24/7/365. So a hi eff. furnace vented with 2" pvc plastic pipe saves alot plus so easy on gas bills. Electric heat is considered expensive here, dont know for sure. A small house with insulation and newer furnace will heat for about 125 bucks a month max. in coldest month and less as its warmer with gas.

You will find any park on its own well and septic to be a much better looking deal,,,when if fact they are not. Buy only if they are on city water and sewer or equivalent. Dont ask me how I know.

Actually been there done that,,,water and sewer regs are getting tighter by the day and will result in a closed court at your expense.