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This does not look good for our LBC.

DIY is great - up to a point. You have to know when to call in a pro. And you have to be physically able to do the work.

Both good points. It's why, when I remodled the kitchen, I did the easy part - tearing out the old stuff and hauling it to the dump - but had the pros do the installation (they made it look easy).
 
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I do most everything myself, mostly because I am cheap and I also feel good about my accomplishments, but also because I can stretch the budget a lot farther.

The big difference between me and a pro, other than cost to me of course, isn't the results, it is time, as I will in most cases take longer to do the job, and also not consider it done until everything is right.

Have done a lot of plumbing, we just did a full bathroom remodel, and not just replace fixtures, moved everything around, and a new garage addition on our 65 year old mid century ranch house, also took a closet out, drywall, trim, electric, heated tile floor in the bathroom. Built a fence, learned about underground sprinklers which I didn't have at the old place. etc., etc.

I Hire out concrete work, and bigger drywall jobs (I can do them, but takes me 3x as long as a pro), as well as bricklaying (that one I have never tried, but didn't want my learning efforts on permanent display, also I am sure I would be too slow.)

The "kids" (probably late 30s) that bought our old house said they would paint some rooms. They were not rich by any means, buying their first house, but she was going to hire it out, they "just don't do stuff like that". Painting was one of the first DIY jobs and I did, my wife does it to, nobody taught us, just did it. Still one of the easiest DIY jobs out there, our "old" house was newer, no wall repairs needed, just paint.

IMG_20190811_123728353.jpg lost a window when we put the garage in, had to match the old paneling (old to the right of the corner, new to the left)
IMG_20200208_220743346.jpg
IMG_20190707_130226624_HDR.jpg new fence
IMG_20190418_185839152.jpgtrimming out the garage addition
IMG_20190422_193913642_HDR.jpgIMG_20190505_173456790.jpgIMG_20190621_193754061.jpg
IMG_20180318_231534244.jpgnew bathroom
IMG_20171125_171759631.jpg
IMG_20171230_170931637.jpg 4' crawl space, not easy on the back.

There is much more, makes me tired thinking about it, glad to be back to cars for the most part now.

One thing I will add, there were a few more things I tried to contract out, but contractors around here are something else, hard to get estimates, or commit to a time to work, got tired of dealing with them and would do it myself.

Kids these days.
 
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Thanks Basil, three years into my 6 month plan, just about done.

:lol: Yep! Me too! Yet to set up a vanity 90° to the one there now. Plumbing, electrical and drywall work involved. Not my favorite work.
 
Same here, I like framing and working with wood, but plumbing/electric/drywall not so much.

When I remodel our bathrooms (it's on my list), the drywall is the thing I dread the most. Might contract that part out, we'll see.
 
"I do most everything myself, mostly because I am cheap"

Yup, this is me. I can also commiserate with a six month job taking several years.
 
Sounds like my kitchen. The guy handling the cabinets/countertops suddenly disappeared leaving all his tools. Found that while being honest with customers he'd been stealing from his employer and I had the bad luck for him to be arranging that stuff right at the same time they issues an arrest warrant. So no delivered cabinets or counters, but I did manage to knock together enough wood to have a functional, if not pretty, kitchen. Live and learn...
 
That's why we're having the pros do ours. We only have one shower, and they're doing it.

Told Mitsy I'd hose her off inna back yard while I replaced the tub with a shower... that didn't go as planned. :smirk:

Took a week to do the job, but it came out well in the end:

shower.jpg
 
Doc that's a nioce job for a non-prefab shower! I see three different shower heads - which one shoots the CAB?
 
What is the point of having three shower heads? I can't help but imagine that the plumbing looks like this in the walls.
curly plumbing.jpg
 
Walt said:
What is the point of having three shower heads? I can't help but imagine that the plumbing looks like this in the walls.

Choices. Overhead "rain pan" 'cause Mitsy likes it to wash her hair. That is on the upper control. The lower control is for the two heads at the wall, one high stationary and one on a flex-line. A "switch" to choose which one gets the pressure.

One friend said there should be a brass plaque on the wall with instructions, another said it looked as complex as the space shuttle.

Plumbing comes down from overhead, 10" apart, supplying both mixers. All CPVC. Output to overhead and wall are simple; overhead goes up between supply lines, wall goes to the right and up to the wall mounted head. Four lines, two diverters, all neat, straight routed. No "Spaghetti!"

Thinking about a pedestal sink as there is a closet with plenty of room to install a good sized cabinet for all the usual "clutter" items that end up on the sink top.
 
...

One friend said there should be a brass plaque on the wall with instructions, another said it looked as complex as the space shuttle.

...

memories, memories -

info.jpg
 
Yeah,that's all cool & everything,but were's the screen with internet access?
 
I think we have all discovered that the hovel is less hovellike that we all thought.
 
Doc, I could have told you that the "hose in the back yard" thingee was a fail.
 
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