[lisa_the_dinosaur]

How about buy an acre of land and build a house. It will only take 3-4 years. Just saying, Im not building it....

[westwing]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

I assume you are referring to Chinese dry wall or pex piping over the natural germicidal nature of copper? You also have many more illegals and or very low skill laborers doing much of the work in the past 15 years. My 60 year old house has had far fewer issues compared to my parents brand new lennar in a 55 plus community.

Actually Pex are superior than copper in many ways after many days of researches. They came from and made in Germany.

[hvexpatinct]

Originally Posted by CTbrooktrout

I think the parts that should be in question and being compared would be framing, concrete/foundation, pipes, and electrical. Things like drywall, flooring, and other aesthetics would most likely be torn out in an older home, at least that's what I'm planning to do, and would be using modern materials.

Has anyone seen major structural issues come up after a home inspection failed to discover them?

The prior owner of our house demoed a load bearing wall and flubbed the replacement header. Our second floor sagged about 1/4"-1/2" in several places before it was remediated. Inspector didn't find the issue - it became a problem when we furnished the two rooms over the beam.

[westwing]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

I did something similar. I bought a 1940 house in Fairfield in 2003 that was in sagging condition, and did a whole bunch of work on it.

The house was/is structurally sound, and I did no additions or major structural changes. But I did rip out a soffit over the entrance hall to create a 2-story entrance hall, and put a wide transom window on the second level, right across from the upstairs balcony that looks down on the entrance hall.

I gutted the kitchen and put a whole new one in. I changed the configuration so it was gutted right down to the rafters. All new plumbing and electrical was required, plus a new floor and of course new cabinets, counters and appliances. I also put in a much bigger bay window to replace the smaller windows I had previously.

I replaced 3 sets of sliding doors with French doors, and had corner cabinets installed in the dining room. There were two rooms that were added on in the '70s and they used plywood for the floors at the time. When I got rid of the wall-to-wall carpet, I had slate floors installed in those rooms.

I replaced the shower in the master bath with slate. I also replaced the sinks and vanities in all three bathrooms.

Later, I put on a new deck, added a patio in the back, put in all new windows, and had fieldstone put on the front of my den, which upgraded the whole look of the front of the house.

I had a very good contractor and have used him multiple times, every time I have another project.

The most important thing I would say is that once you start a job like this, there will be a million things that you never thought of that will pop us as the job goes along, and it will always cost more than you originally anticipated. Make sure that you start with a realistic cost estimate for the work.

how much for all these? 100k? can you pm your contractor?

[Konig1985]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

I assume you are referring to Chinese dry wall or pex piping over the natural germicidal nature of copper? You also have many more illegals and or very low skill laborers doing much of the work in the past 15 years. My 60 year old house has had far fewer issues compared to my parents brand new lennar in a 55 plus community.

It all depends. We first hired an American contractor to do our work and result is utter disgrace (trying to rip us off at every turn and turning up sub standard work). I fired him and hired a hybrid mix of guatemalean and Chinese. Project was on time, exceeded my requirements and came slightly under budget. 3 years and not a problem so far. We spent roughly 70% of what the Realtor thought.

[Konig1985]

Originally Posted by westwing

how much for all these? 100k? can you pm your contractor?

Sounds close to $200k

[Lalalally]

I'd be interested to know too. On the verge of deciding whether to start moving forward on a kitchen remodel, or to put it off another year. Although we're not yet at the point of having received any estimates, my gut is telling me it's going to be about 45k-48k investment? Anyone out there who has done this recently? Would love to know what I should realistically be prepared to expect. Please feel free to pm me if you don't want to post on the forum. Thx.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Lalalally

I'd be interested to know too. On the verge of deciding whether to start moving forward on a kitchen remodel, or to put it off another year. Although we're not yet at the point of having received any estimates, my gut is telling me it's going to be about 45k-48k investment? Anyone out there who has done this recently? Would love to know what I should realistically be prepared to expect. Please feel free to pm me if you don't want to post on the forum. Thx.

I will send you a DM. Jay

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by westwing

Actually Pex are superior than copper in many ways after many days of researches. They came from and made in Germany.

The power of lobbying and advertising dollars I'll take copper any day for its anti-microbial properties alone.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by Konig1985

Sounds close to $200k

That's correct.