Pat wrote:
On Oct 5, 8:16 pm, PB2 wrote:
Hi,

Thank you all for your useful responses. A few comments:

1) Yes, I would love to buy a house where the work is already done. If
I could have spent some more money to get a house where everything is
new, I would have gone ahead and done that. We weren't able to find a
house that met that criteria (or the ones that we did find were too
expensive). To be fair, this house is completely liveable as-is, just
dated (c. 1983 when the house was constructed)

2) I appreciate the gravity of time and cost required to undertake
these projects. My hope was that we could get these projects completed
for $80K-$100K and that the work would be done by the end of January
(leaving ~3 months for the work). Please go ahead and correct me if
these numbers seem completely off.

3) Here's what we specifically plan to do:
- Kitchen: New cabinets, appliances, counter-top, and floors. Not
structurally changing things, except that we're moving some electric
appliances around (refrigerator moves to where the dual-oven is,
countertop stove replaced with a range/oven/microwave and placed where
the refrigerator is). We're thinking mid-range quality.
- Bathrooms: 2 bathrooms, each 8x8 - completely replacing everything
and ret-iling, but not changing where things are
- Walls: Lots of wallpaper around the house (which we don't like), so
removal and repainting.
- Hardwood floors: Sand and refinish (we'll do at the end, as
recommended)

4) We stopped by Home Depot today and according to them, they have
general contractors that are a) reliable and b) affordable. Any
thoughts on that?

5) Size vs # of bedrooms: Yes, it's strange. The bedrooms are large,
as are the family and living rooms.

6) I hear the comments about slowly doing the work. We have a 15
months daughter who has severe food allergies. Not having a kitchen
for a few months would not be tolerable, hence the desire to complete
the work before moving in. We could probably wait on the bathrooms,
but the thinking is that some of the bathroom work could go on in
parallel.

Thanks,
PB

Just a few thoughts.

Swapping things around isn't expensive except that you'll need to
install an exhaust fan. That's NBD.

As for the bathrooms, unless the tile in the bathrooms are hideous,
leave it alone and live with it. It's what you would have put in
before, anyway. 5 years from now you'll hate the new stuff as much as
you hate the old stuff, but if you don't retile it, you'll have a lot
more bling in the bank. Same for the kitchen, except the little stuff.

Wasn't gonna say it, but that was my thought, too. Get a crew in there
to refinish the floors, strip the wallpaper and paint, but live with the
rest of it. Maybe new vinyl in the kitchen. Those 3 things alone would
help make it all feel a lot fresher. The floors and walls would be a
couple weeks for a competent crew with the right tools. Everything else
would take a lot longer. And if the kitchen cabinets are Real Wood
(still common in 83), you will pay a pretty penny to find like quality
today. A good cleaning and waxing can sometimes make old cabinets look
surprisingly tolerable. If the countertop is trashed, a swapout of that
is usually a quick job.

A 1983 house would be be a BIG step up the food chain for me. One of
these days, I'm gonna take a stab at cleaning up and spot-refinishing
these 1960 cabinets here, just because they are real wood, and not the
chipboard crap.

--
aem sends...