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Renovation - where to start?

34K views 495 replies 24 participants last post by  peanut 
#1 ·
Can anyone help me? We have a lot of work to do on our property. We need:

~ a new garage (our sill is under water for a few months of the year and the shingles are non-existent. This is a 1950s wonder.)
~ a mature 50' tree 10' from our foundation removed.
~ a new fence
~ a new kitchen (will need to be gutted)
~ new entryway (will need to be gutted)
~ refinished hardwood throughout, with some baseboard replaced,
~ and a structural engineer in to check our basement, which appears to be moving (as most homes in the area are!)

What order would you do these in?

The structural engineer wants us to gut the basement before he comes to look at it. Unfortunately for him we have a boarder staying there. We could move her upstairs, but that would mean emptying out my sewing studio. I could bring some of it to the main floor, but the reality is the rest of the basement has to be stored somewhere on site so we can access hubby's tools for the reno (we will be doing some of it). That seems to push the garage to the forefront of projects to be done. What do you all think?
 
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#2 ·
I would do the garage, fence and tree when the weather will cooperate. And then kitchen, entry and basement in winter.

Garage first makes sense to shift stuff from house while doing renos. But you will need space to keep materials and cut wood etc. When we gutted the house we rented a POD. It's a storage container that the POD company drops on your property, you store your stuff in it, lock it...and when you're done they come pick up the container. We had one for 4-5 months and it cost 800... I think. I'm not sure...it was reasonable but also 5 years ago. It did hold half my house though!
 
#3 ·
My vote - basement first b/c you *need* to do it. Its structural. Anything you do can be undone if your foundation isn't solid. Followed by interior spaces in which you live. You don't live in your garage nor in your tree & fence - KWIM?

How I'd prioritize the list:
* basement/structural b/c its a priority

* kitchen - are you keeping same layout? buying cabinets from big box stores to replace existing might be more cost effective. have you thought about re-facing your cabinet doors (if thats possible?)

* entryway - I've never heard of needing to gut an entryway before. Is this a re-do/update?

* garage - build in summer/fall when weather is more pleasant

* tree

* fence

Now that I look at how I just prioritized the list, it seems like its do the most expensive thing first then work your way down. Kinda like a reverse debt snowball LOL Hmm...maybe the tree after you've fixed the basement?

Again, this is how *I* would tackle the list.
 
#4 ·
Thanks Libby. It's a 1928 house with walls too thin in the entryway to support the new door and jambs that are currently on the market. And we have to replace the door because we have a broken doorknob in a size no longer made. Yes, we've checked salvage places and ReStore with no luck. It used to be a porch and someone did a real bad reno of it. :( ...in the 70s.

The tree will probably come out when they do the basement because we think it's what's causing the basement problems. Big tree = big roots. My guess is the structural engineer will recommend it anyways.

Yeah, my gut instinct is to do structural first. Unfortunately it is not the best thing to get a good return on investment. :( We only have a maximum of $36,000 CAD to work with for everything!
 
#7 ·
Well I talked to hubby and he doesn't want to do the structural...period. I am a bit amazed at that response. It was the contractor who recommended getting a structural engineer in. But, like I said, the structural engineers wanted the basement gutted before they would even come, and hubby won't do it. I think someone is in deep denial...

I foresee a very cheap selling price for our house when it comes time to sell. Hubby has no idea what a suspect basement/foundation does to the selling price of a home. Maybe I need to call in a realtor for an estimate.
 
#8 ·
I agree with others....structural first then the rehab/cosmetic work. Why does your husband not want to deal with it? Even if you are not selling yet, it is putting you and your boarder in danger. You are opening yourself up to litigation if something happens to your boarder and you did not address the problem.
 
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#20 ·
I agree with others....structural first then the rehab/cosmetic work. Why does your husband not want to deal with it? Even if you are not selling yet, it is putting you and your boarder in danger. You are opening yourself up to litigation if something happens to your boarder and you did not address the problem.
Omg, yes! This should be done like yesterday. You are charging someone rent in a dangerous situation. Do they know about the problem?
 
#12 ·
I like citrine's idea - have the pro's do a walk through and offer suggestions. I mean don't say a peep about what needs to be done til after they've given you their initial assessment. And when DH starts to discredit the first RE agent, have another one come in from a whole other company on the other side of town if possible.

A home inspector walk through costs around $400? Its good info to know but I wonder if they can use the same home inspection against you should you decide not to fix the items on their list and sell you home?
 
#13 ·
I have no idea Libby, if they can use it against you. I think here everyone gets their own inspection done before they buy. The basements are so bad in this part of Canada that no one trusts anyone they haven't paid a good deal of money to. In all fairness, when we bought this house the inspector told us the basement had been repoured. We had no idea what that meant. Now we do! Wouldn't have touched the house if we had known then what we know now. Hindsight is 20/20.

You're right, hubby is a brilliant man otherwise. But mostly can't be bothered with the mundane practical things of life. He freezes up over them. I feel somewhat sorry for him, but on the other hand am not willing to pay the price for his neglect when it comes to safety issues.
 
#14 ·
Tree. First rule ... stop the bleeding. If the tree is causing problems, it needs to go now. Besides if the tree falls the wrong way, you might end up getting foundation work or the fence sooner than later (or for that matter a new entry and kitchen).

Garage. Make it really nice because you might be camping in there or setting up a make-shift kitchen in there.

Foundation work. ALL foundations move, you just need to know if the house is worth working on, though. While the engineer might sound expensive, the recommendations might end up being very inexpensive ... gutters, landscaping changes, etc.

Front door sounds scary but I have re-done a front entry including re-aligning the porch. With the cost of the door and hardware it cost about $1000 - $2000 (don't ALL home projects come in increments of $1000?) It really wasn't that bad.

Fence might be an insurance claim. You're waiting for a really good storm to come through. Seriously. My brother is an insurance agent. When he saw I needed a fence he told me to wait and he'd give me a call when it was the right time to submit a claim. We took the insurance money, upgraded the quality of fence and ended up getting something very nice. Of all the projects we've done, that was probably the easiest and least painful. If your kitchen is on the rear of the house, install extra wide gates so a contractor can pull up a truck or dumpster into the backyard.

Kitchen.

Floors.
 
#15 ·
Okay. Talked to hubby today in a general way, just throwing out 'what do you think?' and got a commitment to phone a home inspector to come look at the place. It's been 18 years since one was in here, and we need to reassess where we're at. As long as I keep my cool and handle him with kid gloves, we might be able to get something done.

Cookie Lee: The fence will go when the garage is being built because part of it has to be removed to make way for the new garage, and it will have to be reconfigured with a new gate, etc. So I think we'll be doing those two at the same time.

Here, if you make an insurance claim the adjuster has to actually come out, assess the damage, and decide if you can make the claim. Our last fence blew down in a windstorm. The insurance company would only cover us for a basic cheap fence. And the neighbor's and our deductible covered that, so the insurance co. would not give us any money for a new fence. In this neighborhood a cheap fence would be considered an eyesore. Everyone has 6' cedar (or higher) or even stucco walls around their yards. It's an upscale neighborhood. Way over our heads!

Tree is going to be axed when the snow melts. Still have 3 or 4 feet to go. :rolleyes:

The cost of the door and attached sidelight alone came in at $1600 in the Home Depot quote we had done several years ago. We had to have a special size/type for the front of the house. Because the front door knob is broken off we figure we do not have to worry about being broken into. No way to open the door! :lol: We have a dead bolt that probably helps too. ;)

Our entry also has old painted oak paneling lining the walls, and a very narrow closet with no doors, because it's cheek by jowl up against that door sidelight. We can't remove the door sidelight because the contractors we've had in have all said "Good luck matching the stucco on the exterior of the house"! One company wanted to just board up the sidelight on the exterior and leave it! Really??? In this neighborhood?! I can just imagine what the neighbors would have to say about that! What I really need for the front entry is an interior designer to tell us how to handle that situation better. I have a feeling the answer will be a smaller closet.
 
#21 ·
Yes, she knows the problem. But she does not have a good grasp of English. It's not like the building is going to fall down, but the basement floor is cracking. We have to wait for the snow to melt before we can call in a Home Inspector. They need to be able to see the outside of the foundation too. Thankfully the boarder is away till summer now. So we have access to the entire basement for inspection.
 
#22 ·
Phoned the locksmith. He's coming tomorrow to fix the doorknob. Total cost will be about $100. Hubby doesn't want to fix it, he wants to replace the door, which entails making the wall thicker (ie. adding drywall) and refinishing the entire entryway. I don't care. I want a doorknob on my door! Call me weird, but I really think it would be easier to have a front door doorknob on the exterior of the house. :rolleyes: If we want to redo the entryway later we can.
 
#23 ·
Well the locksmith cancelled today but we booked again for tomorrow. Hopefully he will get here and get the doorknob installed. We have an International student coming to stay a week with us tomorrow evening. I don't want him trying to negotiate from a car on the street to the side door of the house. There is a long slippery icy patch there that hubby hasn't been able to keep under control. It's about 6" thick, so I don't blame hubby at all! It is just a big mess while all this snow melts.
 
#24 ·
I can't understand why the existing door frame in the entry would not work for a new door. All you should have to do is fir out the interior wall the door goes into so it's the same thickness as the new door frame. The new door would be supported within its own frame, which in turn would be attached to the wall studs on either side of the door frame. It shouldn't even be a very complex or expensive job.

IMO, it doesn't make much sense to do much of anything till the basement is corrected. If things keep moving before the basement is fixed and/or correcting the basement causes movement after other work is done, you may end up damaging the other work you just spent a ton of money on.
 
#26 ·
Great job on the doorknob for only $100! I'd prefer to have a door knob on my front door as well despite potential plans for updating & reno's...you just never know when those reno's will start right?

Bearable, temp, cheap & cheerful fix for your front entry? Have you thought of painting your paneling? A gallon of paint with primer is under $50 could totally put a smile on your face and tide you over til reno time :)
 
#27 ·
Libby, you're thinking my thoughts. Only one problem. There's that one section with no paneling on it. Don't know what happened to it, but it's been gone for a long time. I think I'll talk to a friend and see if we can do something about the front entry when hubby goes away on a conference for 3 days in a week or so. Hmmm...
 
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