Home Improvement Today?

Better you than me!

 

We got a quote on May 2 for vinyl siding installation. We've called or texted once every couple of weeks asking for an estimated install date and was never given one. We called the office yesterday and the lady said that quote is not good because materials cost has increased. I get a text this morning saying they will start next Tuesday, but I've not been told the new cost. If I don't get an updated quote before installation, can I make them honor the original quote since they took so long? We've tried to stay in contact with them but they wouldn't return calls or reply to texts. We've had this company do work before, they do good work, and they also have a good reputation. I do understand all the issues with the supply chain and labor shortages, but if the cost is going to be more they should let the customer know before they show up and start installation.

 

They need to give you an estimate prior. I wouldn't take it out on the crew that shows up though, but the foreman would probably know if you can't get ahold of anyone before they show. I don't know the legality of it all though.

Let me know what you end up paying though. The best quote I got out here was 12k with siding, soffits, eaves and gutters.

 

Is their office close enough you could go see them face to face?

 

Fun fact:

Its incredibly hard to get a sheet of OSB with a 5 month old blue heeler in tow.


Started fixing a soft spot in the floor. Rotten subfloor cut out and replaced with OSB. Also moving an air vent to this spot from in front of where my new door will be going.



Dunno why people rave about LVP. Seems like sneezing on it during install causes it to crack. Got frustrated with trying to reinstall it last night, had to stop before I made it worse. Gonna try again this evening.

 

Same!!!! Hated carpentry work!!

 

30 minute drive. I think the guy giving quote's is also installing it. I just wish I could call and get ahold of him.

 

Hmmm. And no office lady? Or wife that does the books?

 

The lady I talked to before sounded like she had been there for a while, the one my wife spoke to (who said the quote was wrong) had been there 6 weeks.

 

Update on the porch. Finish the front.










Is it easy to clean the joints? A few area I would like it to be cleaner.

Someone told me a pressure washer would clean it nicely.

 

Looks good

 

Thank you, Sir!

Certain area to me could of cleaned better. Atleast there a porch that isn't sagging.

Might have to find another landscaper.

 

Maybe a good pressure wash would even things out

 

Just got done. Far from perfect, but I made sure to plan the last piece (hardest) to go under where Im moving the fridge to. Glad I did, cause it looks like shit lol. But once the fridge is in, and I get a suction cup thing to close some gaps (gotta slide the entire row of planks in from the wall, as I gotta bit carried away with the hammer) it will look like nobody was ever there.

Bucket of nails is covering a spot that needed a little glue. Stupid dog came by and scratched at the vinyl after I was done, ripped a little piece of the print off. Thankfully I caught it and was able to glue it back down.


All this started cause I wanted to put that duct there. Shouldve been an easy job.

 

Pressure wash or maybe wire brush.

 

You'll find that Heeler puppies will chew or dig out anything that isn't nailed down. Indigo, our male, chewed a plastic car seat anchor cover when we had him in the back of the wife's Highlander without a crate.

 

Yeah shes a digger. Always finding random crap buried in the backyard.

 

Finally got around to finishing the floor. Things are moving at a snails pace now that I'm working on building my dream shop + my stair parts are taking up a bunch of room... so I guess the stairs are kind of taking priority.

A couple of weeks ago the floor was flattened, trowel-filled, and then finish-sanded up to 120 grit.


I decided to do a final 120 with my palm sander. Overall it gets a better finish than any of the big machines. Plus getting your face 3" from the floor helps you see if there's any other grit marks and whatnot. It came out really clean.




Fast forward to last night. The floor kind of just sat for a couple of weeks while I waited for a pre-color stain to ship out. Remember the floor was made out of factory seconds. They were beat up and a they're a mix of red and white oak. To neutralize the reds in the red oak and kind of make the floor more uniform, I pre-treated with Rubio Monocoat Pre Color Easy Mint White. The green in the mint neutralizes the red because it's on the opposite side of the color spectrum. It's a water-based stain, so you have to work in small sections with tape, skip around your sections, wait for it to dry, tape off the dry sections, and then proceed to the sections you skipped. It helps prevent lapping since the stuff flashes really fast. You can get a feel for how we did it in a small 100 sq ft office:










I'd say it made it more uniform. The look I'm going for is a very pasty almost ghost-white with cream grain.

So I let all of that dry fully; overnight. Then this morning I got up and applied the top coat. For this I chose Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2c in Cotton White. The Cotton White is kind of cream colored, and I figured it would give me the look I'm going for without washing everything out to just look like a piece of paper. I couldn't really take pictures during the process because you hand-trowel this stuff on, buff by hand, and then wipe-off the holy hell out of it. So here's the finished product -- sorry for the awkward angle. My camera doesn't do it justice; it wants to darken everything or blow-out the details. Doesn't help that the room has 1 window and 1 tiny pod light. In person it's probably 2-3 times more white and has some depth to it.


Here are some close-ups of the grain. I think this cerused effect is so cool for some reason. I think the close-ups give a better representation of the floor without blowing-out the photo lighting and detail:




Not bad for $1/sq ft boards. I spent more on sand paper and finish than the boards. Labor hours... I don't even know. 50? 60? Finally get to move on to painting the ugly walls and installing my cabinets!

 

i missed this one. Looks great

 

That floor looks amazing!!