anyone good with DIY home renos?
 

willing to help me out?
got some tips?
recommend any books?
websites?

looking to see if a DIY kitchen reno is a feasable option or should i just get a pro to do it.

Shao, if you have any decent skills with wood working, electrical, plumbing and/or drywalling, you could do it your self if it isn't a huge project. I'm doing my own kitchen this summer, which includes removing a wall, new cabinets, tile flooring and some counter tile, new lighting, drywall and windows. Some stuff I can do already, other stuff I'll need to look up on the net. There are lots of sites out there for home improvements. HD also has seminars on different things, but I've never been to them and can't vouch for the quality.

Hey Shao...it might appear to be impossible at first, but after a few trip to HD, you will be a pro.
I am willing to help you out with ideas, quotes, pricing, some manual labour and misc stuff.
Unfortunately weekends are filled with appmts with my 2 little ones.
Give me a call...

richard
778-773-1122 cell
604-325-7993 home

for the cabnets I recomended buying them form a company and paying to have them installed. I did this in my old house and I did the drywall, electrical, plumbing ect.. but it was only 300.00 to have the cabnets installed and well worth it.

Steve

I'll second the cabinets thing. My uncle worked as a cabinet installer for many years. He swears he'll never install another cabinet cuz they are such a pain in the ass. :)

I'm real good at tearing things down so far...... :rolleyes:

I do good work, but i'm slooooooow. I have been working on developing my basement for two years now, and it looks like it will be at least another before its all done. So if you aren't going to be needing that kitchen done before say 2008, I can help.

Funny, I think cabinets are easy to install. :smile:

Deb, haven't you finished the basement yet? :lol: I told you I could come over and add a addition onto the back of your house! Maybe attach it to the garage!? :lol: :lol:

Walter

I didn't say they were hard I just think my time that it would take to install them is worth more than the 300.00 I paid to have them installed.

Steve

Barry said he's ready to negotiate....when can you come over ? :biggrin:

i'm going to have to go against the general opinion , and say with a kitchen , you should at least seek advice from someone , if not have them do it . i'm not saying you can't do it , but i've been building homes for over 15 years so i do have a fair bit of knowledge in this area , and as far as renos go the kitchen can be the largest job .

a lot of people can and do ,do their own , it does depend on the amount you want to do, the timeline for completion and qualityof workmaship.

that being said trying to find someone good that has any time may be easier said then done. i hope all goes well for you


-Russ

very true, I did all the work except the cabnets but the kitchen was designed for free by the cabnet company.. all i did was redo drywall, move some electrical around and painted. but it wasn't a change in the aera only in the location of the majour apliances and the addition of more cabnets than were originaly there. most cabnet places will come to your house and measure, listen to your ideas and then do up virtual tours and such to show you the results.. if they charge for this they usaly knock it off the cabnet price when you buy.

Steve

Just an aside .. at my old place when I was re-doing one of my bathrooms, bathtub enclosure, I got tempted to rent a reciprocating saw to help tear out the old drywall around the tub. In the end, I didn't, just did it the old fashioned way. Once I got to the wall that, on the other side, was my stove (in the kitchen) ... there was a 220V line right up against the drywall. Had I rented that reciprocating saw I would have cut right through it.

I don't know why I bring this up, other than to suggest to expect the unexpected, and be stupidly careful when cutting out drywall. I would never have thought to cut the power at the breakers to my KITCHEN to work on my bathroom. I don't think it would have EVER occured to me. Mind you, I'm probably a lot dumber than most, so maybe this is obvious to everyone else ... but it was one case of luck-was-with-the-dumb that day.

thanks for all the input guys...

as for a timeframe...ASAP!!!!

so we were just at IKEA tonight and HD a few days ago... to get some ideas prices...

so do i just order all the stuff from ikea and then have someone come in and install it?

we will probably redo the whole kitchen, cabinets, counter and sink.

this is not going to be high end by any means... we just want to update it and clean it up a bit.