I'm in the early stages of planning a fairly ambitious renovation to my condo, now that the wife's condo is done and on the market. The project(s) will be a combination of DIY and professional work, though the ratio hasn't quite been determined. Most of the DIY will be my wife and I. I'm fairly handy and she's a pretty good 2nd set or hands. We'll also enlist some help from my father (more for his experience) and brother (for moving and lifting) at times. After the first project, we'll have a better idea of what our limits are.

We're still a few weeks off from starting any work and the main work won't happen until the other property sells. The renovation will involve every room in the first floor (on concrete slab) 3 BR 1.75 BA, ~1200 sf unit, with the majority of work being the in kitchen and baths. The bedrooms will get some cosmetic upgrades, but nothing too substantial.

Some of the major work items:
Replace most flooring - existing carpet and ceramic tiles with either engineered wood or ceramic tiles - possible DIY
Repaint Cabinets and vanities and replace hardware - likely DIY
Granite Counters for kitchen and baths - likely professional, but may find pre-fab
Scrape Ceilings - almost throughout - professional
Replace Kitchen Appliances (electric) - possible DIY

As each project approaches I will likely have more specific questions, but was hoping for some general suggestions when planning to attack the DIY projects. Any input aside from the standard double the schedule and budget?

One specific question - when removing existing ceramic tiles, would you suggest renting a "jack-hammer" or just use prybar and hammer?

Thanks in advance

 

For the ceramic tile you don't need a jack hammer. Consider putting the new floor right on top of the old, or get a small sledge hammer to wack the crap out of it.

When you put the new floor down, make sure the slab is level. If it isn't, level it. In my dining room the previous owner didn't have the floor leveled when they put wood down on top of the slab. There are low spots where the floor pops. It's a beautiful floor but the popping is so lame.

 

I don't know about puting the new floor on the existing tiles. I think I would have trouble with matching other areas and at doors.

And for the record, when I say "jack-hammer" I'm talking about the one's specifically for scraping the quickset off the existing slab - not for busting up concrete pavement.

 

Let me know if you have any more electric questions. Good luck, and we'll need pics

 

Well, I confirmed that the hood is on a 15A circuit that is shared with a host of other lights and receptacles. Looks like this idea is out of the plan, as I don't know how we would run a new circuit in the condo.

I still don't quite understand why a standard microwave can be (or at least usually seems to be) plugged into any outlet without a problem. I don't see how the hood lights or fan would increase the current that much.

 

Yeah, I figured the hood would be on with that other stuff. We would always run a dedicated 20A circuit to a range hood just in case someone wanted to replace it with a microwave in the future, but a lot of other builders wouldn't do that. How old is your condo?

You usually won't see a microwave plugged into anything but a 20A circuit. It's possible to run it on a 15A, but if you have any other stuff on that circuit it will likely trip a breaker pretty often.

My uncle re-did his kitchen and thought he could just move the microwave to another wall and put it on a 15A circuit. Now he has to turn the kitchen lights off whenever he wants to use it.

 

The place was built in 1969 as apartments and then "converted" to condos. The "conversion" was all paperwork, no physical work to the units was done - i.e. no washer/drier hook-ups

 

No washer/drier? That sucks.


Just curious...Do you know what size panel box you have??

 

Tell me about it. One of the major reasons we are fixing up to sell and buy a house.
Not off-hand. Roughly about 8"x10" I would guess. There are 5-double pole (20A?) breakers and about 10 or 12 single pole (15A?) breakers.

 

Learning about electricity is fun.

Okay, I took a closer look at the panel and did a bit of research (on Lowes.com ). ALL of the breakers are 20A. Except, I guess the Double Pole breakers are 240v 40A. The double poles look very similar to this:



I don't think this is going to help matters much, since it is still not a dedicated circuit for the hood.

 

This maybe too late for you, but while I was building my house I found this forum to be an amazing source of information. Mostly folks doing their own reno/build, some who just did the design and hired out various parts. Some of the posters are pros and are very helpful.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

Work hasn't really started, yet. Just replaced a few light fixtures. Too many other things going on at the moment to start any serious work. I have done a bit of research and called a few contractors/companies.

Anyone ever have popcorn/acoustic ceilings smoothed? About what did you pay? This will probably be the first "major" item we have done. Only talked to one company so far and they said about 300-500 per room (depending on size) for scraping, texture and paint. The $300 doesn't sound bad, but $500 seems a bit high.

 

We just completed a semi-major kitchen refresh; replaced tile floors, counter tops and backsplash, sand/repaint cabinets/new hardware, new sink and faucet, repaint walls.

Small kitchen, major dollars. We had mexican pavers that had to be removed. The guys ended up buying a small jack hammer like device for about $80 from Home Depot. It worked great took one day for about 100 SF removal. It also deposited dust in every room in the house even though the doors to the kitchen were closed.

We went with ceramic tile floors and backsplash, Corian counters and a composite black sink. My wife chose everything and we are pleased with the outcome. The only work I did was picking up everything and of course paying the subcontractors. I found a place on the net to buy hardware and saved almost 75%.

 

It took a day for 100 sf and that's working great? Must have been some pretty solid and secure pavers.

Kitchens and baths will be done after the ceilings. Our plan is very similar to what you did in the kitchen, but most likely granite countertops.

 

Sorry, more like 200sf. I floated them over the slab more than 15 years ago. Real pavers are irregular and not flat. That was the correct way to do it even my new guys said. But they were surprised I hadn't used thinset. That's one reason I hired someone to take it out. Money well spent imho.

Oh, also my guys were at least in their mid sixties, possibly older. In this Central Valley heat they could only work 5-6 hours per day and slowly. I paid by the job not by the hour.