Remodeling projects.

[_paralyzed_]

Originally Posted by JERRY2KONE

Here is a link to my new thread over on the UE forum. I just do not feel like rebuilding the whole thread on here, because it would take me an hour or more to get it all setup in here moving photos. So here is the LINK

http://www.unlimitedengineering.com/...=23282&acon=39

Share your thoughts, and also enjoy the experience that I went through for our house in Vallejo, California. Cheers...

Gotta be a UE member to view it. F#@! Robin Oury and his overpriced crap.

[JERRY2KONE]

Originally Posted by _paralyzed_

Gotta be a UE member to view it. F#@! Robin Oury and his overpriced crap.

Sorry about that Harold. The UE site does allow visitors to look around so I am not sure why you are not able to look around and read through threads. In fact I just checked and there are 11 guests in there right now reading my thread.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by _paralyzed_

Gotta be a UE member to view it. F#@! Robin Oury and his overpriced crap.

Yeah, and I tried to sign up and never got anything back, twice. I guess the place must be limited, cause I am not there. Yeah, and the UE stuff always did seem pricey. Just a maxx truck even if it is made of al... Metal bends when you hit a tree, don't care how nicely it is machined.

Now on the read all of Jerrys pics and look at his words...

[JERRY2KONE]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Yeah, and I tried to sign up and never got anything back, twice. I guess the place must be limited, cause I am not there. Yeah, and the UE stuff always did seem pricey. Just a maxx truck even if it is made of al... Metal bends when you hit a tree, don't care how nicely it is machined.

Now on the read all of Jerrys pics and look at his words...

No its not that James. Things have been pretty much dead over there for quite a while now. Robin started two threads one year ago. The first was him sharing pics and info on his big move to a new location where he was setting up a new shop, R/C track, and remodeling an old house. The second was a shout out to everyone asking his members for suggestions about UE producing more or even new parts, but the only thing that ever came out of it was some new super shock kits, set back arms, and high impact arms. Since then he has practically been off the radar. I have tried several times to request any kind of info on any plans he might have for future releases, but he never responded.

Outside of that I have made a few good friends on there Just like I have in here, so I am in there daily exchanging conversation. So there are a few of us who keep open threads sharing info about general topics like this one going. R/C wise there are a few threads, but nothing spectacular.

[JERRY2KONE]

Slowly but surely the kitchen began to come together for me.

I was able to put three cabinets together and create a new island.

[JERRY2KONE]

Once I was able to get all of the cabinets mounted then the only contractor used on this project was called in to install the new granite countertops.





Finally this is what I was able to come up with.


I even used some of the old fencing posts and recycled them creating a home made custom pot rack.




Soon after I completed the kitchen the wife flew in from Korea and got to see the results. She was brought to tears seeing how beautiful everything turned out. She knew most of my plans, but there were extras that she had no idea about that were a total surprize to her. Once the kitchen was completed then it was time to get the rest of the house completed. Remember this was all done during a 6 week vacation period.

[JERRY2KONE]

Some of the work that was done I do not have very good pictures of, like the door between the house and the garage for instance. By law, and local codes it has to be a 30 minute fire door that closes automatically(spring loaded). It was very small and hard to get appliances and furniture in and out of the house. Considering that this was going to be a rental home I wanted to make it easier for tenants to move in and out of the house. So I removed the old door, re-framed the opening, and put in a code ready 42" fire door. Leaving tons of clearance for just about any kind of appliance or furniture to move in and out easily.

There were also four very large sliding glass patio style doors in this house. Why I do not know. They were way too large for the house and very old and ugly aluminum frame single pain doors, and the locks had been broken for years. I removed three of these doors, framed up the openings, and installed all new large double pain modern sliding windows. The fourth and final door was removed, re-framed, and a new modern security sliding door was installed for the back porch entryway.

The final phase of this part of the project was to replace all of the remaining windows in the house with modern sliding double pain windows. Replacing these windows was much easier, because they were all direct fit windows for the old openings, or very close so that framing was simple. At the same time while replacing all of these windows I figured it would be a good time to remove all of the siding materials from teh outside of the house. I removed over 1000 lbs of old steel sears siding, two walls covered with very ugly fiberglass siding, and two walls of faugh concrete stone style stuco. Removing the concrete was the most difficult part of the entire project, because of the sheer size and weight of this material. Although I did find a tricky was to get it off of the walls using a steel 3/8" cable. I managed to get one corner of the concrete loose and wrapped the cable around it, then I attached the other end to the toe-hitch of a huge Chevy Silverado truck and pulled it loose. It peeled right off of the house like a big piece of tape. BUT because it was all lathed together I had to cut it off piece by piece and remove it to a dump site. I did manage to get a few shots of this just as I started the job and once it was all down.

I also tore down two 10' sections of privacy fencing on either side of the house and rebuilt the fence and installed new heavy duty security gates for easy owner access. I replaced all four of the outside water spickets with new 1/4 turn ball valves. And I also had to create a new cement two step cement staircase for the back door. This will stay in place and eventually we will build a 400-500 sq ft wooden deck over it. I also removed the old front door, and tore down the entire glass entryway and reconfigured the opening to center the door and install a brand new beautiful fiberglass security door with triple latching system. Which allowed us to remove the 50 year old security gate off the front of the house. I also cut a mail slot into the front wall of the garage closest to the sidewalk, and built a new mail box system. This makes it easier for mail delivery, keeps the mail completely out of sight, and makes it so the resident never has to leave the house to collect the mail, because it gets deposited into the mail box in the garage. Another home made asset that saved money and time, and yet improved the overall workings of our home.

This was a pocket door leading into the kitchen, and I never liked it, so I removed it totally and opened up the entranceway to about 5 feet.




There was a huge fireplace smack dab in the middle of the livingroom, and man was it ugly. I just did not have the time to tear it down and remove it, so I repainted it, and built a wall next to it installing a closet on the back side and created an office space or even a fourth bedroom.

[JERRY2KONE]

Overall the place turned out quite nice compared to how it looked two months prior. After I was able to complete all of the major projects I replaced every inch of door, window, and floor trim molding and installed all new 3" moldings to make the place look more modern. In the last two weeks of my vacation my wife and her family came in and painted the entire interior and cleaned the place up. We had already replaced the roof, and had a brand new furnace installed, and the last thing we had done was to have another family friend come in and stuco the outside of the house with "Arizona Sunrise" colored stuco. One of our neighbors is a landscaper so he keeps the front and back yards tip top, and for a final piece of insurance we hired a home warranty program that covers the entire house structure and all of the electrical, and plumming systems including all of the appliances. The emergency call system is through the Sears company. With us traveling around the world we just don't have the time to worry or deal with incidentals like that. The house was rented out in Jan/2011 and the new tenants just love the house.

So who else has remodeling projects out there to share with us?