What No One Ever Tells You About Renovating Your Home: Real-Life Advice for Hassle-Free, Cost-Effective Remodeling (What No One Ever Tells You About...)

240 Pages·2005·1.57 MB·English

by  Alan J. Heavens

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in re-
gard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the pub-
lisher is not engaged in rendering legal,accounting,or other professional service. If
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fessional should be sought.
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©2005 by Alan J. Heavens
Published by Dearborn Trade Publishing
A Kaplan Professional Company
All rights reserved. The text of this publication,or any part thereof,may not be re-
produced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heavens,Alan J.
What no one ever tells you about renovating your home / Alan J. Heavens.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-4195-0157-7
1. Dwellings—Remodeling. I. Title.
TH4816.H39 2005
643′.7—dc22
2004026172
Dearborn Trade books are available at special quantity discounts to use for sales
promotions,employee premiums,or educational purposes. Please call our Special
Sales Department to order or for more information at 800-621-9621 ext. 4444,e-mail
[email protected],or write to Dearborn Trade Publishing,30 South Wacker Drive,
Suite 2500,Chicago,IL 60606-7481.
To my wife, Ellen Gray—
she knows why.

C O N T E N T S
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
PART 1 RIGHT FROM THE START 1
1. Is This Trip Really Necessary? 3
2. To Move or Not to Move 6
3. Make Haste Slowly 10
4. Maybe If You Cleaned Up a Little 13
5. None but the Brave 17
6. Just Because It’s New 22
7. How Much Should You Do? 26
8. It’s Never as Easy as It Looks 31
9. It Never Ends ...Well, Almost Never 35
10. Bigger Isn’t Always Better 38
11. Mind the Neighbors 41
12. Don’t Renovate to Sell 44
PART 2 ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES 51
13. The Perfect Match 53
14. It’s All in the Plan 57
15. Your House, Not the Poor House 59
16. Point, Click, Answer 64
17. No Job Too Small 68
18. That’s No Lady, That’s Your Paycheck 71
v
vi Contents
19. Word of Mouth 75
20. Keep It Legal 79
21. A Handshake Is Never Enough 84
22. What’s Your Name Again? 86
23. No Deposit? The Contractor Will Return 89
24. Don’t Take No for an Answer 93
25. Materials Matter 96
26. Nothing Lasts Forever 100
27. Homeowners, Sweet Homeowners 103
PART 3 STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN 111
28. Danger, Will Robinson! 115
29. Up on the Roof 119
30. A Moldy Oldie 122
31. The Air That We Breathe 126
32. A Flicker of Hope 130
33. Closing the Gaps 134
34. Plumbing the Depths 138
35. Running Hot and Cold 142
36. What’s Bugging You? 145
PART 4 THE GOOD,THE BAD, AND THE UGLY 153
37. You Can Live Here Almost Forever 155
38. All Work and No Play 159
39. How Low Can You Flow? 163
40. All Hands on Deck 167
41. A Tankless Job 173
42. Don’t Feel Insecure 176
43. Will It Wash? 178
44. Oh, Dry Up! 181
45. An Idea That Doesn’t Always Hold Water 184
46. Not Just a Hole in the Wall 187
47. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes 190
Contents vii
48. Move Along, Old Paint! 194
49. Park It There, Pal! 198
50. How Does Your Garden Grow? 202
Internet Resource Guide 209
Index 215

P R E F A C E
T
he debt I owe to my first contractor is greater than the $10,000
I paid him to wreck my first house 21 years ago.
The contractor,the brother of a friend,promised I could have any-
thing I wanted. I got nothing I wanted. Just about every promise was
broken. Still, we kept our end and paid him.
The ten-day job took six weeks. We assumed it was just about
over when the toilet in the kitchen had been returned to the first-floor
powder room. It still took a while for it to sink in that the contractor
would never return. When I was absolutely convinced that the tile
man who had been promised to me to finish the kitchen countertop
also would never show, I licked my wounds, bought a book on dry-
wall installation, and began tearing out the contractor’s efforts to
build a usable laundry room. I learned to tile, too.
After a few years and many more disappointments,I began shar-
ing what I’d learned with the readers of the Philadelphia Inquirer
and about 400 newspapers around the country.
I don’t wish to mislead you. This is not a do-it-yourself book in
the sense that you’ll be able to drywall a kitchen when you finish it.
What I’m hoping you’ll come away with is a sense of empowerment
that will put you, the consumer, in complete control of the renova-
tion process from the moment an idea pops into your head to the day
that your idea, or an acceptable version of it, can be seen, touched,
and enjoyed.
Instead of teaching you how to drywall, I want to provide the
skills you need to hire the right drywall contractor, to determine
whether you want new drywall or restored plaster,and to understand
ix
x Preface
the basics of the job and get exactly what you’re paying for—or know
the reason why you don’t. Most how-to books oversimplify drywall
installation anyway. Most professionals typically do it better, faster,
and less expensively than a do-it-yourselfer. I know. I’ve done my
own for 22 years. Each time I’m finished, I ask myself why I didn’t
pay someone to do it.
That doesn’t mean I’m an enemy of doing it yourself, just that
you should rely on common sense when deciding what jobs you
want to take on. If you think you will learn something or want to have
something to be proud of, go right ahead. If you think you’ll save
money,think twice,especially if you don’t know what you are doing.
You are bound to spend more.
According to Bob Pares of the Roper Organization,do-it-yourself
has come to mean more than just picking up a hammer. Do-it-yourself
has become “a feeling of self-reliance.” Consumers want to inject
themselves into the process so they can exercise greater control and
ensure a better outcome, no matter what the situation is. For most
consumers,doing it yourselfis more “knowing it yourself”or “man-
aging it yourself.” Knowledge is the key to self-reliance.
I also hope that the contractors who read this book get a sense of
how we consumers think and feel and that they adjust their attitudes
and business practices accordingly. I’m not trying to hypnotize con-
tractors into believing that the customer is always right. Nor am I
saying that contractors are always wrong. I’m simply saying that there
is a middle road to success,and I hope I’m able to show you that way.
The willingness to listen and to compromise is what raises states-
men above the level of politicians. That same willingness to meet
your contractor halfway, and for the contractor to meet you there as
well, will guarantee success for your renovation project.
Your home is the biggest investment you’ll ever make. Any change
you make to your home should increase your investment, not sub-
tract from it. Too often,however,we do the wrong thing. We add on
when we should move. We embark on projects that make our house
too expensive for the neighborhood. We spend more money on a proj-
ect than we can possibly get back. We get into more debt than we can