kazbern

Hi all,

Can anyone here share experiences with rewiring a house (to ground all outlets/bring up to code)? Just curious about the house size, number of outlets, and end cost.

Thanks!

Why rewire the entire house? In our old bungalow (no aluminum wires) we decided to ground the outlet for the computer and the one for the TV. No others were done until we gutted the kitchen for a remodel.

Pfister was unbelievably hard to get ahold of. It took months just to reach him. He said there was an llness/death in the family so all was forgiven. Came out (with son), spent at least an hour talking to us. Salt of the earth. Previous estimate had been $8,000. His was $1500 as he said it wasn't that bad. Set up a date for him to do the work and guess what? He never showed! At all. No call and then of course we couldn't reach him. Since HE didn't think the problem was too bad we let it go. Five years later, of course, we really need work done. Who did you find? Dawson evidently doesn't do pier and beam.

Michelle, I don't know who told you that Dawson doesn't do pier and beam, because they've done work on two houses of mine (one as recently as early June '09) and both were pier and beam. They've poured bell-bottom piers and leveled my houses on both jobs.

Give them a call.

Sorry Pfister's such an ass.

So let me understand... They are NOT open to the public?

From what I read, the public can donate stuff to the city, but only non-profits can take materials out of the warehouse.

Have you ever found a wonderful house but in a not so good location?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/garden/1...no_interstitial

My great aunt used to live in a house with train tracks in the backyard. When we'd visit I LOVED hearing the trains go by. I'm not sure they loved it, but they stayed in that house a long time.

Our current house is 1 lot in from Kirby. Not my favorite feature of the property, but it did make the house affordable for us.

I have an open carport that I'd like to make more secure. The opening is 20' wide. Does anyone have an idea of what a garage door installation will cost?

what about if I use one of those commercial style steel mesh grates instead of a door?

Thanks!

I need a third recommendation for a pier and beam specialist .... thanks!

Dawson Foundation Repair - http://www.dawsonfoundationrepair.com/

They've done two jobs for me. The first was on my block/beam crawlspace bungalow 5 years ago, the second was last week on my slab-on-grade pier/beam 50s ranch. I really like the team. I used to do foundation analysis for an engineering firm, and I can talk to Dawson and his project managers and know that they are giving me the straight poop. They've always been prompt, do what they say, clean up their work and have reasonable pricing (IMO).

A ravine property in Houston would be quite nice. However, if you are buying an existing home in a floodplain, you should know that the new code requires you to raise the home up if you ever do a remodel that exceeds 50% of the home's value.

For example, I am in the midst of repairing my home after a fire. There was significant roof damage and water damage. My insurance is great and we will have a beautiful home at the end of this trial, but I am so so so thankful that I do not have to add lifting the damn building above the floodplain to my plans. If I had been one house over I would have to face that additional expense; my neighbor's yard is halfway into the 100 yr floodplain. The floodplain touches the front of my lot, but the city agrees that we do not need to lift our house.

When my neighbors sell their old home (and they will try to in about 6 months), the buyer will need to know that repairs to the home (replace sewer lines, new roof, refinishing all the surfaces) might exceed the 50% limit and the city might require them to lift it. How would you like that remodeling nightmare!

Martin,

Chiming in late with a comment.

When we had our block/beam bungalow in Montrose worked on 5 years ago it was to shore up a sagging chimney. Dawson Foundation poured piers around about half the perimeter of the house and leveled that half. [Later we figured out that the sag in the house had more to do with rotten and termite-damaged framing under the stucco than failing foundation support]. They did a great job; I've just hired them to work on my current house.

They are running about $600/pier. They pour traditional bell bottom piers about 12' deep I think. I don't know how much they'd charge for a simple leveling job, nor if they'd even do that kind of work.

If your house is sinking along the back you should probably ask yourself why. Is there a water drainage problem? Is there a large tree sucking water out of the soil? If you cannot fix a water drainage problem and you want to keep your beautiful tree, it might be a good idea to put piers under this portion of your house to stabilize it.