General Contractor, Be Your Own or Hire a General Contractor

Bathroom in need of a renovation

Folk lore tells you that you can save a lot of money by being your own general contractor. Yes, you can. Is saving money your first goal, or is finishing your project on time and budget your first priority? No, general contracting is not as easy as you might think it seems. Being a general contractor requires a history of craft,  networking and experience, an ability to judge the competent from the incompetent. Anyone can call themselves a contractor; not everyone is insured, licensed, knowlegeable, trustworthy and skilled enough to work in your home. Showing up on time, and on the day promised, is half of the challenge of being a contractor. If my experience is any measure, way too many don't posess this skill. There are various reasons for this state of affairs. Some contractors are completely lacking in courtesy and will not telephone you to say that they are not coming on the prescribed day. Another set of contractors have no intention of demonstrating this skill and yet other contractors are intending to fulfill this expectation, but more often than not, they do not. Realize that some of this is intentional choice by the contractor, some of it really is a simple lack of organization. A contractor may show up the first day to receive a check to start the job, yet not do any work. You'd be sure to show up for pay if you hadn't done anything yet, wouldn't you? Alas, they may not return for some time to start work, rather disconcerting to say the least. Be sure to find out exactly how your contractor works or intends to work...and get it written down specifically in your contract.

Kitchen in need of a date with a contractor

How do you get a handle on this? This is where the experienced general contractor, and a written signed contract comes in. The experienced contractor knows who is going to show up on time, come in on budget and finish on the set time frame so that the whole project stays on trajectory. A contractor that stiffs you in one way or another, sinks your time schedule. One week without that subcontractor working means you are at least one week behind schedule...and likely more like a month behind schedule because you have to find another contractor to do the said work.  That new contractor might not be able to commit to you for another month because their calendar is filled for the next month. A competent, experienced, general contractor has a little black book of numerous "subs" who he can alternately go to to perform the same work. She or he will know who is flexible, reliable, and competent and, she will have alternatives up her sleeve to get your job done. You do not have this font of knowledge to draw from. If you take on the general contracting your own project you will need to interview contractors after collecting information from trustworthy friends, family and acquaintances.  You will want to know what contractors they have employed that have demonstrated trustworthy competent work. Consider this professional font of knowlege, when you are deciding whether to hire a general contractor or not. Every general contractor is not equal.  The best general contractors have the ability to identify competent work, quality craftsmanship, and trustworthy subs. You want this knowlegeable contractor working on your house, don't you?

Give serious consideration as to how much you can save, weighed against how much the blunders of an incompetent contractor could cost you in money, time and product. You are in the driver's seat, just consider these points seriously before you make your decision.

Stairs, Hardwood Pine Treads, Stair case,Finish Carpentry 

Staircase with hardwood pine treads

As the total gut renovation continued with new sheetrock and paint, it precipitated  reconstruction on the center staircase in this house. The new sheet rock required new moldings, though we did choose to keep the original hardwood pine stair treads which were lovely  and had great color. You don't realize it when you are not involved in construction, but a staircase is just an added element in the house and it does not automatically fit right into the interior of the house. It requires quite a bit of fitting and finish carpentry to make it look as if it had been there naturally and forever. Gaps of space exist between the wallboard and the wooden sides of the staircase. This space needs to be pleasantly eased into connecting the wall and the floors.

hardwood pine treads, white risers, transition molding on top of staircase edge

hardwood pine staircase treads

In this case we left the treads of the staircase the original golden hardwood pine. The sides were painted white.  On the top edge of the white sides of the stairs, was fitted a narrow molding, painted white. This molding was to transition one surface into the other, to cover the gap in the spacing of the two elements, and to add a decorative touch of molding to match the other fine finish work in the house. The riser on each stair is painted white, and the bright reflection of the white riser looks super contrasted to the grain of the hardwood pine. The molding edges of the sides of the staircase were also painted white. The walls of the staircase are painted "Lovely Bluff" a Valspar color we picked up at Lowes. We have been very pleased with the Valspar paints. Previously we only used Benjamin Moore paints, which are a very high quality and make the work very uncomplicated. When we moved here to the Eastern Shore of Maryland there are not many Benjamin Moore paint dealers and the price of a gallon was nearly $50...well beyond what we were used to paying for it in New York. We tried the Valspar and so far so good. After much painting it is our go to paint.

finish moldings on staircase

finish carpentry bottom of staircase

Posted 12th November 2012 by http://shoresidefarmhouse.blogspot.com/

Burst Pipes, Water Damage, Flood Recovery, Drying out the house

Pieces of the ceiling collapsed onto the floor
because of the flooding from the broken pipe

There is something about a disaster like this that can overwhelm you. Your footings are swept out from underneath you literally and metaphorically. It takes some time to right yourself and plot another course. Of course repairing your home is the goal, but it is a full time job that you didn't have yesterday. So, in addition to your usual job and responsibilities you are now a contractor, like it or not. Some insurance companies give you a choice of how much you want to be involved. A friend had this same event befall their home, on a smaller scale, yet their insurance company offered them the choice of hiring their own contractors or, to choose to let the insurance company send them preapproved competent contractors who would just take up the lead and fix it all. She wisely let the insurance company organize the attack on the problem and it was solved rather quickly. We were not given that choice. We became our own contractors, like it or not. When you know no competent contractors...this is a painful learning experience. Interviewing contractors, and sizing them up, is a daunting task.

If the house is not dried out quickly enough,
mold will grow and require mitigation

Blower on right was installed to dry out the house with
large fans and heat sources

When dealing with a flood, time is of the essence. You must deal with the flood in its entirety immediately. Drying out and ripping out the damaged wet building parts are essential to controlling mold. The drying starts immediately, the ripping out starts once the drying out has proven impossible to achieve. Three days is the limit pretty much accepted as the time it takes for mold to start growing. If your flood damage sat for three days before it was discovered or dealt with, mold is surely part of your problems. By day three you have a mold seeds planted and growing. Mold mitigation is a whole other deck of cards that requires another skill set, one you learn along the way. Step one is to bring in a mold hygenist. I think that was her title!. She tested surfaces for mold to know what mold will have to be exponged. You will need a demolition crew in to remove all damaged building materials, like sheetrock, insulation,flooring, moldings. Next a mold mitigation company comes in to clean up all the blooming mold spots. Bleach alone will not solve your problems. Bleach used alone provides the mold with a host upon which the mold can thrive. The mold mitigation company will apply by sprayer, either ice or sodium bicarbonate solutions, at high pressure, to remove the mold from the previously flooded surfaces. This kills all mold that remains. Until this mold work is done, nothing else can be done...NOTHING!

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Steel beam header

center supporting wall on the opposite side of the house

The wall between the living room and bedroom is a supporting wall. A supporting wall can not be removed at will, or the house is at risk of collapse.  The load of the structure of the house must be transferred to other means of support. The removed wall must be supported with temporary removable support in order to be replaced with an adequate header. After rebuilding the header will carry the load of the house previously supported by the supporting wall. In this case a steel beam will be put in in place of a wooden header. It had greater efficacy financially and structurally. The steel beam will required but two upright supports in addition to being carried by the outside walls of the house. 

Stripped wall between living room and former bedroom

Steel beam set in place supporting house

Saddle welded to the steel beam to secure its position

post supports the steel beam

This project was started by planning a substitute temporary support to replace the wall. It was done by propping up the wall with 2x4 studs. For a short time, an hour or so, studs were wedged in between the floor and the ceiling joists next to the existing wall as the temporary support. The wall was then removed and the steel beam was lifted into place. The steel beam is supported by posts with saddles welded onto them. The beam sits in the saddle on the posts, and the saddle is welded to the beam. This is the alternative system for replacement of the supporting wall. Do not try this yourself! There are specific load calculations that must be done by an expert to insure that the load will be carried adequately.

Gutta House, Gut job, Gutted Out, Complete House Renovation

All on the first floor has been gutted out. All electrical has been soaked and had to be removed. The main electrical box was not in that area and was preserved.


Nothing is left on the first floor, it is bare to the dirt of the ground.  The blown in insulation has been completely removed.  The fiberglass bats have been removed, all flooring in the home has been removed and discarded.  Wind roared through the space for about two months because the crawl space hatch was left open to the inside of the house by the demolition contractors. It was exposed to the elements because of the removal of the floors which went right down to the removal of the sub-floor.

All upright interior walls will be removed. This space is going to be restored by creating an open floor plan. One bedroom will be reconstructed. It will be moved to the opposite side of the downstairs floor of the home. The bedroom-livingroom wall is being moved to create clear view of the body of water behind the home. The home will have a clear wide broad water view of a cove that opens onto Tangier Sound of the Chesapeake Bay. Moving the bedroom forward will free the back walls for installation of more windows to see the beautiful view.

Disaster pix...yuck, Renovation needed

Bathroom spewed with iron sediment from burst hot water piping

Iron sediment dripping down walls from flooded floors above

Ceiling and floor damage..it all had to go

Note the footprints in the water soaked carpeting

soaked ceiling tiles dropped to the floor below

Bathroom below flooded by burst pipe upstairs

Before and After, In the beginning....

Before: the burst pipes disaster

We did have a beautiful cottage. Everything was clean and perfect. We worked tirelessly to save the money to buy it, and very obsessively to make it perfect, clean and up to date. It was a perfect residence for escaping the world and tuning into nature and the water. It was bright, had beautiful water views and beautiful waterfront location in a lovely community of delightful neighbors. Then the damned nut on the hot water faucet split open and ruined the whole house while we were away to New York on vacation. Nightmares in day time soon prevailed. I will record what is happening here for our friends and family. It is really unbelieveable to anyone who knows the place and knows us, to think it has come to what it is right now. We might as well have been located in hurricane Katrina, when you look at what the burst pipe wrought. http://housedamagephotos.blogspot.com/

Here our story and photos begin. They will go on, and the tale will go on while the whole reconstruction and demolition continues. Drama, that's all I can say to describe it. Lots of drama.

We entered through the kitchen door, on the left is what it looked like when we left for vacation. Below is what we found when we came in the kitchen door.

After:ceiling on floor, inches of water, iron sediment from the hot water tank which emptied after the pipe burst

The floors are flooded and the ceiling is disintergrated onto the floor. It soaked and then collapsed crashing onto the floor below.  As I said, lots of drama.... 

Kitchen flooded with water seeped from flooded bathroom abov,e resulting from a bust water pipe