Home Improvements

[Yeti]

Full block basement.

[Geowhizzer]

I still haven't started my deck yet, father in law was supposed to be helping us with it starting in June.  He ended up moving to Maine instead.  So i'm either a. Going to take off the trex and attempt to redo all of the underlaying boards, or just scrap it all and go from scratch.

What part of Maine?

[Seabiscuit36]

Houlton is the closest big town, but technically a town called Linneus, ME.  The house they've been building for years is finally finished, and they made the move up there full time.  Its just beautiful up there. 

[Diomedes]

I believe you posted photos of that place once.

What's the deal with the deck? 

[Seabiscuit36]

Yeah, thats the one.  Its finally finished after 6 years of construction by locals in Maine.  The workers make it perfect that they're all retiring now.  farg the people up there. 

Anyway, my deck is farged.  10 years old, trex or some composite variant.  The underlying wood supporting the deck is rotted out as in you can take a screwdriver side thru side.  Our best guess is they cheaped out building the structure and went with regular wood, and painted it thinking that would hold up.  Dumb as farg.  So what i have is a deck that is collapsing all over.

The plan was to go ahead and just rip it down and start over with it, then you spend a shtein ton more than you expect on other stuff.  My plan now is to just remove each composite board, number them, and rip out the old stuff, throw some new wood in, and be around 1k to get us 5 years or so out of it.  Just to hold us over until we have extra capital to get the deck we want.  What sucks is i'm dangerous with wood working, and have very little trust in doing something by myself each night.  Hoping my buddies can help me out since they've built some impressive shtein, but who knows.  I wish i had a tree near it so it could collapse the farger.   

[Diomedes]

How is the deck supported from the ground?  Posts in the dirt? (Presumably with concrete poured around them).  Are they rotting?  Or maybe it's on concrete footers poking out above grade into which the posts are set?  That would be nice.  What dimensions are the posts (4x4 or 6x6 (?)  How is the decking (Trex, probably) fastened?  It's face nailed ?  Screwed and plugged??  Blind fastened using clips that catch a groove on the material and pin it to the joist? 

You're talking about rebuilding your deck.  If you're going to do that, do yoruself a favor and don't go to all the trouble just to build the same shtein you already have.  Spend the time and money on something you want.  Block off access to it in the meantime with boards across the doors. 

Seriously...you want to reframe a deck that you don't like anyway just so you can put back down the zesty old trex .... for what you think will be only five years but will really be fifteen.

Anyway...answer my questions if you like.

[Seabiscuit36]

How is the deck supported from the ground?  Posts in the dirt? (Presumably with concrete poured around them).  Are they rotting?  Or maybe it's on concrete footers poking out above grade into which the posts are set?  That would be nice.  What dimensions are the posts (4x4 or 6x6 (?)  How is the decking (Trex, probably) fastened?  It's face nailed ?  Screwed and plugged??  Blind fastened using clips that catch a groove on the material and pin it to the joist? 

You're talking about rebuilding your deck.  If you're going to do that, do yourself a favor and don't go to all the trouble just to build the same shtein you already have.  Spend the time and money on something you want.  Block off access to it in the meantime with boards across the doors. 

Seriously...you want to re frame a deck that you don't like anyway just so you can put back down the zesty old trex .... for what you think will be only five years but will really be fifteen.

Anyway...answer my questions if you like.

Deck is supported by 4x4's which to my best guess from what I've seen from an extra post throwing in the yard, is 4x4 with a concrete steel support.buried underground.  I can did it up tomorrow, but based on the extra one i found i have to think that's what they used.  I'd obviously like the 4x4's to be 6x6 but that's a want not need.  Those footers all seem to be in great shape, though they're 10 years old and 4x4 which for some reason scares me.(Sissy).  The Decking itself is composite,its not pretty like it was before, but i can deal with it.  The fun part is we're the third owners, first built it, 2nd were lazy and did zesty fixes, and now us.  So you have the deck screwing bits for a good part, then flat nails across a good bit from the second owners in areas where they "Fixed".  Makes me think the deck fell apart really around 2008, and its just hanging on.  its just nailed into the zesty joists right now, i have a good bit of joists fasteners i just inherited.  Additionally the deck isnt lag bolted onto the house,

That's the problem where were at Dio, i want to do so much, money isn't there, and we just don't want to over extend ourselves.  At the same time i don't want a zesty deck that we hate.  The existing setup really isn't ideal either.  Just need to get a contractor out i guess to see what type of vision they see before we do the easy fix which is only short term. 

Ping me if you want additional info about the setup, i can shoot you over pictures of this mess to give you an idea.  I'm just happy i got zesty internet here again.  its a T1 shared between 40 houses, but its the first step to getting something viable. 

[Zanshin]

Okay, I'm getting screwed by a GC. Very long story short, we hired a guy (referred, and checked his references, etc) to do an addition on our house. The addition is mostly in place, but a lot of finish work remains. It was supposed to be done at the beginning of August at the latest.

Because of credits, etc. that the guy owes me, I don't owe enough left for it to be enough of a lever. In mid-August, the guy decided to change careers and went to business school in London. As soon as he left, his workers left, for the most part. I've been in contact with the guy often, and it's one excuse after another about getting his guys here the money they need to finish the job. At this point, I still don't have a working kitchen and I only have one working bathroom. It sucks. I went to pay this guy's brother a visit at his house (he's also an owner), but he's playing dumb and now they've dissolved the company.

I'm getting with a lawyer about it tomorrow, but I wanted to see if anyone here had a useful perspective.

[Diomedes]

you're already doing what you can...see what the lawyer says before doing anything

it is very likely you will need to get someone else in there to finish it, but I'd run that by the lawyer before getting on it

this is a nightmare scenario

do you have any carpenter friends?  what still needs to be done?

[hbionic]

Definitely nightmare...

I'm sure your lawyer will see if the bonds the guy had (if any) can be retro-actively sought after (retro-actively because the suit would come after the dissolution). Maybe that is where your recourse is. I don't hear of too many GC's go to jail.

I'm not sure what the laws say, but it seems as though you would be within the statutory limits.

***You can always play a trick on him...get the name of an old source of his...and say he came highly recommended from said source. He probably won't question it because it is a source he probably has not been in contact with in a while. Tell him if he can give a quote, maybe its a fast job, but somewhere around the $25,000-$50,000 so that he thinks its worth his while to come out. Give him an address, have him knock on the door, have a 12 year old girl answer and make sure Chris Hanson is there to nab him. Or he can knock on the door, knock him out, put his body in a van and drive to a lake and sink it.

[Sgt PSN]

I'm sure Dio would dig the ditch to bury him.  He doesn't seem like the type to turn down work. 

[PhillyPhreak54]

Good luck with getting after him, Z.

I farging hate cheaters and thieves. Next time you talk to him ask him what his business ethics class says about farging customers in the ass.

Sue him.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I like guns.

[hbionic]

Good luck with getting after him, Z.

I farging hate cheaters and thieves. Next time you talk to him ask him what his business ethics class says about farging customers in the ass.

Sue him.

That's one of the things you do, regardless how this turns out...send a nice letter to the Dean, with receipts, names, dissolved company, everything you can...and let him know about the ethics of this dude...maybe you wait until this farg face has done one year of school...then you send this shtein to the dean of the school. I'm not so sure he would be a fan and he might get kicked out. Of course, he could also come after you.

If he threatens you, threaten him with fire. Nobody fargs with someone yielding threats with fire. Nobody.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Good point, amigo.

Being the revengeful prick that I am when someone screws me over, I'd write the letters for sure. I'd write them to anyone with close connections to him.

I would also file a police report for theft.