It’s Not Just A Job, It’s an Adventure
When you start a renovation project on part or all of an older house the scale of the work and the budget may seem daunting.
About the last thing you want to run into are surprises and headaches that will eat up even more of your time and money.
If you’re like me you want to plan it out get into it, maybe make a few necessary minor adjustments and bring it to a wrap at the cost you’d planned for.
Avoiding all the surprises and headaches aren’t always possible, but as the saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed”. If you know what lies beneath the surface you‘ll be better prepared to fix it.
In an earlier post I mentioned that add-ons and previous renovations can have their surprises for a variety of reasons. There are several simple things the remodeler can check out if you suspect you’re working in an addition area of the home. Bye the way, it’s a good idea to check this stuff out regardless.
You’ll want to know if the walls and floor are level and flat and if the’re square.
Check the height of your walls at several points along the wall.
Down to the carpet isn’t good enough. You have to get the measurement to the subfloor.
Are the walls flat? You’ll need a decent 4 foot level for this. Some guys like aluminum (saying it doesn’t warp over time, some say they do). The lines and numerals on aluminum levels are typically painted not engraved and painted lines wear off.
Other guys argue that wood will warp, especially if you live where it’s humid so you’ll want to keep it in a case.
Be prepared these aren’t cheap, but the jobs they do cannot be done with a one foot or 18 inch model.
Over time you’ll find it an indispensably tool, a straight edge, a plumb line, or for breaking drywall or backerboard. After you’ve grown accustomed to it, you can’t work without it.
Are the walls you’re working with square to each other?
Determining this is valuable but not crucial. Figuring this out involves a little more math than I want to go into here and many times small rooms like bathrooms are too small, crowded or irregular to do the measurements.
Some measurements you’ll always need to make are the width at the top, middle, and base and the height at several points along the wall. These will be critical if you’re working with paneling, new drywall or backer board.
Of course you’ll measure for each cut but the overall picture of whether you’ve got a square, flat wall is important before you start. Just recognize that in older homes and in additions they may not be.
Shifting occurs over a few decades and, or they may never have started out that way. Such are the challenges of renovation, but there are many ways to compensate for these inequities.