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Tear Down / Rebuild Project

Discussion in 'Home Improvement' started by Navi, Feb 7, 2021.

  1. Feb 7, 2021 at 9:01 AM
    #1
    Navi

    Navi [OP] New Member

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    To all the builders, architects, subs and anyone who's ever done a tear down/rebuild of their primary home... are there any materials in the current home that are worth keeping for the new build? Is it worth the effort to remove-and-reuse these various items?

    About 6 years ago we remodeled our home (took it down to the studs). It's a beautiful home and we love it but it's small. We've had two kids and we're outgrowing the house. With both of us working from home and the kids' stuff, we're busting at the seams.

    How much effort is required to get this stuff out of the house and use it again? Has anyone ever done this? I hate to see it go into the dumpster...

    - 5" white oak flooring (site finished), it's nailed to subfloor (not glued)
    - marble counter tops (kitchen and all bathrooms) - are these hard to remove?
    - cabinets in kitchen and all bath rooms
    - ceiling fans
    - kitchen and bath faucets and hardware
    - lighting
    - etc etc
     
    1UPPER likes this.
  2. Feb 8, 2021 at 5:56 AM
    #2
    Navi

    Navi [OP] New Member

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    Bump
     
  3. Feb 12, 2021 at 12:59 PM
    #3
    Cpl_Punishment

    Cpl_Punishment Young men never die.

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    Full disclosure: I'm no expert, haven't done much of this type of work and don't even like to watch HGTV with my wife.

    I would think the cabinets and light fixtures should be relatively easy to salvage. I would hope you can save the countertops given how expensive they are but I suspect that may be a challenge. I wouldn't think flooring would be worth it but I'm sure someone who actually knows what they're doing will correct me if I'm wrong.
     
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  4. Feb 12, 2021 at 6:40 PM
    #4
    Navi

    Navi [OP] New Member

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    I’m thinking the same. Would like to save the counters but they would be so heavy and i’d have to store them somewhere. Wondering if there’s a way to get the floor up without destroying it.
     
  5. Feb 12, 2021 at 6:47 PM
    #5
    Jim LE 1301

    Jim LE 1301 Camaro Lover, SSEM # 11,TTC#179

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    @1UPPER is the man with those answers. He will chime in.
     
    1UPPER and Navi[OP] like this.
  6. Feb 12, 2021 at 6:50 PM
    #6
    Navi

    Navi [OP] New Member

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    ok thanks
     
  7. Feb 12, 2021 at 6:58 PM
    #7
    Jim LE 1301

    Jim LE 1301 Camaro Lover, SSEM # 11,TTC#179

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    :hattip:
     
  8. Feb 13, 2021 at 8:25 AM
    #8
    1UPPER

    1UPPER Not A New Member

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    Good morning @Navi. Sorry I’m just now seeing your post.

    I’m a builder who has done a lot of remodels, additions and tear downs. A few other details of your home would help me consider various options.

    - What year is your current home?
    - Is your house on a concrete foundation or a pier and beam?
    - What’s the current square footage of your home?
    - Do you want to have a larger floor plan for all your existing rooms or just add more bedrooms and bathrooms?
    - Do you have an HOA in your area?
    - Do you have enough any close setbacks or property lines on your existing land?
    - Is your home on a septic system?

    Going through a full remodel or rebuild is definitely not for the faint of heart. But if your family is going to live else where during the construction and you have an experienced builder then the end results can be amazing.

    Hearing you discuss your current needs makes me think you may be in the situation where you need to look at having an architect draw up plans for your potential remodel, addition or new construction design. The benefits of having an architect draw up plans is you can then take the proposed drawings to various builders for bidding purposes. Something to consider with the current market is lumber cost are 40-50% higher at the moment than they were pre Covid. I would highly recommend you have a realistic budget with contingency funds for unexpected cost before starting any construction. I like to put together a lined item proposal together for any project, so my clients know where the cost is coming from. This can allow the client to increase or decrease the cost as things will often change as the project moves forward. Be careful if you get a proposal from a builder and they have allowances for materials like flooring, cabinets & lighting. Make sure they are realistic cost for the finishes you expect. Meaning you can actually get the materials you want within the builders allowance. I bring this up since this is something that can make you go over your budget quickly if your not careful.

    I alway have more questions and thoughts but let’s start here and see if this helps get the ball rolling. :thumbsup:
     
    TheBeast and Navi[OP] like this.
  9. Feb 13, 2021 at 11:07 AM
    #9
    Navi

    Navi [OP] New Member

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    Thank you @1UPPER for taking the time to review this post and respond. My wife and I both appreciate you doing that.

    Here's the answers to your questions:

    - What year is your current home? Built in 1978, updated in 2015/16.
    - Is your house on a concrete foundation or a pier and beam? Concrete Block foundation, crawl space
    - What’s the current square footage of your home? appx 1600 or so
    - Do you want to have a larger floor plan for all your existing rooms or just add more bedrooms and bathrooms? Larger floor plan (we plan to tear down and start over). We looked at adding to the home or even a 2nd floor but that was hugely expensive due to foundation issues.
    - Do you have an HOA in your area? No
    - Do you have any close setbacks or property lines on your existing land? Yes. I had a survey done in early 2020 so we know where everything is on the lot.
    - Is your home on a septic system? No. Connected to City sewer several years ago.

    Adding a few other comments:

    We own a (small) rental home about a mile down the road so we'll plan to live in that home while our project is being constructed.

    My wife and I have been working together to take detailed notes for the architect that we plan to work with in the near future. We carefully measured each room in our home and entered all of that into excel. Then we've taken notes about what we want to change and created a whole new list of ideas for the new home. We're hoping a combination of the new survey (which includes topo and tree survey), our excel sheets and Houzz pics will help with planning for the new project.

    Many homes in our immediate area (even on our block) have been torn down and rebuilt over the last five years. The area will support the values with no issue.

    But, what about all the flooring and countertops.. are they worth trying to salvage? Curious to know what other things to being thinking about
     
  10. Feb 13, 2021 at 11:45 AM
    #10
    TheBeast

    TheBeast The Beach

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    i was gonna mention lumber prices that went up like crazy.
     
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  11. Feb 13, 2021 at 12:19 PM
    #11
    1UPPER

    1UPPER Not A New Member

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    The countertops can typically be detached and reset pending you keep the same cabinet layout, sink locations and faucet locations. Otherwise you can have the existing countertop slabs recut and used for smaller countertop areas. It really depends on the cost from your builder though. You may find that you may get more money by posting your old stuff for sale to someone looking to remodel or update their house. This can can help offset your new house cost and you don’t have to worry about storying all the old stuff. This will also make the logistics a lot easier for you guys. I would ask yourselves if you want to have the same countertops or flooring you have now. If the answer is no, then you already know it’s not worth trying to reuse them. It’s unfortunate but often the time spent to detach and reset things doesn’t end up being as big of a savings if you aren’t already set on using them. Depending on your existing flooring and how they are removed you may not be able to reuse the floors again. It would be very cool to see some of the old wood floors be removed and used for an accent wall in the new home. Then you guys can have a wall to look back on what used to be part of your original home. Before signing a contract with your architect ask if he has any referrals from previous clients. I would make sure what previous clients experience were with their services. Make sure if they were happy with the services, cost, timelines and following through with promises. If you plan to do anything like a work shop or stand alone garage with heat or ac maybe consider salvaging your existing house HVAC system for that. You can probably make a good portion of money by posting things in the house for sale instead of throwing them in the dumpster pile. I’m glad to hear you guys have another home to live in during the construction process. This will help greatly! Be aware several things for construction materials have had long delays from Covid. Appliances, garage doors and most custom orders have had a lot longer delays recently.

    Most builders are only able to honor construction pricing on materials now for 30 days since the industry is seeing price increases so often. I had a builder friend who had his frame package for a 3,500 square foot home increase $45K in a two month period! Just make sure your aware of what your material cost are before hand in your area.
     
    Navi[QUOTED][OP] likes this.
  12. Feb 14, 2021 at 12:26 PM
    #12
    Navi

    Navi [OP] New Member

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    A lot of the material that we wanted to save, we'd very gladly use again but I have to agree with your comments about logistics being something that has to be considered. We would have to hire crews to take most of the things out of the house, pay to store it somewhere, pay to move it back onto the site for the new build and have it cut-up and reinstalled. When I think about all the time and effort it takes to do all that, i get concerned about all it would take. You'd also have to hope none of the countertops got damaged in that process. It just seems like such an enormous amount of work to move everything around and get it back to the site, hard to know if it's worth the hassle.

    My wife keeps telling me she can get nearly everything sold on FB marketplace or similar but i'm not on FB myself so i'm not sure what that might look like. She's telling me houses get parted out from time-to-time and there's always a lot of folks who want to get in first to use for their projects. I'm just not sure how much you can get or even what all this stuff is worth in the used market.

    I like your idea about using the HVAC for the work shop or garage area. I have a 20x20 shop I built myself for woodworking and we're thinking about expanding that area in the new project. It would save a ton money to use the existing HVAC for the shop. It might even help turn that into a in-law suite if we decide to go that direction and move the shop.
     

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