Final decision on door dilemna. My agent wants an outswing door that can stay shut during showings and open houses and slightly ajar during photos.
So I’ll order an outswing door. I agree that it might take away a small percent of buyer pool. And there aren’t a ton of buyers in this price range. If it was a mid price home with a ton of pent up buyers in low inventory I wouldn’t bother
Here’s a potential future comp featured in today’s U-T classified: http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-160046250-3295_Trumbull_San_Diego_CA_92106 Smaller house and much smaller lot than yours, but lovely home and views - other than the utility pole that features prominently in one bedroom window view. Not really fond of knotty wood cabinets but otherwise like the muted color in the kitchen, and the wood does go with the house. I like all the curves in walls, doors, and windows. Master bath seems to be open to the master bedroom so hopefully toilet is somewhere behind a closed door! Interestingly price hasn’t increased much since last sale in 2005.
Just looked through all the virtual reality pictures and found the the master bath toilet with its own door. Other toilets are in the open. Just FYI 
Very interesting comparable Marilyn. Unfortunately, we have a lot of utility poles going down all the alleys around Point Loma. Most of us just get used to it, but buyers coming from other areas don’t understand and really don’t like to see them.
I cannot tell if that home is a newer build, or whether it is original Spanish - have to see it in person. I kind of think the blue walls in kitchen is odd against the knotty wood cabinets, but I am sure it is lovely in person
Just loaded some photos of our progress today.
Speaking of deal breakers, a bathroom with no door at all is definitely that for me. Don’t think much of that house in general.
Is PEX tubing legal in San Deigo? I’m wondering why you don’t use it, it is much cheaper than copper and faster to install.
The reason we don’t use Pex tubing is that I think it requires certification and some very expensive tools for correct installation. Since we are only plumbing about twice a year I’ve never bit the bullet to get the special tools. I would need to research if it is allowed in our jurisdiction. Certification is not a big deal. We researched it and found a ‘manual’. You have to sign off that you’ve read the manual.
@coralbrook When you buy things like bathtubs for you flips, do you get them from places like Lowes and Home Depot? We’re about to replace a tub that has been broken a while and that was my plan, but I wonder if the quality is good at these DYI places (after replacing a kitchen sink a few years back that has scratched horribly). Not looking at anything fancy, just a soaking tub. But don’t want to spend all that $$$ on installation and it to be an eyesore like the sink.
I probably should start a thread for this question (& maybe will), but you probably have more experience than most of the rest of us combined!
I may not be the best person to ask about the highest quality possible bathtub. Because I remodel to sell, I am trying to get the best value for the buck. To buyers, a bathtub is a bathtub. Yes, there are different shapes and sizes, but I am usually installing a bathtub targeted for a kid’s bathroom (not a fancy master bath) and in the last 8 years noone has questioned the bathtub installed in a kid’s bathroom.
If you are replacing a bathtub into an existing bathtub location you have to go with the standard size of bathtub.
I would look at Home Depot first because they have the largest buying power as a retailer and will have a standard set of bathtubs available at the lowest cost. However, they also have a lot of higher end bathtubs available on the website that can be shipped to the store at good prices. Has to be picked up at the store and bathtubs are not easy just to shove into the back seat 
Higher end retailers such as fancy kitchen and bath showrooms will have top of the line items at top of the line prices. I cannot shop there for my projects - too many middle men involved and a lot of high margin items. Makes no sense to shop there for my type of business
SCHEDULE UPDATE
The bleeding continues but I think I see the end in sight. At this point there should be no further costs for framing materials. The large costs remaining are:
Window and door installation (all materials here)
Dumbwaiter install
Have to find special dumbwaiter doors
Drywall installation (all drywall materials are here)
Painting (have not purchased paint yet)
Flooring (I know the upcoming costs)
Roof
Stucco
Two more fences and finish the deck
Landscape in front yard
Lots of trips to the dump (backyard is already full again with debris)
Baseboard and trim
Staircase details
Lighting
Kitchen installation (and need 3 more appliances)
Bathroom installations and tile (need to buy vanities and countertops)
and a million details!
We are about 2 weeks behind schedule and I think we will probably stay 2 weeks behind schedule. Cannot find a way to get those 2 weeks back. I am targeting end of October (big dream) or mid November to be ready for photos and listing
Thanks. I don’t really want anything high end. Just a regular tub that will fit in the existing alcove in the 2nd bathroom and that won’t look awful after a few months. I had chosen one I like that has a curved skirt for some extra space then read the reviews (lots good, a few not) and started getting nervous and 2nd guessing myself! We don’t have a HD, just Lowes. Thanks :).
My daughter and her husband offered to install it but I am getting nervous about that too. He is pretty handy and so is she, but I want a tiled surround and floor and they have neither of them ever tiled before and, well…
I need to bite the bullet and make a decision. I’ve been agonising for months (maybe years). I don’t know how you do it!
The actual bathtub installation is somewhat easy because a bathtub (provided drain is installed snug) is self contained and there shouldn’t be any water leakage. However, tiling the bathtub surround is somewhat tricky because you need to tile perfectly over edge of bathtub (and caulk perfectly) to ensure a water tight seal.
Also, it can be tricky trying to reach under bathtub and install drain and p trap unless there is a crawlspace under house to connect the drain line.
If I were you I would hire an experienced tile guy (that might be able to install bathtub and drain also) to tile the bathtub surround so that it is done well to avoid water leaking issues.
Tiling a floor is easy and you can do that yourself
BUDGET UPDATE
Well, it has been an expensive couple of weeks. Here is the latest budget update. I am currently running $25k over budget I think. Wanted to try to get this addition done for about $325,000 and now I’m up to about $350,000…and have not even splurged on tile yet
SPENT TO DATE $266,000
Estimate to Complete $85,000
Where did I go over??
Landscape $5k over
Plumbing and Electrical $8k over
Framing $10k over
Demo/Hauling $2k over
My best guess is that adding 1800 sq ft will end up costing about $135/sq ft which actually is a very good build!
That does not include kitchen and existing bathroom remodels which are inside the existing house
My best guess on the breakdown so far is:
$110,000 spent on existing house (landscape, walls, fences, french drain, windows, doors, opening up walls, kitchen and baths, drywall and paint)
$156,000 spent on addition (concrete demolition, foundation, permits, framing, windows and doors, dumbwaiter)
cb, if the comps are above $1.5, you’re still going to do very well.
Well… there is a ton of carrying costs involved that are not included in that remodel cost
I don’t think we could get any busier here.
Painting crew finishing exterior trim. They are also going to prime out the entire garage area. But of course we figure out that we forgot to run some structural straps from main floor down to wrap around beams in garage. One step backward and we are madly opening up some holes in brand new drywall in garage ceiling to get straps down.
Then I’m going to have painter test my interior trim color. I’m going to surprise you all and then I’ll post a picture for the peanut gallery to help decide if I’m going to continue with the color.
Plumber trying to finish copper plumbing down at water heater to finish tying in new lines. He’s also adding hose bib to western wall. Of course he’s making a big mess right where painters are trying to prep.
Electrician is crawling around setting boxes and wire where I want lighting.
Framing guys setting blocks and straps where needed
Another framing guy putting up shear panels on exterior
Another guy setting the large 4x12 headers on $400 worth of special Simpson post caps for deck beams
Drywall team here finishing final layer of texture in dining room, entry and hallway. The boss wants $800 to finish up the living room and dining room. It was not in original bid and I don’t know whether to pay the highway robbery or not. But they are doing a gorgeous job and are very fast. So i need think I’ll have them finish it up.
Meanwhile the big accordion door showed up for delivery and we had to squeeze that into living room with 12ft tracks
Sounds like many exciting pictures will be coming our way soon!
There are so many materials stacked everywhere that we are having a hard time working around everything.
45 boxes kitchen cabinets stacked in dining room which is keeping us from finishing drywall in that area.
Accordion door, living room cabinets and appliances stacked in living room which are keeping us from trying to get floors cleared for refinishing.
Back bedroom full of windows and interior doors keeping us from finishing drywall and painting in there to get to floor refinishing.
I need to get addition shored up and secure in order to move all this stuff out of existing house area!!
Today I had to make a decision about garage door. I need to get a door ordered and installed ASAP to get garage secured for storage of materials.
I have decided to not spend a lot of money on a fancy door. It’s not in the front of house. It’s in the back on the alley. So standard white long panel door with a row of plain windows at top for natural light. I can always paint it later.
Crazy door idea
Here is the inspiration piece that led me to think about painting the doors black in the house
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/29576535/list/11-reasons-to-paint-your-interior-doors-black
I’ll load some photos later of one door that we painted up to test the idea. The reason I am thinking o f having dark doors is because the walls will be white and there really isn’t any door trim because of the bullnosed plaster style. This means white doors would just blend in and I think we need some ‘pop’