I wish I knew this site (along with The O-B Book that I just ordered) existed when I did my O-B project in 2000. The information provided has been great! John in Groveland, FL

Garage Doors

Posted by Mike & Carolyn in Smithville, MO on 10/19/2007

We now have garage doors, which had held us up for a while. It seems they stopped making the T-111 4" on-center siding that they are made from. Have them now and they are up, and after several mornings of work, stained. I hired a painter to stain and seal them but he failed to show up, and after I did it I know why, he underbid the work. Quoted me $300 to do both doors. It took me 24 hours over several days to get them done. Granted, I'm no professional painter, but I'm pretty sure $300 was going to be a great deal. Well, it's done and instead of $300 it was only $65 for the stain and spar varnish (my labor was free).

Other things that we have accomplished include the HVAC. Set the unit after the doors went up, so we could lock it up, Was able to get a two-ton electric heat pump and air conditioner installed at $3,200. Would have liked to get it for less, but it's a good price for a Lenexa system installed. Most other companies wanted $800 to $1,000 more for the same job.

We need to now finalize the electrical, which is a sore subject for me. We started the work ourselves and thought about doing the entire job, just getting someone to set the main box and run the main line to the transformer. But, we really don't know what we're doing and I'd really rather not do it wrong and have the place go up in smoke or have the light dim when the dishwasher kicks on. So I am back to getting bids. I have two clients who are electricians, so I may be able to get good bids on the side. One client gave me a per square foot charge to do it and another client keeps telling me he is going to get me a bid but it's been weeks and he just keeps putting me off. I've given up on him. Regardless, we will be adding to the budget -- which is going up daily.

Next steps: panting, installing the metal roof, and ordering the exterior stone. I hoped to have the exterior painted weeks ago, but that did not happen, and will not happen this weekend since I'm working, and will hopefully sell a house (to pay for the electrical work). I'm a Realtor and things have slowed down. The metal roof comes in on Wednesday -- finally! And it will be in, has to be in NOW.

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