Author Topic: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?  (Read 4831 times)

Roland of Gilead

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House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« on: April 18, 2014, 08:36:09 AM »
We are selling our house next year and I plan to do quite a bit of work on the outside this spring and summer (not working at a job right now).  One of the major things that needs to be addressed is the soffit boards and gutters along with a bit of roof repair on the concrete tiles at one edge.  There is also a second story walkway deck that needs some serious attention.

I have some decent building experience, having constructed a very solid 40x16 foot pressure treated/cedar deck with concrete poured footings plus built a complete wood framed 10x20 foot shop.

I need a way to get at the edges of the house...some of it is 40 feet off the ground.  (This is starting to sound dangerous)

I had thought about renting scaffolding, or maybe buying used scaffolding, but maybe I should just pay someone....or maybe just ignore it all and sell the house as-is.

Opinions?

Emg03063

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2014, 09:28:03 AM »
Ask your real estate agent if it's worth fixing.  If you need tools you don't have, try to borrow them.  Look for a tool library in your area or just post it on Facebook that you're looking to borrow scaffolding or whatever and see who steps up.

GuitarStv

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2014, 10:40:24 AM »
I found that it was cheaper to buy tools (used where possible) and do it myself on weekends over a long period of time than to pay someone else or rent in most cases.  Unless you can set aside a large chunk of time all at once it's hard to get the most out of rental tools.

Spork

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2014, 10:55:12 AM »

as to scaffolding.... I'm told that around here you can get a towable bucket lift for about $100 for the weekend.  To me this seems an obvious choice over scaffolding.  Less setup time and the bucket will extend out over a roof if needed.

Roland of Gilead

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2014, 12:51:20 PM »

as to scaffolding.... I'm told that around here you can get a towable bucket lift for about $100 for the weekend.  To me this seems an obvious choice over scaffolding.  Less setup time and the bucket will extend out over a roof if needed.

Neat idea but I just checked and one with a 40 foot lift is $325 a day or $900 a week.  I would need it for many weeks to do all of the tasks by myself.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2014, 03:21:41 PM »
We are selling our house next year and I plan to do quite a bit of work on the outside this spring and summer (not working at a job right now).  One of the major things that needs to be addressed is the soffit boards and gutters along with a bit of roof repair on the concrete tiles at one edge.  There is also a second story walkway deck that needs some serious attention.

I need a way to get at the edges of the house...some of it is 40 feet off the ground.  (This is starting to sound dangerous)

How bad are the soffits, gutters, and roof? Is it an eyesore that you can see from 40 feet down or is it something only a home inspector would flag? If it's the latter, I'd probably leave it be and negotiate the price once you have an offer.

Between doing it yourself by buying scaffolding and hiring it out, this is probably one of the few cases you'll be ahead by hiring it out.

As far as the 2nd story deck/walkway goes, what's wrong with it? If it's the decking itself, replace a board at a time while on the deck. If it's something structural, well, that's a different story (no pun intended).

Roland of Gilead

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2014, 03:27:45 PM »

How bad are the soffits, gutters, and roof?

When I went to screw in a section of the gutter that had pulled away from the side, I was able to drill a new hole for the screw with my pinky.

Milspecstache

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2014, 04:38:46 PM »

as to scaffolding.... I'm told that around here you can get a towable bucket lift for about $100 for the weekend.  To me this seems an obvious choice over scaffolding.  Less setup time and the bucket will extend out over a roof if needed.

Neat idea but I just checked and one with a 40 foot lift is $325 a day or $900 a week.  I would need it for many weeks to do all of the tasks by myself.

I rented a 40' JLG for a month and the transport expense was considerable so you definitely do not want to split up that rental over multiple weekends.  What about Home Depot?  My local store has rentable lifts that you can tow behind a truck (to save on transport fees).

Weedy Acres

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2014, 06:14:00 PM »
What would it cost to hire it done?

greaper007

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Re: House repair tools: buy, rent or pay someone?
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2014, 10:24:11 PM »
You have lots of time, so that's a definite plus.   But you're also talking about some expensive tools like a ladder big enough to reach a 40ft roof.   That's going to be in the 350-500 neighborhood.   Also, I've never worked with concrete roofing tiles, but I've always been told that they're more of an expert job.   I'm not sure why, but that seems to be the consensus.

Why not price out the tools, and price out a pro.    See if it's even worth it to do yourself after you buy all the specialized equipment.    I ran into this with brake fluid swaps on my civic hybrid.   It's a crazy procedure that involves a pump inside the engine compartment.    If you let it run dry it's crazy expensive replacement.    Did it once and asked, what the hell am I doing?    Now I take it to the dealer and let them do it for a hundred bucks.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!