[00:00] Hey Jeff here. Today I'm giving you my list on how to get a perfect renovation. And listen, in today's market, it is really frustrating if you're trying to renovate because everybody's tripping over each other. They don't have enough materials on site when they need it to do their job. And so a lot of trades are doing multiple callbacks.
[00:15] They're doing things out of order and it's leading to a lot of problems when it comes to when the job is finished. I'm going to share a couple of stories in this video about major failures and why they happen. Here goes rule number one. You've got to have a plan, right? Don't start your
[00:27] renovations like Phil Dumpey jumping on the roof of a car. What's the plan Phil? Number two is going to be do the demolition. All the work that's necessary, so that you can have the ability to
[00:39] evaluate the merits of your plan. And then that's number three, evaluate the plan. And if you need to, go back to number two and do more demolition. There's no sense going far with your project until you are comfortable and confident that you can execute it without having to go backwards into
[00:55] demolition phase again, all right? If that means getting your contractor on site, then that's fine. If you don't have enough experience, consider joining our membership program. Send me photos of your job and ask me questions, all right? I can help you identify problems or pitfalls
[01:10] in your situation as you go along. So your next step, of course, is going to be to take a look at your structure, do any major repairs that you need to. Look out for things like termites or ant infestation, rotten wood, mold conditions, grandfathered old structures. Okay, a lot of times you're really going
[01:27] to want to update things. You don't want to just rely on the nails to hold the wood together and get some joist brackets and things like that involved. And if you have concerns about the integrity or if you have breaks in your structure, or it looks like there's a problem with the load bearing
[01:40] situation and your house is moving or collapsing, then contact the structural engineer. All right, these guys are amazing. For a few hundred bucks they can come up to the house and take a look, tell you if you're in any immediate danger. All right. And then they can take a look at your plan
[01:55] and they can make drawings for you so that you can execute structural repairs and updates to your home. That's right. You can do that yourself with their help because they're pros and they've got the seal. So they can actually make those drawings and it can become part of your permit. And you can
[02:09] do your own structural work and that is the most effective way to do major structural repairs in the market today. If you want to done right, you can do it yourself with the help of a structural engineer. Okay, I don't have a clue. I'm out of paint. The next step on your plan
[02:27] should of course take a look at your HVAC. That's heating, ventilation, air conditioning. And to some extent, which is air sealing, we're talking about the outside of the house here when we talk about that, okay. We're talking about the building envelope. And so we're some cases are doing Tyvek or Typar
[02:44] or some cases you're going to be taking a look at doing additions. You've got to close up the outside of your house. Okay, along at the same time as your HVAC gets going. Having a good air seal is the key to efficient HVAC.
[03:00] Steep in, okay. So once you've got your updated, your air conditioning and your heating, all your vent pathways, okay. And you cold air returns, take the opportunity to have an old house. If you're going to be doing major work and opening up walls, definitely update those old
[03:15] systems. They're very inefficient. Old houses, they got that one great big grill at the front door where it's doing the cold air return. And they're really not designed for efficiency. So if you're going to open walls in an old house, take advantage of the opportunity. Add more cold air returns
[03:27] up into the bedrooms. Definitely, okay. And make sure that if you've got old as best as prep ducting, you get that professionally removed. That's stuff dangerous. Now at some point, you're going to have all your new interior walls framed, right. And you're going to make making changes to ductwork. You're
[03:44] going to want to have all of that framing done. And you're going to want to have a plan thought of with that mechanical person in mind. So don't be afraid to include them on IAM emails and changes that you want to make in your design plans. So they have a chance to chime in. Once you have
[03:57] your framing done though, it's time for an inspection. Okay. City people want to come by and take a look at your framing. Make sure that it's up to code. What they're really looking for here is that your structural work was done properly. So if you did structural work, have your paperwork with the seal from the
[04:10] engineer. You don't get that paperwork with the seal until you've paid for the plans. Now you can show that to the city inspector and they can take a look at the work and make sure that it was done according to the plan. So don't be creative here. If it says I need three nails or three screws, put in three,
[04:25] not four, not two. Follow the plan exactly. And you'll pass flying cars. All right. So once you've got your house protected on the outside, you're right. Your roof is good. Your framing is all finished
[04:37] and inspected. Then you want to take a look at getting your plumber and your electrician in or doing that work yourself. If you are familiar with the codes, make sure if you're doing it yourself, you get that work inspected, guys. It's not that tricky to do and an inspection increases
[04:52] a value at home when it's time to resell. Now I know the market lately has been kind of a seller's market and everybody can sell a house as is. That's not always going to be the case. Okay. So if you plan to live in your house for more than a couple of years, there's a real good chance the market's
[05:04] going to swing around the other direction again. Get your permits. Okay. Get inspections. Get all your certificates on file with the cities. When you go to sell, the next one buyer knows it was done right. Okay. One quick note about the process when you're doing changes with your mechanical. You do
[05:20] HVAC first because it's the biggest and it's got the most restrictions as far as what kind of angles in terms the ducting can make and how much space it needs inside your wall cavities and your joist cavities. Okay. So HVAC goes first, then you do plumbing, then you do the electrical work because
[05:37] you're going in order of flexibility. Right. Plumbing is smaller than HVAC and can take a lot more turns and there's more than one way to redirect the water or the air venting. Okay. An electrical of course can just be wrapped around just about anything as long as you insulate between electrical inducting.
[05:50] You're fine, but try to make sure that you do it in order and if you're hiring extra help, don't bring the next trade in until the first guy is finished. Resist the temptation. If someone says, oh, it's just this. I'll come back next week when the part comes in. Don't move forward. Do yourself a
[06:06] favor. Time and time again in the trades of running the same problem. You got one guy who'll do something. The next guy will do something. Oh, that's in my way and they'll cut right through. All right. I was talking to a plumber just the other day and he said he was working on new house construction.
[06:18] The last couple years have been really brutal and he got called in to run all of his plumbing, but the HVAC guy wasn't done. So what the HVAC guy did is when he came in to put in his last little line because he was waiting on the ducting, he got right through the three-inch drain to run his pipe.
[06:33] Didn't tell anybody because he's not managing the whole project. He's just managing himself. Well every other idiot on that job went and closed and finished and closed and finished until finally the homeowner got their house. You guessed it, right? The first day that they're there, somebody flushed
[06:45] as a toilet and then the rain starts coming through all the potlates in the basement. That kind of story is not scarce. And if you got a story like that, feel free to throw them in the comments section. But the truth is if you're managing a job or you're paying a company to manage a job,
[06:58] there's a real lack of oversight on a lot of projects. So be your own manager. Keep an eye on what's going on. Make sure they do it in order. And that will avoid a lot of potential problems. Once the plumbing is done, you get a sensitive inspection in most situations. Once the wiring is done,
[07:14] you get an electrical inspection for rough-in, okay? Now you're at a point where the electrician code says you're done and now you can insulate. It's the next step. You can't insulate until after your wiring is inspected. Inspectors get very upset when they show up on the job. And there's
[07:28] insulation in the walls because they can't see if the wires are drilled properly. They're staples. If the wire, if the hole is maybe too close to the front of the stud and it required a metal plate, all this kind of stuff, they can't see. If inspector walks in to check your electrical work and you
[07:42] got insulation in the walls, he's just going to turn right around and leave. And he'll say, tear all that out and calm me when you're ready for an inspection. And he'll teach you a lesson by not coming for at least another week. So be warned, all right? These guys don't like the waste their time.
[07:54] So you call when you're ready for inspection and you don't cover up the work until you get inspecting. The next step for you is thermal. That means insulation, okay? And that means addicts and walls, all that kind of stuff, okay? If you're blowing it in and you're in an area where you get a vapor barrier,
[08:09] that's great. They can leave the vapor barrier attached to the studs. Then inspector can see that it's blown, then it can stick his head up in an attic and he can pull out a tape measure and make sure there's enough of it if he wants to. All right? And as a homeowner, a lot of cases, they're going to
[08:21] they're going to be very diligent like that. As for the walls, your insulation usually comes with every few bats. It's going to have the R value on the bat paint and on, okay? Where if you have paper-faced insulation, that information will be on the paper. Make sure when you install it, you install it with
[08:35] that number facing out, okay? It helps everybody out. Then the inspector can just walk down and go, yep, not a problem. Remember, R20 insulation is twice as much as R14 and a lot of people tend to think they don't really need that much insulation or they look try to save money at that stage. Don't cut
[08:50] corners on your materials to try to save money. If you're DIY in it, you're making 300% return on your investment. So just do it proper because the inspector catches you trying to cut corners.
[09:02] My goodness, blizzard. Inspectors, if they catch you trying to cheat or they catch you being incompetent, they are going to pull your house apart and make sure you do it right. All right? They're not going to be easy to work with. All they really want is someone to be competent and honest.
[09:16] Okay, so you've got your inspection, your insulation is done and the inspector says, okay, now you can close. What that means is it's okay to put drywall on. Okay? Which means we go to the next step, which
[09:28] sound protection. You might want to consider installing sonopin. It's a four-way rigidity sheet that's used for sound protection for or two layers of drywall or five aids or something like that. Consider using a hat channel and clips and rails. There's all kinds of sound proofing measures out
[09:46] there. And if you're renovating a home office, consider getting all that done before you put all your drywall on. Okay? Because there's a lot of things that you can do to tighten up the air moving from one room to the next. There's putty pads and there's foam and there's spray foam. Make that your
[10:00] next priority because you only get to do sound proofing once. Once you put drywall on, you're committed. The next step is drywall. What I think is the best part of the whole job and what most people can't stand to do. And the reason people don't like drywall is they're just not good at it.
[10:17] And if you were good at it, you would love it too. Listen on our channel, I've got a drywall series A to Z, man. I'm teaching you everything I ever learned about drywall and I learned from some of the best pros that are out there. And tell you, once you've taken that course, you'll be really
[10:30] competent and you'll enjoy it as well. Don't be afraid to do your own drywall work. Once you've learned how to drywall, you will never go hungry another day in your life with that skill. Now believe it or not, we're already at step number 15 out of 20. What 15 is of course is what I'm doing right now. Paint. This
[10:46] is considered the next step out of drywall. Of course, you make sure that you seal your drywall before you paint. Don't just use flat sealing paint. That does not seal the drywall. And so when you do paint, you soak a lot of paint into the wall and you spend a lot of good money. Paint's not cheap
[11:00] anymore, right? Good paint costs almost a hundred bucks. A gallon seal your drywall with a $20 gallon paint. All right. And then I'll say a lot of money. Now listen, this is where we go from renovation to remodel. Everything up to drywall requires building codes and inspections. So if you're working on
[11:16] your house and you don't touch the wall surface and you just touch everything in front of the wall, you're in what remodel zone now, okay? So these are things you can do without calling inspectors. For the most part, in most counties, I'm going to generalize to be safe, okay? You can always go to
[11:30] the building site office or the county where you live and they'll have a list of projects you can do without getting an inspection and you can confirm. But generally where I live, it's basically the same. The floating decks outside less than 24 feet off the ground are safe without a permit. Any interior
[11:44] work after the drywall is up is fine. Jobs under 10,000. They're very vague like that, right? The point is now we're in remodeling. So I usually like to go paint, flooring, and then cabinetry.
[11:57] And by that, I mean like take a kitchen for example. We'll do all the ceilings and we'll do one coat on the walls just to help eliminate some of the need for a lot of that cutting in around all the detail. All right. And then I'll do the flooring and then the cabinetry because in a lot of cases we got flooring
[12:12] that is designed to last 50 years. This is about the same expectation for a kitchen. Remember when you renovate or you're remodeling, think of a 50 year life cycle. We don't change the spaces every 10 years. Nobody does this. So think of 50. So if you're going to put in a floor 50 years from now,
[12:25] people are going to walk through the house and go, oh my god, that's got to be ripped out. It's going to look disgusting, right? So realize that if you put the flooring in first, it makes the cabin installation so much easier, especially if you're doing tile, all right? Or if you're doing hardwood flooring for sure.
[12:38] And then it's fastened to the floor, it goes in first. If it's a floating floor, like vinyl, you can put that first in the cabinets. And if it's an em, a laminate floor, like an MDF floor, you have to put that in afterwards. That stuff is just dangerous because if it gets wet, it swells
[12:54] and you've got to replace it or it goes molding, okay? It's got organics in it. So putting that underneath cabinetry is never a good idea. That always goes on second. That's how I like to operate. I'd love to hear your opinion. But once we get past the cabinets, we're moving on to the next stage. So the next step
[13:08] is, of course, the trim. And I'm talking about door jams and then faceboards, casings, all that stuff. I like to put my flooring in first and then put psych protection on. Generally speaking, I find for homeowners who don't own a lot of real professional
[13:20] grade tools, doing it that way, you get a better result. It allows you to have all your cuts and finishes right flush and tight on the floor. And you're never going to have weird gaps. In the professional industries, we always put in the flooring after the entire paint job's done. So they put the doors,
[13:32] the door jams, casings, the baseboards, all of it. They'll paint the whole house. And the last thing goes in is the flooring. We've got special saws for undercutting the jams and all that kind of stuff. Okay, and we've got techniques and tools and we do it out of order. That's new home construction.
[13:44] But in renovations, you'll find that putting in some psych protection, spending $100 or $200 on psych protection will give you a professional looking finish. And it's a lot easier to achieve that goal by building on top of your floor than trying to stick your floor underneath all of that fixture.
[13:59] It also allows you to do your baseboards without the quarter round, which so many people don't seem to appreciate. It's kind of getting trendy not to like quarter round anymore. And if you're one of those guys, let me know what you do. Remember, my model, you wear your own best contractor that's
[14:14] out there. But if you're in a position where you can hire one or it's just above your skilllet set, make sure that you follow the process. Don't let them deviate from the process either. There's nothing worse than having somebody show up to do a part of the job just so that there's a worker on the job site
[14:30] just so that no one's upset that nothing's happening and have them do something out of order that can cause damage to your home down the road. All right? I mean, it's nice that everybody has a warranty. Remember, this is a 50-year bill and there are a lot of things and go wrong with the project
[14:44] 10 or 15 years later. You're gotta elect them.