Normal Home Improvement Thread

[Sand]

Do it yourself with crushed gravel and paver stones?

What? Couple weekends and about $2k in materials and its done. Savings $8k.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-lay-a-cobblestone-driveway/index.html


Nerf, this coming from the guy who wants to create his own faux stone wall of rock? Shut it! 

[Nerf]

Do it yourself with crushed gravel and paver stones?

What? Couple weekends and about $2k in materials and its done. Savings $8k.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-lay-a-cobblestone-driveway/index.html


Nerf, this coming from the guy who wants to create his own faux stone wall of rock? Shut it! 

I'll still want to do that tomorrow, but right now all I want is sleep and a giant bottle of vicoden.

Celluar Neurology class and 2 aleeve are the best I can do, though :(

[Sky]

Have you actually installed a paver driveway? Also, where do you live, how big is your driveway, what is the existing driveway?

I worked road construction for two years, the DIY driveway beds make me 

[ghost]

Pavers would have to be done absolutely perfectly if you don't want it going back to shit in a year or two.  You'll have to pack the rock really, really well and set the pavers appropriately for the weight of a car. 

[Furiously]

Pavers would have to be done absolutely perfectly if you don't want it going back to shit in a year or two.  You'll have to pack the rock really, really well and set the pavers appropriately for the weight of a car. 

And hope you don't have any organics under it which will rot and create voids that need to be repaved every year.

[Sky]

Btw the fiancee wants Nerfco to put his renovations on TV.

Also like to see Sand's $2k/2 weekend driveway on there.

[Yegolev]

Hummm.... recreate a Roman highway or just cover with gravel?

My driveway is ~550 feet.  We had one or two dumptrucks drop piles of "crush-and-run" on it and a friend with a Bobcat came out to smooth it for me.  No, I don't know how much the gravel cost.  It's due for a third scraping in 8+ years, which I think I can get an old guy with a tractor to do for me.

1) Why do they say you need a 2" pipe for the gas? That seems excessively large because most connections to the unit are only 3/4."  Then again I'm not a plumber, so I guess the pressure from an LP tank just isn't the same as gas from service.

I'm told it's volume, which Boyle reminds us is related to pressure in this case.  One thing that I'm not 100% on is that these guys have done several tankless but always NG, never LP.  I might make some more calls but at this point I think I have other items which need my attention more than the fact that I run out of hot water.

What are the specifics on the TE tank that they want to replace it?  Just that it's old or is there some other really pressing need like, "oh hell that thing is way undersized for this house."  

The quote says to bring it up to code, which I usually assume to mean either it doesn't meet code or the plumber has a car payment to make.  $380 to replace the TE tank seems reasonable next to $2110 for a water heater.

You also said something about a corrosion problem but didn't fully explain it.

It's because I have a convection loop so that there is fast warm water in the master bath.  This constant flow is apparently very bad for the water heater, and the anode is so corroded that it's visible on the outside of the tank.  I expect it to start squirting water any day now.  The other water heater, which services the rest of the house and does not have a loop, is in fine condition based on a external inspection.  Also it's never needed heating element replacement while the master bath tank has had two element replacements so far.

2) I'd do what sky said with the downspout to start with.  When you say the ground slopes towards your house at that point, is it that your entire back/ side of the house slopes that way, or that they didn't lift the house up enough so you've got a gentle slope coming down?   If it's the former, look into doing some sort of French Drain along that side to try and deal with it, if it's the latter you might consider just having it all regraded a bit so it slopes properly.

The slope is mostly due to a water leak discovered during construction.  The backfill was dug out, more tar put on the foundation wall, a drainpipe was put next to the footing, and the backfill replaced.  It's basically a mild depression in what might otherwise be a flat space that quickly slopes away from the house about six feet out.  I haven't noticed any dirt coming out of the end of the pipe but it's possibly just filling up with dirt/sand by now.  I'm trying to decide if I need to put the drainpipe along the length of the foundation wall so that it emerges close to the existing one, or maybe put it perpendicular to the foundation wall and have it be an eyesore in the yard.  An advantage to going parallel is that I can also tie in the AC condensation outflow, since that also emerges from the house in that area.

After I put the pipe in, I will have bought time until my wife's imagined patio takes shape, which would actually cover that entire place with a slab if it turns out as I think it will.

3)  As someone else mentioned, do you have a heat pump or is it just the a/c condenser?  If it's your heat pump that's bad, because that's a key part of the system not working right there.  It's the compressor that actually heats up the refrigerant, so by pulling its breaker I've no idea how you're still getting heat.  Then again you say "the house is still warm" so it could just be residual heat and you work up today freezing your nads off.

I am assuming that I have whatever would let my heat continue to work while the "outside part" does not have the fan turning.  My next question is why would it be turning in the first place?  Possibly I am running only on heating elements without heatpump benefit.  I know jack shit about HVAC.  I just know that I forgot to call the tech today.  Fortunately I know someone who is very good and possibly honest as well.

[Sky]

Hummm.... recreate a Roman highway or just cover with gravel?

My driveway is ~550 feet.  We had one or two dumptrucks drop piles of "crush-and-run" on it and a friend with a Bobcat came out to smooth it for me.  No, I don't know how much the gravel cost.  It's due for a third scraping in 8+ years, which I think I can get an old guy with a tractor to do for me.

Crusher run, gravel with limestone. My grandpa was president of a regional paver that owned the supply chain, spent plenty of time in quarries and crusher plants. 

[Yegolev]

Georgia accent unraveled!  In any case, this material makes a fine driveway.  Bonus is that I can sometimes hear cars arrive if I am not in a noisy environment.

[slog]

Paving a whole driveway would be a shitload of work, even for the little 25' building setback on mine. 

$10k for a driveway does seem high, but how long is it and how steep is your drive sloped? 

a 25 foot driveway for 10k is not unreasonable.

[Sand]

Pavers would have to be done absolutely perfectly if you don't want it going back to shit in a year or two.  You'll have to pack the rock really, really well and set the pavers appropriately for the weight of a car. 

Its really not that hard. And you can rent a bob cat and compactor at most home improvement stores. In fact I would do this project two times over before I would ever tackle another paint job. I hate hate hate hate hate taping all the blue fucking tape up all over the place and dont have a steady enough hand to do it with out the blue tape.

[Khaldun]

Hm, 25'? 30'? and no slope to speak of. But it's pretty cracked and rough, so I'm sure it's a not inconsiderable project. Probably a reasonable estimate. I just balk at dropping that when it's functional enough and we have many other fish to fry.

[Sky]

Its really not that hard. And you can rent a bob cat and compactor at most home improvement stores.

Sure! Just read that DIY site and go out and rent the gear. What could go wrong? 

/Please/ film this, anyone who tries it.

[Sand]

My father in law, brother in law and I laid two cobblestone sidewalks through the front gardens and a 35' drive way for a historical home he is renovating.
While is was a pain on my back placing all those stupid pavers and bricks in place, it sincerely wasnt that hard.

Unfortunately we didnt film it. But its been three years ago and still looks fantastic.

To each their own and all that stuff.

[Sky]

Hey, I've rewired about a quarter of my house thus far. It wasn't hard, you should try it*


*no you shouldn't, jackass

[Furiously]

Hey, I've rewired about a quarter of my house thus far. It wasn't hard, you should try it*


*no you shouldn't, jackass

Yes. Strange spirits move about in the copper. If you make them angry they will burn down your house.

Or get a book of basic wiring diagrams and a multi-meter, or take a class on basic electrical work at your local community college and save yourself a ton on money.

[Nebu]

Where's the sweet spot with home improvement?  I'm very interested in learning to do some projects (in an academic sense), but can't get past the fact that my time has value.  I also have this paranoia that I'm going to somehow do something really stupid that will cost twice as much to remedy.  I'd like to start by taking my bathroom to studs and redoing the shower, floor, and vanities, but don't know what I can and can't handle.  What moisture barrier do you use?  Where?  What about proper ventilation?  What size fan?  What about wall tile?  So many questions!

When is it best to just hire a pro and when can I risk trying and failing for the sake of learning a few new skills?

[bhodi]

Most "renovation" type things on the inside of your house are completely doable yourself if it comes after the studs. The problem is time, money, and tools. Most people don't want an unusable bathroom for two months while they fumble their way through renovations.

[Yegolev]

Nebu, I have a similar situation.  My rule of thumb is basically to not tear apart something that I cannot reassemble before I will need it.  I also don't do things that will only happen in a reasonable timeframe if someone else does them.  The rebuild of my porch decking, for example, is something that I thought I could get wrong and that would also take a long time.  I decided to pay some old guys $5800 to take care of it in three days; looks far, far better than I think I could have done and I didn't have to take a vacation from work to do it.

Easily within my abilities are things like toilet repair, faucet repair, laying that drainpipe (I assume), and so on.  For cutting wood, I need more practice before I can make something look nice.  For electrical, I don't have the time to learn it myself, and OJT might kill me.  Same with plumbing since it might be easy enough to work with copper pipe but if there is a fuck up then I'd like someone who is insured to be at fault.

[Merusk]

Your time has value has only been a good argument to me if you can't or don't want to do the work.  "My time has value so I don't change my oil" really means "I can't be bothered to learn how, so fuck it." when I say it.  The same holds true for building your own computer and home repair.  If you look at it as "I want to learn how to do this, it's something I'm interested in, so I won't do xyz" instead of "I HAVE to do this to save money," your perspective changes.

In short, don't learn if it's just about saving money, only if you want the skill set.

The guys who do this for a living really want you to think it's complicated.  We do this because it's the way we make money.  Truth is, if it were all that complicated there'd still be mandatory apprentice-journeyman-master levels for all trades (like for electricity and plumbing) and you wouldn't see a guy who was hired 3-4 years earlier running the show on many houses with little to no oversight.  The real difficulty is on the business end of things that you won't be concerned about as the homeowner doing their own work.

Will you be as fast as a true pro? No, because you don't have the experience and practice to draw on.  A tile job a pro can get done in half a day might take you a weekend or two.  Part of that is because you're human and most of us flake out in the middle of things at home because "hey it's right here, I can get back to it quick."  There's a ton of distractions at your house that a pro can ignore because, hey, it's not their damn house.  They don't have to answer the phone, get the mail, start dinner, let the dog out or check F13.  They're working.

The rest of it is just research and practice. The guys who do it for a living screwed up, but got paid for it or learned from a buddy how to cover it up for 2-3 years.  Hell, there's sites out there with tons of pictures of how phenomenally some of these "professionals" have fucked up because they were incompetent, lazy, or just too fucking cocksure to crack open a book or call someone with a little more knowledge than themselves.  Home inspector sites are a good place for such pics.

You also have the advantage of being brighter than most citizens so you're not apt to make stupid mistakes.  Structure is basic vector physics, "no big deal" right?  Well, you'd be surprised how many stories I've heard of people cutting holes in bearing walls, knocking out columns in the basement "because they got in the way" or cutting out large sections of foundation to install a window or door, with no additional support above.  

If you're like Nerf and willing to go to the mat wrestling with someone just as crazy and willing to say "No, you never specified xyz" then yeah, you'll have the fallback of suing if and when they screw up.  The reality is that will take years and more money to resolve so most folks just pay another contractor to fix what the first guy did.  I hate to get down on guys in the field, but the reality is residential folks are a dime a dozen and there's a reason most are doing low-end residential instead of high-end or commercial.  Unless they're just starting out or simply have no ambition the guys who are good float up into the other fields where the pay's much better.


Wow.. I rambled for a bit there.  Anywho, my breaking point is electric wiring, large concrete areas and plumbing. Anything else I'll do myself, including rough framing. Wiring and Plumbing require permits and calcs that are reviewed so I know the guys doing them know more than I do.  Concrete is a mess and anything beyond patching or post footings I'd rather have professionally mixed.   Big framing (decks, trellises, additions) has to be permitted, but charts for headers, joists and nailing patterns are in the code books if you don't know how to do the calcs yourself.  Small framing (which is supposed to be permitted but most homeowners ignore that) like basement finishes or bathroom renovation are just a matter of planning, measuring and cutting.

[bhodi]

Your time has value has only been a good argument to me if you can't or don't want to do the work.  "My time has value so I don't change my oil" really means "I can't be bothered to learn how, so fuck it." when I say it.  The same holds true for building your own computer and home repair.  If you look at it as "I want to learn how to do this, it's something I'm interested in, so I won't do xyz" instead of "I HAVE to do this to save money," your perspective changes.

You're wrong. I'm perfectly proficient in basic car maintenance, but it's worth paying someone to have someone change my oil. Because I don't feel like doing it. It's messy, a hassle, and I don't own a driveway so I'd have to do it in the parking lot.

Paying someone is not an admission of laziness or fear of the unknown. Sometimes, you just don't feel like dealing with that shit.

[Furiously]

I'd probably hire someone to work on my septic system too.

[Merusk]

1) Why do they say you need a 2" pipe for the gas? That seems excessively large because most connections to the unit are only 3/4."  Then again I'm not a plumber, so I guess the pressure from an LP tank just isn't the same as gas from service.

I'm told it's volume, which Boyle reminds us is related to pressure in this case.  One thing that I'm not 100% on is that these guys have done several tankless but always NG, never LP.  I might make some more calls but at this point I think I have other items which need my attention more than the fact that I run out of hot water.

Makes sense now that you mention Boyle. (I haven't thought about that in 20 years, wow.)  Have you looked at electric tankless instead?   Seems like you'd be paying a lot more in LP costs over time.

What are the specifics on the TE tank that they want to replace it?  Just that it's old or is there some other really pressing need like, "oh hell that thing is way undersized for this house."  

The quote says to bring it up to code, which I usually assume to mean either it doesn't meet code or the plumber has a car payment to make.  $380 to replace the TE tank seems reasonable next to $2110 for a water heater.

I don't know the specifics of the code here, but lacking any more detail than that I'd be suspicious.  You did say it was two plumbers who said this, though.  

I get the corrosion thing now. I seem to recall hearing that the convection loops require replacing the anodized rods more often.  The rods also protect the heating elements, IIRC, so that might have saved the tank there. Too late now, obviously.

2) I'd do what sky said with the downspout to start with.  When you say the ground slopes towards your house at that point, is it that your entire back/ side of the house slopes that way, or that they didn't lift the house up enough so you've got a gentle slope coming down?   If it's the former, look into doing some sort of French Drain along that side to try and deal with it, if it's the latter you might consider just having it all regraded a bit so it slopes properly.

The slope is mostly due to a water leak discovered during construction.  The backfill was dug out, more tar put on the foundation wall, a drainpipe was put next to the footing, and the backfill replaced.  It's basically a mild depression in what might otherwise be a flat space that quickly slopes away from the house about six feet out.  I haven't noticed any dirt coming out of the end of the pipe but it's possibly just filling up with dirt/sand by now.  I'm trying to decide if I need to put the drainpipe along the length of the foundation wall so that it emerges close to the existing one, or maybe put it perpendicular to the foundation wall and have it be an eyesore in the yard.  An advantage to going parallel is that I can also tie in the AC condensation outflow, since that also emerges from the house in that area.

After I put the pipe in, I will have bought time until my wife's imagined patio takes shape, which would actually cover that entire place with a slab if it turns out as I think it will.[/quote]

A water leak in the foundation during construction then, ok. If I understand right the 2nd backfill settled differently, probably because it's different fill material.  Hopefuly it's not that the drain tile they put in was crushed when the refilled.    If they did it right, it shouldn't be filling up with sand & dirt, but I'm wiling to bet it wasn't done right. You're supposed to cover such pipes with 12" of gravel and then lay a filter material on top of that to trap dirt.  Most guys I've talked to always seem to think the filter material is useless and leave it out, meaning dirt just percolates into the gravel over time and down into the pipe, negating the whole system.

So the pipe doesn't go along the whole length of the foundation anyway?  This is in addition to the footing drain that was already there, right?  Ah the wonders of construction, so easy to show in pictures, so hard to describe in text.


On the HVAC front.. do you have a furnace in the house? That was the simple question that I should have asked in the beginning.

If I understand how they're built correctly, the fan on a heat pump spins because it's hooked to the motor that runs the refrigerant compressor. The fluid cycles in the opposite direction for cooling, so it helps exhaust heat in the summer but spins uselessly in the winter.  Did you ever get a tech to come out and look at it?

[Merusk]

Your time has value has only been a good argument to me if you can't or don't want to do the work.  "My time has value so I don't change my oil" really means "I can't be bothered to learn how, so fuck it." when I say it.  The same holds true for building your own computer and home repair.  If you look at it as "I want to learn how to do this, it's something I'm interested in, so I won't do xyz" instead of "I HAVE to do this to save money," your perspective changes.

You're wrong. I'm perfectly proficient in basic car maintenance, but it's worth paying someone to have someone change my oil. Because I don't feel like doing it. It's messy, a hassle, and I don't own a driveway so I'd have to do it in the parking lot.

Paying someone is not an admission of laziness or fear of the unknown. Sometimes, you just don't feel like dealing with that shit.

That's the "don't want to do the work" part in the first line.  I wasn't meaning to imply laziness, only that as an excuse it's often used as a cop-out.  Just say you don't want to do it or don't have the time to do it.

[Nebu]

Stuff

Thanks for taking the time.  I do appreciate the input. 

My basic premise is that I'd really like to learn for the sake of adding to my skill set.  I can rebuild a car engine, but I've never tackled home jobs.  Since my house has 3 bathrooms and I live alone, remodeling my bathroom isn't a problem from a time standpoint.  It's more an irrational fear that I'll fuck it up and end up costing myself more by fixing it.  I also have the problem of being a researcher for a living.  I have a tendency to research shit to death before giving things a try.  The term over-engineering may very well apply to me.  The advantage I can see to being a pro is that you know which things require attention to detail and which you can fly by the seat of your pants on.  As a chemist, I know what needs my attention and what I can just approximate.  It's a valuable skill to have in any field. 

Perhaps I should start with a few home improvement books.  Anyone recommend something for a bathroom/master closet renovation?

[ghost]

Another advantage to being a "pro", Nebu, is that you have the tools necessary for the job readily available.  Things such as cutting tile and even much of reasonable carpentry work requires specialized tools.  So you either have to rent or buy, which will increase the overall output for the job.  I've been accumulating tools over the years, so I can basically complete almost any job I need to at this point. 

As for the time issue, I would say certainly don't do this stuff if you don't think you'll enjoy it and have the money to pay someone else.  I find projects to be enjoyable, but I've gotten in over my head a time or two and wish that I hadn't taken on a particular project.  Then it becomes the exact opposite of fun and may become more expensive to boot. 

[Furiously]

The trick is knowing how much of a perfectionist to be.

Texture on walls will hide a multitude of sins.

[Merusk]

Thanks for taking the time.  I do appreciate the input. 
...

Perhaps I should start with a few home improvement books.  Anyone recommend something for a bathroom/master closet renovation?

Time I've got at the moment and I'm glad to share.  (It's a distraction and I'm really sick of learning Revit and modeling old stuff at the moment.  )

I always liked the Time-Life bookseries.  Your library should have 'em. Fun thing about homes is that not much has changed in the basics, just the materials.

There's also a Reader's Digest DIY Home Improvement book.   I've got their home repair one that, while a little spartan, has seen me through a lot of troubleshooting for small electronics and stuff over the years.  I imagine the home improvement one is similar.

Home Depot offers classes and workshops, too, if you want to get a little hands-on before tackling something.  There's also url=http://www.hometime.com/home.html]Home Time.com[/url].  They're one of the oldest (if not The oldest) DIY shows out there and despite sometimes seeming a little goofy, they do like to reinforce when you should talk to a pro vs trying something yourself for bigger jobs AND give tips on saving time and where the details matter.  Since it's winter I'd recommend finding out when they're on your local PBS and watching a few shows before it warms up.   Like Ghost said, if you're not into it, it just causes more headaches.

What Ghost mentions about tools is a concern as well.  Tool rental can be fairly cheap, but does add-up.

The trick is knowing how much of a perfectionist to be.

Texture on walls will hide a multitude of sins.

Truth!  But remember no texturing will cover crooked tiles!

[ghost]

My work usually requires a lot of texture.  

[Polysorbate80]

I once wound up rebuilding an entire bathroom after just trying to stop the shower from leaking hot water    Don't be afraid of messing something up, unless you're literally doing something like playing with fire.

[Sky]

I like the Black & Decker books for reference.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Guide-Wiring/dp/1589234138
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Guide-Plumbing/dp/1589233786
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Codes-Homeowners-Electrical/dp/1589234790 (also talk to the city or visit the library for local and state codes!)

For drywalling, Myron is the man:

http://www.amazon.com/Drywall-Professional-Techniques-Great-Results/dp/B002BWQ54K

Your best bet is to hit the local library and browse through the books and find which tend to speak to your style the best, which are easy to understand, lay out the information in the way you best soak it up (I'm visual). Also hit up the book store to see a wider range of the newer books. I like the linked books for my shelf, but for most other stuff I borrow the library's copy. I'll take out a stack of 20 books or so when working through a project, the library saves me a substantial amount of money.

[bhodi]

I also have the reader's digest guide that Merusk linked. It's a great introduction to all sorts of random crap in your house. Lots of full-color illustrations.

[Yegolev]

Have you looked at electric tankless instead?   Seems like you'd be paying a lot more in LP costs over time.

Electric, as in cars, is pitiful.  Also LP is cheaper than electricity for me.  More on this shortly.

This is in addition to the footing drain that was already there, right?

Ha ha, heh... heeeeh.

On the HVAC front.. do you have a furnace in the house?

I don't have a furnace, I live in Georgia. Really, though, when the heat pump isn't doing anything it uses strip heating, or typical heating elements.  This is more demanding on electricity, of course.

Today I had my favored guy, Jimmy, come out and take a look.  I think Jimmy is awesome.  He's smart and not afraid to explain things.  He's into HVAC like Hank Hill is into propane and propane accessories.

Summary is that the motor was done for.  He tested the board and it was fine.  He also happened to have a Emerson motor in his van which fit, cheaper than a Trane motor at only ~$350.  God, electric motors are where you pay the money on anything.  I'm glad I did not try it because of having to find a motor and then determining how to wire it up, since the colors were different.  Also I would not have known how to test the circuit board.

The construction of the unit does not couple the fan to the compressor.  More modern models, per what small bit I have learned, used multispeed fans and do fancy stuff like start the fan before the compressor kicks in.  Both of mine have a two-speed motor, for example.  I suppose that there are probably some small/cheap models which share an axle or something.

While he was there, I asked Jimmy if it was possible to convert a HVAC from electric to LP.  Apparently not only is it possible, but it is a fantastic idea.  I also mentioned the quote from the plumber about the tankless, and guess what - Jimmy has installed several tankless water heaters which run off LP.  He told me about how he recently helped his boss run PEX tubing under his floor on about a eight-ten inch spacing which was then connected to a tankless heater.  They wired the thermostat to some sort of flow controller and now his boss has fancy foot warmers.  I told Jimmy that I would like a call from his boss to come out to my house, and also to not cash that check until Friday.

In other news, just a few minutes ago I replaced a floodlight in a recessed can and I'm getting nothing.  Once again I wish I had bought a multimeter.  I'm really going to do it this time.

[01101010]

When it comes to electric wiring references, two books really stand out and both are available at the local box stores.

the UGLY reference guide (way more on the technical side)

the Wiring Simplified (practical guide to wiring)

The Master electrician I used to work with stuck that simplified book in my hands and told me it's all I really need to do whatever around the house electrical maintenance and improvements. Of course, I had him over a few times for beers on college game day and he "inspected" the work while he was around.

[Sand]

Stuff

Thanks for taking the time.  I do appreciate the input. 

My basic premise is that I'd really like to learn for the sake of adding to my skill set.  I can rebuild a car engine, but I've never tackled home jobs.  Since my house has 3 bathrooms and I live alone, remodeling my bathroom isn't a problem from a time standpoint.  It's more an irrational fear that I'll fuck it up and end up costing myself more by fixing it.  I also have the problem of being a researcher for a living.  I have a tendency to research shit to death before giving things a try.  The term over-engineering may very well apply to me.  The advantage I can see to being a pro is that you know which things require attention to detail and which you can fly by the seat of your pants on.  As a chemist, I know what needs my attention and what I can just approximate.  It's a valuable skill to have in any field. 

Perhaps I should start with a few home improvement books.  Anyone recommend something for a bathroom/master closet renovation?

Nebu, if you like researching shit I think you will do fine with home improvement. Plumbing is easy. These days with steel braided plumbing lines like this (http://www.plumbingsupply.com/flexes.html) its simple.
Really the only thing you dont want to screw up is putting in the barrier around the drain and floor of a walk in shower. Tile and concrete are not waterproof and you have to make sure you get a seamless water proof barrier put in place.

Other than that the only hard thing for me is Im not visually artistic in anyway so trying to figure out the over all theme of the bathroom and lay out was challenging for me.

There are some awesome books on general home repairs and home improvement projects. Many local community colleges and community centers also offer classes for the DIY home owner.